This game is part of the Harvest Moon series, however Being Rune Factory it has slightly different approach. You start the game a boy and get a house and a farm to run. You can perform various actions like planting and gathering crops, fishing, mining and wood chopping. You can also explore the village and make friends with other villagers. In the village there is a message board from which you can accept quests from other characters which is different from the first game in the series.
Besides farming you can also explore the areas outside the village where you can fight monsters and plant seasonal crops. The game has 4 seasons, with different crops to plant during each one. The monsters can also be tames and used to help around on the farm.
Another aspect of this game which makes it different from its predecessor is that you cannot fully experience the game as an adult, you first have to marry and have a child of your own. You can then choose to be a boy or a girl and explore the rest of the game. There are many interesting crafting skills to master and this game can be enjoyed for a very long time (My current save file has more than 50 hours of game play and it is not yet finished).