It’s that time of year again! The Lords are at PAX East once more, and we are covering multiple exciting announcements, reveals, and more.
One of the many exciting games at the show is Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. The upcoming cozy farming experience had a two-part 30-minute demo playable at PAX East. After playing through here, here are my thoughts.
What is Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar?
Revisiting a prior classic release from the Nintendo DS era, XSEED & Marvelous Games describe Grand Bazaar with the following via official press release:
Inspired by the classic handheld title, the new STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar builds up and improves on the original in every conceivable way.
The world is bigger and more alive than ever thanks to incredible new visuals, new characters, expanded story, and full character voice work in story events—a series first. Take advantage of Zephyr Town’s unique weather, using the wind to make travel and farm tasks a breeze! The winds of change are coming to deliver your new life in STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar.
Demo Impressions
My hands-on with the Grand Bazaar consisted of two demo sessions, each 15 minutes long. Each focused on different aspects of the game.
Farming/Land Building Experience
Waking up in my house, I was guided to go outside and explore my land. Seeing empty plots of land, I was tasked with planting seeds, watering the land, and even looking over the animals on my property.
Controls for farming felt responsive and fully support the Switch 2 Mouse controls, though my hands-on was with the PC build.
The biggest draw for me on this side of the experience was the zen-like nature of the farming mechanics, and this experience builds into other aspects of the game.
A Grand Bazaar – Town Exploration
After my short 15-minute session farming and looking over my land, I was guided to the Grand Bazaar, told to sell my goods grown and harvested. Exploring the town, there is much to see.
With enjoyable running and jumping controls, I effortlessly explored the Grand Bazaar and talked to the many NPCs in the area. I used my gold to buy extra items to sell during the shop mini-game, which happens twice a day.
The mini game doesn’t begin until you set up your shop. This involves customizing its appearance and placing items you want to sell on display. Once that’s all done, the mini-game begins, and the player is frantically moving around their shop to sell to their customers.
It’s Selling Time! – Shop Mini-Game
Frantically selling your goods left to right, ringing your bell to attract more customers, and a ‘final round’ where you button mash A to sell one of your items in bulk; it was an enjoyable experience and a great reward for your hard work farming and buying goods.
Closing Thoughts on ‘Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar’
Like my experience playing Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, I had never touched this series before. So playing it for the first time at PAX East and easily getting its mechanics was a treat.
I can’t wait to play more Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar when it releases on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on August 27th, 2025.
