Originating from the most modest beginnings, dating back to the Harvest Moon series, Story of Seasons has announced the latest instalment in its canon: Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar from developers Marvelous. The farming simulator delivers brand-new features that will affect gameplay at every level and feel incredibly fresh, even for returning players.
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar places you as a new resident in Zephyr Town, a community whose world-famous bazaar has recently fallen on hard times and needs your help to turn things around. By farming animals and crops, as well as making your own delicacies, you can turn your hard work into cold, hard cash at your very own booth at the bazaar. In addition, help your neighbours in Zephyr Town by completing quests and inspiring them to open booths of their own.
The world of Zephyr Town in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is greatly expanded, offering you a large property with vast areas to explore and gather new materials for building, a spacious town square where you can enter various buildings and interact with townsfolk, and, of course, the Grand Bazaar—where you can buy and sell all kinds of goods, build relationships with NPCs (including a magical group of sprites), and more. You’ll also find windmills scattered throughout Zephyr Town to process and improve your goods.
“Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar delivers brand-new features that will affect gameplay at every level and feel incredibly fresh, even for returning players.”
The bazaar itself, when you’re selling, feels like a game within the game. The goal is to design your booth to attract shoppers, expand it with more tables, stock your wares, ring your bell to draw attention and try to sell out to maximize your profits.
Crops, eggs, milk and more can be improved with the care you take on your farm. The happier you make your animals, the better the quality of their byproducts. How you harvest and process your crops—and the quality of seeds you replant—will have a similar impact. Improving your tools will, in the end, make the farming process in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar a whole lot easier.
One of the great additions in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is the introduction of weather’s impact on gameplay. High winds increase the productivity of your windmills, since the blades turn faster. You’ll also be able to take advantage of those winds as you travel with your own glider, letting you cross maps in a literal breeze. Naturally, the weather can wreak havoc as well. Hurricanes may arrive, and if you haven’t properly prepared by protecting your crops with windscreens, you’ll lose them to the storm.
Relationships are also a big part of the story in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. Develop friendships and romances with the people of Zephyr Town to move your story forward. In our preview, I was fostering a romance with Mayor Felix’s daughter—being a part of their lives and helping them resolve issues between them as we moved ahead.
“It can be played a lot of ways and is more immersive than so many of its competitors.”
Enhancing the story and your interaction with the NPCs is the addition of voice acting in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. The voice work helps flesh out the wide array of characters in the game, and the developers have found strong vocal talent to bring these personalities—many of them quite big—to life. The graphics are also greatly improved in the series, creating a vibrant, exciting environment that serves as your virtual sandbox.
As a simulation game with many different activities, the pace at which you play Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar really depends on what you want it to be. Be a modest farmer who occasionally heads into town and sells just enough to keep going, or embrace the hustle—produce as much as you can, sell hard, and become the centre of the town through the help you provide and the relationships you build along the way.
Mark your calendars: Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar launches this summer on Aug. 27 for PC and Nintendo Switch. It will be a great addition to your library if you’re a fan of the simulation genre, as it offers many ways to play and is more immersive than many of its competitors.
