It is an incredible year. A new Rune Factory and a new Story of Seasons? Wonderful. The gist is that while there are some caveats, Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar is another lovely farming slash life simulator from the original creators of the genre, stuffed with charm and beauty.
It looks better than ever. Characters are highly expressive and well animated, bringing more life to interactions which in turn allow the typical amounts of repeated lines to remain enticing, even after you’ve seen them all day. They’re backed up with well-drawn, if not exactly complex, personalities with diverse stories to tell. It remains a joy to get to know all the villagers, find a spouse and do the whole marriage thing.
Farming too is as robust as ever – simple, but effective. There’s the usual density to crops and livestock, and the intricacy of production that is brought to the forebear by windmills. There’s a sense of industrialism to this entry which separates it from other Story of Seasons games, with the focus being firmly on keeping your wallet stocked.
While this is in service of rejuvenating Zephyr Town’s bazaar to its former glory, it does add a point of contention that makes this entry slightly less lovable than the more simple entries. Commerce, capitalism, all that stuff, is the aim of the game. The weekly bazaar does keep the farming element in gear, and prevents it from feeling mechanically aimless as you get further into the game, but the focus on getting money slightly dulls the beating heart of Story of Seasons, adding a slight level of something less… human to the pastoral life. Does this actually matter? No, not really – if anything, the extra mechanical depth pushes this entry to the height of the series in terms of gameplay. The changes are, by and large, very welcome.
Elsewhere, scale is an issue. Zephyr Town, where you’re going to spend many an hour, is quite small. This is alleviated somewhat by new movement mechanics — absolutely a sentence I never imagined writing for a Story of Seasons game — which allows you to jump and glide about the place like some farm-based Batman. While it still becomes a very homely space, especially with the changing seasons, the lack of areas to roam diminishes the appeal somewhat.
One facet where the game really shines is on a technical level, especially given the developer’s past work. We’ve come a long way from the switch version of Rune Factory 5, a game which ran so poorly it was genuinely a little bit sad. The frame rate is solid, the art style is colourful and the resolution is crisp. The Switch 2 version looks to be even better here, but I was unable to test that at the time of review.
Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar is yet another accomplished entry in the storied series, and is well worth taking a chance on if you’re looking for another farming game to occupy your time. I don’t believe it to be the best in the series, but it is very well designed and easy to play.
Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar is available on PC, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
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