Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, a Japanese action role-playing simulation game developed by Edelweiss and published by Marvelous, was released in November for the Nintendo Switch, PS4 and the PC through Steam. Since then, the title has sold more than 850,000 physical and digital copies, far exceeding the publisher’s expectations.
The Edelweiss team, which developed 2014’s Astebreed, an action shoot 'em up 3D game, began working on Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin in 2015. According to the team, the most-time consuming part of the development was making the rice-harvesting simulation as realistic as possible.
The game was first announced at E3 2017 and was originally scheduled to be released in 2019 but was delayed to 2020. According to Edelweiss, “The action part of the game was sort of inspired by Devil May Cry, but the backbone would be more from the Super Nintendo game Terranigma. We were also inspired by the movies, the Seven Samurai and Princess Mononoke.”
Marvelous, which has posted its financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2021, reveals that Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin has shipped more than 850,000 units as of January 29, 2021. The publisher previously announced that the game had shipped 500,000 in its launch month, becoming one of the company's bestselling titles.
It its description on Steam, Edelweiss writes, “Discover the true power of rice in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin! Take on hordes of demons in side-scrolling combat to reclaim the land as Sakuna, a spoiled harvest goddess banished to a dangerous island. Then, return to your mountain village and tend a field full of glorious rice.”
The game has been critically acclaimed for its realistic portrayal of rice farming as well as its action RPG mechanics. Some fans has complained that the game’s rice-harvesting mechanic is too difficult. However, Sakuna director Nal says, "We were resolute in not implementing functionality to be able to plant the rice in an orderly manner. We didn't want it to be a process that you could finish with the push of a button." Currently, there are no plans for downloadable content, though the team has expressed interest in developing a sequel.
Source: Nintendo Life