Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (ルーンファクトリー -新牧場物語-) is a simulation RPG developed by Neverland and published by Marvelous Interactive and Rising Star Games for the Nintendo DS. It was first released in Japan on August 24, 2006, with North American (August 14, 2007) and European releases (February 13, 2009) following its success.

Rune Factory is a fantasy farm simulation game and a spin-off of the  series, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the franchise. It is described by Yoshifumi Hashimoto (longtime producer of the Harvest Moon series) as "Harvest Moon where you wield a sword." Rune Factory 5 is the most recent game of the series, released for the Nintendo Switch in Japan May 20, 2021, and internationally March 2022.

Story
The Rune Factory series is known for their set storylines. Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is no exception. However, there are no time limits when it comes to unlocking events in Rune Factory, so the player can progress at whatever pace they like. Once the Kardia Village caves' mystery has been solved, the story ends, but the player can continue other aspects of gameplay indefinitely.

The game takes place exclusively in Kardia, a small city on the eastern tip of the Adonia continent which is surrounded by farmland. The game opens with the protagonist, Raguna, wandering into town. Starved and dehydrated, he collapses in front of the house of a landowner named Mist. Raguna suffers from amnesia, and has no idea who he is or where he came from. Mist discovers him outside her home, fetches him food and water, and because he doesn't know his name, they both decide to name him "Raguna" (changeable). Afterwards, Mist offers Raguna a house on her land if he promises to work the farm. Raguna accepts, and this is where the game begins.

Gameplay
Rune Factory utilizes typical Harvest Moon gameplay, such as raising crops and getting married, and adds a RPG fantasy element with monsters, magic, weapons, boss battles and cave exploration. In the Rune Factory series, monsters are a replacement for the farm animals of the Harvest Moon series, producing milk, eggs, etc. for your farm.

Magic and weapons can be crafted to aid the player in cave exploring, and specifically, to beat the boss monster found at the end of each cave. This boss must be beat in order to progress to the next cave in succession.