Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, the next installment in Natsume’s ‘Harvest Moon with action-RPG elements’ spin-off series, is officially on for a North American release later this year, the family-oriented developer/publisher announced today in anticipation of the game’s full public reveal at E3 next month. Even bigger news than that, Tides of Destiny will be launching simultaneously on Wii and PS3, making this the first Rune Factory title to be released on Sony’s console.
“We know our loyal fans have been patiently awaiting news of a North American release for Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, so we are thrilled to announce that the latest entry in the fan-favorite series is on its way. Better still, this entry is coming to both the WiiT and PlayStation®3,” said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO of Natsume. “Featuring a vast region to explore, a wonderful cast of characters, and a huge variety of activities to enjoy, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny is sure to make waves!”
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny follows the story of lifelong friends Aden and Sonja, who live together on Fenith Island and wake up one day to find that their souls have become cursed and trapped inside the same body. They’ll need to explore their once peaceful homeland, venture into dangerous dungeons, and ride their golem companion, Ymir, across seas in order to break the curse and save the island.
My only past experience with the Rune Factory series was the Wii game Frontier, which I’ve always considered to be one of the Wii’s greatest sleepers. The combination of Harvest Moon style relationship and farming simulation with action-RPG dungeon crawling is something I really enjoyed, so I’m very eager to learn more about this next adventure. I’ll definitely report back with new details once more is revealed at E3.