Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin from Edelweiss and Xseed Games is finally here bringing a superb 2D action game and farming simulation together for a memorable experience unlike anything out there. It was originally announced for PC and PS4 but was later confirmed for Nintendo’s hybrid console. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been playing it on both PS4 Pro and Nintendo Switch (including Nintendo Switch Lite) and here are some tips and tricks to ensure you don’t have trouble with the opening hours of the game and some tips for ensuring you optimise your time spent here.
How to save in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
You can save anywhere by loading up the main menu and navigating to the system tab. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin has 29 manual save slots and one auto-save slot.
How to raise exploration rank in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
You can raise your exploration rank by completing exploration objectives in different areas. These are displayed to you before you travel to any location on the map. These range from reaching the innermost area to mining a certain amount of times and even some combat-related objectives.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin fertilizer tips
Make sure you scoop up manure from behind the house and put it into the fertilizer pit to ensure you have a good fertilizer for your rice. Pay attention to the boosts from adding items when you are preparing the fertilizer as well.
Where is the practice area in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
The practice area is the Training Hall in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. You can access this when you travel Home near the entrance. In the Training Hall, you can set enemy positions, numbers, movements, and view tutorials.
How to craft better weapons in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
Once you unlock the blacksmith in the early hours of the game, you can talk to Kinta to craft better weapons.
How to craft better armor in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
Once you unlock the weaver, you can ask Yui to make hats, clothes, and more for you once you have the required materials. More is unlocked over story progression.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin farming tips
A lot of skills and abilities in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin level up or improve the more you use them. While farming, try to position seedlings in a uniform manner with good spacing. When you are tilling the ground, ensure you do it evenly. While you can get away with just the bare minimum, you invest a lot of time into farming so you may as well get the best returns possible.
How to unlock new areas in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
You can unlock new areas to explore and progress the story by completing objectives and raising your exploration rank. You also unlock areas by reaching the depths of certain areas and by finding certain treasures in areas indicated by the objectives.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin combat tips
Get used to the divine raiment for combat and exploration. It lets you grapple onto enemies, surfaces, and is a big boon during exploration. Keep using skills and being mindful of your SP that fills up over time. Remember to eat properly the night before so you get buffs during combat and heal up quicker. Try and wait for a few enemies to come near you before unleashing your more powerful skills to conserve SP.
How to equip and use skills in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
As you learn new skills, you need to equip them to specific face buttons or combinations of buttons to use. You can do this in the skills section of the in-game menu.
How to fast travel in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
You can fast travel by going to the in-game menu and pressing the world map button (displayed on the bottom right of the screen). You can even do this during a combat encounter if you’re near death to save yourself.
How to prepare for combat and exploration in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
Eating the night before with boosts to healing and vitality helps a lot. You should do this before venturing into a new area or going back to an area with difficult enemies.
Eating meals gives you boosts in combat
As you clear out areas, you get a lot of materials that can be used for meals. Make sure you talk to Myrthe and process ingredients so they don’t spoil.
How to level up skills in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
In Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, the skills you unlock grow in power the more you use them. After you use them enough to cross a certain threshold, they level up. Keep using skills often so you level them up quickly.
How to unlock equipment abilities in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
As you defeat more enemies and mine more, certain equipment will have powers unlocked that you can release. Do this from the equipment tab in the in-game menu. It is worth checking this after every few combat runs so you are as powerful as you can be for the next one.
How to progress the story when stuck in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
The main story has its own objectives in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. Keep tabs on the Quests part of the in-game menu so you know what to do next in the story. The main story involves rice growing, combat, exploration, and more.
Avoid the night in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
The night has much stronger enemies. Once it gets dark, fast travel back home unless you’re prepared to face very difficult enemies. It is useful to take them on or try once you have much better gear.
Keep your farm clean in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
There are a lot of stones, snails, frogs, and more around the farm. When you’re walking around in the hub (home), if you see an exclamation mark on the ground, go near it and collect the item.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin rice crops tips
Barring the farming tips above, growing rice in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin involves a few different stages. Once you plant the seedlings, you need to wait for them to grow. Once you harvest the rice, you need to set it out to dry and ensure it is properly dry before you take it in. After that, you need to polish it. You can polish it to white rice or leave it brown. Both have their own advantages.
