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Rune Factory 4 Special, which was previously a Nintendo-exclusive title, has made its way to consoles and PC via Steam earlier this month. The original Rune Factory 4 was released in 2012 on 3DS and was a fun game. Rune Factory 4 Special expanded on the original with new content and first came out on the Switch back in 2019, making an already good game even better.
This review will be looking specifically at the Steam version of Rune Factory 4 Special. We won’t be going too in-depth on the gameplay, story or other mechanics of the original game. For the Switch review of Rune Factory 4 Special, you can click here. Instead, we’ll be looking at the extra content of Rune Factory 4 Special and how well the Steam version runs on PC.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into this review of Rune Factory 4 Special on Steam!
What Factory?
Despite the name, there are no factories in Rune Factory 4. The game is a hybrid between a farming sim like its sister series Harvest Moon, combined with RPG elements like combat and levelling up. The game has a soothing atmosphere, a decent story and most importantly, charming bachelors and bachelorettes to get married and have children with.
Having spent hundreds of hours on the original on the 3DS, it goes without saying that I thoroughly loved the original. There is a huge amount of things to do in the original and the Special edition adds even more, namely:
- Another Episode DLC
- Newlywed mode
- Hell difficulty
- Remastered graphics
- Dual audio
A Special Something
While the Another Episode DLC and Newlywed mode only offers quite a fair bit of extra content (especially if you want to explore ALL the love interests’ episodes) the best part about it is quality. As someone who absolutely loves Forte, being able to make more memories with her through the Special edition content is a blessing. Fully voiced with adorably drawn illustrations, the additional content is sure to melt your heart. On top of that, the new content is entirely voiced in both English and Japanese, depending on which language option you prefer.
The dual audio option also extends to the rest of the game, which is sweet. As for Hell difficulty, the new difficulty option just increased enemy HP and the damage they dealt, so if you’re expecting smarter enemy behavior, you’re out of luck. If you like to be a bit more critical with how you dodge or if you just want the satisfaction of beating the game in the hardest difficulty, Hell mode should do the trick.
Overall, the new content is a welcome one as there’s nothing to lose from the original game. While the new content isn’t as massive as say, Persona 4 Golden or Persona 5 Royal which adds another love interest, new maps and gameplay mechanics, Rune Factory 4 Special is still a pretty content upgrade overall.
Port Quality
All the points that I mentioned previously were already covered in our Rune Factory 4 Special review for Switch. However, the similarities end here as I’ll be going through my experience playing the game on PC. In terms of graphics quality, even on the best settings, the improvements are barely noticeable. Considering that Rune Factory 4 Special is not a remaster, but more of a game + DLC pack, this is understandable.
One thing that did surprise me is that the game is extremely well optimised on PC. It’s not taxing on my computer at all. Even though the game’s system requirements state that 8GB RAM is the minimum specs, after monitoring the game several times, I discovered that it only consumes less than 500 MB of my RAM and about 20% – 30% of processor usage. Note that I was running the game on the best settings.
In terms of compatibility, the game also offers controller support for Xbox, PlayStation and Switch. I did encounter an issue with this though. The controller signal changes to default when I click on the keyboard. If you pick the Xbox controller but accidentally clicked on your PC keyboard, the signal changes to default. To fix this issue, I needed to either restart the game or reconnect the controller.
Performance-wise, the game runs like a charm, without any crashes whatsoever. The only annoying problem I had with the PC port is the absence of an exit button or key. Most games have the option to quit the game on the main menu, but Rune Factory 4 Special doesn’t. As such, if you want to exit or restart the game, the only option is force closing the application. This is such a basic, commonplace feature that every game should have, that I’m surprised that it wasn’t in the PC port of the game.
Closing Thoughts
With Rune Factory 5 coming out March next year, this is a great time to revisit Rune Factory 4 Special, if you haven’t already done so on Switch. Whether you are new to the series or someone who loved Rune Factory 4 like myself, I highly recommend getting the game on Steam.
