First things first, I LOVE the game this Anime is based on, so I review from a point of comparison and focus less on character and story progression. Tensui no Sakuna-hime is a game adaption of "Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin" which is a mix of 2D Hack 'n Slay and 3D Rice farming while containing some RPG elements like the crafting of clothes and weapons. However, as you may know Anime adaptions of video games are kinda a gamble - there are great ones like Persona 4, pretty solid ones like Valkyria Chronicles, and such disappointments you regret you ever watched it (I'm looking atyou, Corpse Party). So which type is Sakuna-hime? Well, let me explain.

If you played the game, you will notice the producers of this Anime didn't just played it as well, they LOVED it! You have the same outfits and voice actors of the characters, the mountain pass, the fields, the cabins are perfectly adapted as well - hell, they even sit in the same order while eating diner. You have some of the comments Sakuna uses in the game like when she steps on the watered field. On plus, every episode contains some information about rice and its planting.
So yeah, they didn't produced this Anime just for the sake of it, you can feel they put their heart in it!

But as I pointed out in another review, an adaption can - but doesn't has to - be close to its source material, so how about the changes?
Well, in the game you have a lot of fighting to explore the island and collect materials, but here, they kept out a lot. On the one hand it's understandable that you can't focus too much on the fights if you only have 13 episodes to tell such a wide story (24 to 26 episodes would have been better), but therefore it's kinda hard to feel all the pressure Sakuna is going through at the beginning of the story. I mean, yes, there are some short fight scenes, but it's only mentioned and not really shown that she has to do so like every day while also planting the rice.
Furthermore, some chronological orders were changed, but not really for the better - the story about Kinta, Yui and the Crane for example takes place in the later game but here it's in the first half of the Anime which let to lose some impact. The same problem occurs within the last episodes with the drama around Tama which they cramed in only one episode instead of building it up in the middle of the story and fulfil it near the end. Therefore it also lacks of impact. Oh... and a similar issue is there when it comes to the volcano and Kokorowa-hime.
Also, there is no mentioning what will happan to all the characters after the end of the story like you had in the game.

However, that all is complaining at a high level since you have a lot of effort put in this Anime and I just can repeat myself that 13 episodes are way too short for such a wide story. That's why when I saw there will be an Anime adaption, I thought they would do 2 seasons to capture everything. So my biggest criticism is just that the Anime is too short, which leads in my opinion to the problem, that the first half feels more like a kind of slice of life and the second part like it forced the rest of the story to happen (even if I wouldn't know the game).
The art is solid and nothing special, but THANK GOD there is no shitty CGI in it! The music is just on top! Most of the time you have the music of the game, which let you feel home if you played it, and the OP and ED just fit perfect and send you good vibes - especially the OP.

In Conclusion, this adaption is solid to great. This Anime has a lot of heart and effort in it and let you feel everything from joy to concern to hope. The only weakness is that it's too short and would has need more episodes to capture everything and to keep a better pacing. But either way, you will have a good time watching it.
If I wouldn't know and love the game, I would say it's just a solid 7 and recommand, from a perspective of a game adaption an 8 or maybe 9 with little mixed feelings.
So, since we unfortunately don't have a 7.5 rating, I round up to 8 and recommand ;)