Welcome to Zephyr Town.
Population: Approximately 20
Notable landmarks: 1 mountain, 3 windmills, 1 derelict farm, and 1 sad-looking weekly bazaar
Enter you, a new hotshot farmer who’s just arrived in town, ready to start tilling, growing, and selling your crops. Felix, the huge and boisterous mayor, makes it very clear that Zephyr Town is in trouble, and worryingly seems to be placing the town’s fate squarely on your shoulders, as he explains that the bazaar needs to return to its former glory in order for the town to thrive.
Like most farming games, it’s a pretty straight-forward setup and exists to get you growing and selling crops. It’s not without charm though, partially helped by some fun voice acting (and quite a lot of it, which surprised me), and delightful visuals which look great and really pop on the Switch 2 screen. I didn’t expect the game to look or run as well as it does, and it makes a huge difference in getting you invested in the world.
So, your goal is to take the titular bazaar and turn it into a popular, renowned weekly event that brings people to the town, both as traders and customers. You do this by setting up a stall every Saturday and selling your wares alongside your fellow Zephyr Town citizens. This is a fun, chaotic process which has you put your stock out on shelves then ring a bell as people walk past to tempt them over.
You’ve got to serve people, keep shelves stocked and swap items out for the things people want, and it’s a fun mechanic that doesn’t get overused due to it only occurring once a week. Additional depth is later introduced with decorating your stall and “ultimate” style abilities that increase your sales power, and I found myself eagerly rushing through the week at times to get to the next bazaar to see how much profit I could make from my latest batch of goods.
While the first few bazaars are small affairs, you’ll soon be picking up quests to add new vendors and selling more and more produce, which all contributes towards your Bazaar Level. Hit the next threshold and the bazaar increases a level and the story progresses. It’s a simple but easy-to-follow hook and gives some much needed structure that some farming games lack.
When you’re not hawking cabbages and milk at the bazaar you’ll be enjoying some fairly standard Story of Seasons gameplay. You’ve got crops to tend to, and with the introduction of windmills later in the game you can start breeding seeds to increase your crop quality, and therefore make more money. There’s livestock to care for, cooking, fishing, mining, and all the usual things you’d expect in a farm game. What I really love about Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is how streamlined a lot of this is.
As you upgrade your tools or character you unlock new ways to make it easier to deal with your ever-growing farm. Double jumping and using a tool or item allows you to be more efficient, watering nine squares in one go, or sowing nine squares of seeds. It comes at the cost of your stamina, and with a big farm you’ll get tired quickly, but there’s a bath in your house you can use to replenish yourself, or you can simply whip up something to eat in the kitchen. It feels like the game respects your time, and knows that farming one square at a time isn’t fun, so these additions are hugely appreciated.
One side-effect of the game being so efficient though is that I often found myself running out of things to do by lunch time. I’d built such a good routine in the morning, tending to crops and livestock, setting fertiliser to process in the windmill (and so on) that my farm work was finished by about 11am every day, then I’d spend a bit of time foraging or mining, or working on some of the requests the townsfolk had for me and then was left twiddling my thumbs.
I think this speaks to the way I play these games, as I could have gone around speaking to everyone and giving them gifts to work on our friendships, but my focus was wholly on making as much money as possible from the weekly bazaar and so everything else felt secondary. It’s not the fault of the game, but it did feel a bit odd sending my farmer to bed every day before he’d even eaten any lunch.
It’s a minor gripe with a game that I found much more addictive than I’d expected. As a complete package with the irresistible gameplay loop, the lovely visuals and upbeat recognisable Story of Seasons soundtrack, it’s a game that farming fanatics are going to love. Whether you’re like me and are obsessed with making as much money as possible or you want to get to know the people around town, build relationships and even start a family, it’s a game that seems to let you play the way you want to and I think that should be commended.
