Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Preview - A relaxing farming game with a twist

The Story of Seasons series is returning this summer, with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, a remake of a 2008 Nintendo DS title - launched in Europe in 2011 - back when it was still called Harvest Moon. Now, Harvest Moon is owned by American company Natsume, who keeps releasing games in the series (the latest, Harvest Moon: One World in 2021), although make no mistake: Story of Seasons, from Marvelous is the original Harvest Moon, and arguably is superior, although the game that has just been revealed during the latest Nintendo Direct is more of a side project, before the series gets a bigger upgrade in the future.

This year, Marvelous will launch two titles from the series very closely together: first, there will be Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, which launches on May 30 on Nintendo Switch and PC, and looks to be a really strong evolution for the series, which mixed the usual farming with action-RPG and fantasy settings. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar launches on August 27 on Nintendo Switch and PC, and as we said before, it is a remake of a DS title.

Years ago, Marvelous announced a new Story of Seasons focused on multiplayer, but this is not the one. In fact, multiplayer options from the original DS game have been removed from the remake, to focus on the single-player. This title brought a unique twist to the formula: the town where it takes place, Zephyr Town, is famous for its bazaar, a street market that happens every Saturday and that attracts people from all over the world. Or at least it used to do before it lost its stardom... and now our job consists of returning the Grand Bazaar to its former glory, by getting the capitalism wheel rolling, by buying and selling (and even re-selling) everything that you come across in the game.

That has interesting implications. It means that the game, while still being mostly relaxing and open ended, now gives you a more concrete goal: to maximise our crop and ranch production (this is a farming game, after all) so that you can maximise profits later. This could give the players a greater sense of entertainment and purpose, but we fear that the focus on the profit-making could mean that now there is a "correct way" to play the game that somehow contradicts the care-free and idyllic nature of the series. Although, to be honest, it doesn't look like the management of the market is very deep anyway.

The act of selling in itself is a mini-game. First, you choose which and how many of the objects you have in your inventory that you want to put on sale, and when the bazaar opens, you have to ring a bell to entice bystanders to go to your stand, who, judging from the short demo we played, will buy anything you offer them without giving much thought. You can add decorations to your stand to have some boosting effects on the prices, but you cannot directly raise or lower prices, which is weird for a game based on managing a store. Yet it's almost a relief, as it could have led to some awkward situations with your neighbours...

Aside from the bazaar, the game also has the usual features from the Story of Seasons games: you can befriend townsfolk and even romance them. There is a focus on collecting items, exploring the area - with an emphasis on verticality thanks to a new paraglider - and a lot of cooking too, with 260 recipes you can cook from your own ingredients.

Story of Season: Grand Bazaar looks charming as usual, but it is clear that is comes from a Nintendo DS game. It's greatly improved, but fans who were expecting a leap forward in the series might be left disappointed, and we would suggest them to check out the new Rune Factory instead. However, the focus on the marketplace sounds interesting enough to add a distinct element to the game. It should provide a bigger goal for the game, focusing on earning profit and attracting more buyers to the town, without getting in the way of the relaxing experience of playing a farming game with chibi-like characters.