PREVIEW: Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar

Once again, the future of the Story of Seasons series lies in the franchise taking a look at its past! Marvelous was generous enough to give us a first look at the upcoming Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar remake. Longtime fans might remember this game from the Nintendo DS; the years have been very kind to it indeed.

Right from the get-go, character creation has been revamped. In addition to your name, hair style, and skin tone, players can choose the pronouns the NPCs will use to refer to you. And once you're done with that, you can meet up with the mayor of Zephyr Town, whereupon you can... tell him that there's been a misunderstanding and that you're not the new farmer he was waiting for, leading you to leave the poor man to wait at the town gate until nightfall for a newcomer that will never arrive. Oops.

Beginning in earnest introduces you to Zephyr Town's bazaar, however, the central mechanic of the game. Every week, the Bazaar opens, giving you a small shop to peddle your wares. Crops, seeds, ore, captured bugs and fish... anything you get in the game can be sold here. All it takes is for you to have it on display. There's a surprising amount of depth to the whole endeavor, a kind of rhythm you fall into with ringing your bell once enough passers-by are within earshot, swapping out wares to catch the eye of the watchful buyers, and making sure patrons aren't left waiting for too long. There is also a meter that fills up as you sell wares, reflecting the enthusiasm of the crowd; once they're properly riled up, you can sell items to them en masse (and at a premium). There is plenty of customization at work, as well, with shop decorations or furniture factoring into matters like how much you can have on display, or the basic prices of certain wares.

Of course, the Bazaar is also an opportunity for you to mill around and eye the wares of your fellow villagers. In keeping with Story of Seasons' traditions, many of your neighbors sell things that can help you both on the farm or in town: crop seeds, tools, expansions to your farming facilities, and so on. The Bazaar is also an opportunity for you to meet with your neighbors and chew the fat--which is a great way of romancing any paramour you have your eye on. Also important are the Nature Sprites, Story of Seasons' iconic little fae who hide all over the world. Not only can the Nature Sprites help you at your shop, they're also key to upgrading the quality of your wares; by donating a certain amount of items to the correct Sprite, all associated items (fish, honey, crops, ore) become that much more valuable.

Of course, this all precedes the actual core of the game: the farming. As usual, you'll have your little farm where you can raise crops and rear animals. As usual, the kind of crops you can grow depends on the time of year, and certain crops might earn you more profit at the Bazaar, but might take longer to grow. While the blessings from Nature Spirits affect the baseline quality of your crops, other matters like the happiness of your animals or the fertilizer used on your crops can improve them further. You also have the usual options of catching insects, fishing, cooking, or mining for ore to round out your supplies for the Bazaar. Your animal husbandry can also acquire you a horse to ride around town or into the mountains for faster travel.

A feature I wasn't able to explore much was the weather system. Normally, you can tune into the local radio or television broadcasts to see the forecast, which might save you a few minutes of watering the crops thanks to the rain. But Zephyr Town has another factor you need to worry about: hurricanes. Every so often, a hurricane will blow through the town; players can set up wind-traps and tarps to help protect their crops or apiary, or else have their hard-earned efforts literally blown away. These also require you to invest materials (mostly wood) into constructing them, necessitating that you pay close attention to your lumber supply. On the flipside, the wind can also power the local windmill, which can process some of your crops into new materials like flour or dyes over time. The stronger the wind, the less time it'll take to process.

In my short time with Grand Bazaar, I sadly couldn't explore the romantic options deeply. But romance works the same as it always does: you can grow closer with your neighbors by talking to them every day and giving them gifts. Certain yearly events, like festivals or holidays, can also be used as an opportunity to schmooze and canoodle with your paramour of choice; once your relationship has grown close enough, you can marry them.

So far, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is shaping up to be a great remake. Folks interested in exploring the money-making side of farming can look forward to lots of fun days hawking wares at the bazaar, while folks in need of a new Story of Seasons to round out the summer can look forward to another fun time on the farm. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar launches for Nintendo Switch and Steam this August 27th, 2025.