RunieStory: A Fantasy Life is a recent indie Game Boy Color game developed by Spicyfuse and first released in 2023. The game can be played on original hardware via a flashcart, or on an emulator on anything from a PC to an Analogue Pocket. Of all the recent role playing games to hit the GBC such as Zephyr’s Pass, Infinity, and Dragonhym, RunieStory leans more into the life simulation/ farming simulation genre, and this difference leads to the game being slower paced. However, in the case of RunieStory that is no bad thing, as the charm of the characters, and nice soundtrack lead to an experience that feels better for the fact that it is chilled. You’ll spend hours growing crops while trying to seduce anthropomorphic creatures, and your character will slowly level up as you tackle more and more difficult dungeons. I’d never heard of the developer before and they deserve plaudits for crafting an experience that is arguably a better life simulation than the recent Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar that hit the Switch a few months ago.
Rune Factory Inspiration
In RunieStory the player character has his own house and a small patch of land where he can grow crops. You sleep to regain health and to be transported to the next day. If you are lucky, by the next day your crops will have grown to be harvested and once this happens, you can then sell them, cook them, or give them as gifts to potential love interests.
A key component of the gameplay is exploring and tackling dungeons. This is similar to Rune Factory, and overall I’d say RunieStory is more influenced by Rune Factory than by Harvest Moon. Tackling dungeons will be a major goal for developing your character. The swing of your sword is quite satisfying for a life simulation game, and each dungeon has a unique boss. They are fun to take on, and usually require more than one attempt. You can teleport out of the boss room if you think your player character is about to die. Overall tackling dungeons are a highlight of the experience.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics and sprites are well designed and look great for a Game Boy Color game. They remind me of a cross between Shantae, Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Harvest Moon. The main colors used are yellow and browns, as I think there is a lot of sand in the game world of RunieStory. However, within these limitations, the art style shines through. The character portraits appear when you interact with an NPC and some look very cool. Then there’s the music. The music is bubbly, fast, and matches the sporadic flirtation and combat of the gameplay well. Honestly, for an indie game both the music and visuals are impressive. Together wiith the depth of the gameplay, it makes for one of the most well put together and ambitious indie experiences that the GBC has had in recent years.
Gameplay Hooks
I’ve spent a few hours with RunieStory so far, and I’ve reached a stage where I’m grinding by killing enemies to farm experience so that I can level up and defeat a boss in one of the dungeons. There’s a few different gameplay hooks at play so far for me, and I think there’s one or two that I haven’t found yet. In terms of finding romance in the game, I’m still at the flirtation stage, and having been consistently giving my tomato harvest to one of the female anthropomorphic characters I’m sure a new interaction will be triggered soon. I’m not sure if same sex relationships are an option. It would be cool if they were. Runiestory like Rune Factory, has many different things going on. If you want to chill and grow fruit and vegetables and slowly grow your output, that is an option. However, for me, the highlight is taking on the dungeons. There’s a whole race of orcs that you can both speak to and battle with, and I think that their inclusion as semi sentient people/enemies with ambiguous morality was a great inclusion.
The enemy diversity in dungeons and the field is wide-ranging. There are bats, snakes, skeletons and all forms of crazy fantasy enemies. Coupled with good boss design this makes the combat varied and appealing. When you take damage your character sprite blinks, so you are aware, which allows you to refine your tactics to not get hit. All of this in a small indie game is rather impressive. The soundtrack is also varied depending on which dungeon you’re in. While the colour palette exhibits a range of colors, it is one area that can be criticised. A more colorful overworld depending on where you are would have been a good inclusion. This criticism I also have with another ambitious indie GBC role playing game, Zephyr’s Pass. In that game, the colors were drab and grey. Runiestory has the same problem but with yellow, sand-like colors. However, the systems in the game all work, and compliment each other well so the lack of distinction between areas is barely noticeable.
Conclusion
Overall RunieStory is a well made life / farming simulation where there is a focus on dungeon crawling but you can just spend your time growing crops and forging relationships with townsfolk if you’d want. The great visuals and sound design is a real positive for the title, and it arguably has such great standards in these areas that it rivals the big names in the genre. The enemy diversity is great, but the use of color to differentiate the environment could have been used to greater effect. In terms of combat, the title has pretty good hit detection, being similiar to a game like Link’s Awakening. I’m not the biggest fan of the genre (farming sim) yet I’m finding RunieStory accessible, and addictive. Overall, Runiestory is a great indie title and a must play for fans of the genre who are into Game Boy Color Hombrew.
7/10
BongoBongo123 is an avid Zelda fan who also likes the odd game of Smash. His interests in gaming are broad but he loves a good Metroidvania or action RPGs.