remakes of Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful Life, which were largely kept exactly the same save for a handful of modernizations, this one takes a different approach. At a recent hands-on event, the development team shared that while the aforementioned pair of remakes were made for fans, Grand Bazaar is a team favorite that they felt didn’t reach its full potential upon its initial release.

Because of this, instead of being a beat-for-beat remake, Grand Bazaar instead takes the approach of utilizing the original as a basic framework to build on. It still takes place in Zephyr Town and centers much of its gameplay around the titular bazaar, but a good deal of the title has been expanded upon, like the addition of more marriage candidates, full voice acting, and new map areas. During my hour with the game, I was able to experience a few days of spring and a few of summer, in order to try out two different iterations of my stand at the bazaar as it grows over time.

A Warm Welcome To Zephyr Town

A Charming City With A Once-Great Marketplace

The very first thing that stood out to me about Grand Bazaar was Felix, the extremely energetic mayor who is full of more verve than ever thanks to the game’s new voice acting. Throughout an introductory conversation - one that kept me grinning the entire time thanks to the actor’s performance - Felix informed me that Zephyr Town used to be home to a world-renowned bazaar that’s since fallen out of favor. As is tradition with this genre, much of the onus for the marketplace’s revitalization is placed on the player, but this particular proposition was more appealing than many.

Some of my favorite entries in the Story of Seasons franchise are ones that subvert part of the typical formula, like A Wonderful Life, which balances relationships and child-rearing with usual farm labor. Bazaar achieves this same appeal through a combination of a few different factors. For one, the simplification of some elements - the massive machinery elements of Pioneers of Olive Town are nowhere to be seen, with the game instead focusing on more homegrown-feeling, small-scale farming and crafting. Even larger a draw is the bazaar itself, which eschews much of the traditional economic format seen in the genre.

How The Titular Grand Bazaar Works

Fetching The Highest Price For Homegrown Goods

The bazaar takes place every Saturday, and there’s a huge range of what players can sell at their stall. Crops, animal products, prepared food, fish, bugs, flowers, and more can be offered to customers, and higher-quality items will fetch higher prices. Just like in the original game, players will have a stock supply which they’ll pull from to stock their display table. Players opening their stall will enter a minigame that consists of ringing a bell to draw customer attention, doling out requested objects in a timely manner, and restocking the table as necessary.

I experienced two different bazaars: the first that serves as a tutorial, and a second that took place in summer once my character had become a bit more established. The second time around, I had a day to prepare, which I spent gathering crops, cooking, fishing, and crafting. Certain items trend over time at the bazaar - for example, in my playthrough white dye was trending, so I gathered as many flowers as I could and headed to my farm’s windmill, which gradually crafts dyes and other products over the course of the day depending on wind speed.

Once per stall opening, players can call upon the Nature Sprites - who make a debut in this version after not appearing in the original - to deliver a special cheer bonus that ramps up business. As players earn profits, they’ll be able to upgrade their booth with new tables and other decorative options, for which they can earn a decor bonus. The overall bazaar itself will also improve, garnering more vendors and customers as players level it up through their sales.

The bazaar is full of other vendors as well, with both Zephyr Town villagers and out-of-towners setting up shop there. During my second bazaar, I walked around to all the sellers available, and it was an impressive array for only one month in, with stalls for things like farm renovations, ore, and clothing - Mayor Felix even sells Felix Techniques, which are essentially boosts to player abilities. Characters around town with dreams of opening their own stall will sometimes enlist the player for help, and a few even did so during my brief playtime, like a café owner asking for ingredients to open a food stall.

The Biggest Changes In The SoS: Grand Bazaar Remake

More Mechanics, Characters, Places To Explore, & More

There are many ways besides the obvious graphics upgrade and voice acting that the new Grand Bazaar sets itself apart from the original. Like marriage in Friends of Mineral Town’s remake, there are two new candidates, Arata and Diana, adding to the original roster of Jules, Dirk, Lloyd, Angelo, Amir, Sophie, Antoinette, Freya, Daisy, and Emiko, and players can marry either gender. Relationships in general can now also be built via waving, which will help players maintain heart levels with characters they don’t necessarily care about talking to every day.

The Grand Bazaar remake really struck me as what could potentially be the most ambitious and promising remake yet.

This is especially helpful considering that marriage candidates aren’t the only characters added, with the total number of townsfolk increasing to 38. Getting around to talk to everyone is easier now, too - Zephyr Town is famous for its breezes, which can now also be utilized for exploration; the town has a tiered layout where the wind can carry players from place to place with a glider. There are also new jumping moves for use on the farm, allowing players to do things like water many crops at one with a big leap.

While in the original ore was only forageable or available for purchase at the market, players can now break rocks like in other franchise entries to collect it. The fishing minigame now relies on hitting the right directional buttons in a timed limit, rather than mashing the A button. Recipes can now have a personal touch added with an additional ingredient, which in turn makes them sell for more. The player character can now receive a personal touch as well, with customization being introduced in the remake.

Story Of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Remake Is Shaping Up Nicely

A New Twist On A Fan-Favorite With Lots Of Potential

The Grand Bazaar remake really struck me as what could potentially be the most ambitious and promising remake yet - and that’s coming from someone who gave SoS: A Wonderful Life remake one of my highest review scores ever. The full voice acting and major graphics overhaul immediately left an impression, and I was only left increasingly impressed as I started playing. This entry being a developer favorite the team wanted to improve upon, versus a more straightforward remake, means there will probably be more surprises and expanded features that I wasn’t able to discover in my short time with the title.

Even in my hour or so playing, I found myself getting into the classic “just one more day” loop. I was getting sidetracked by wanting to complete villager requests, finding myself interested in the characters, and getting a massive dopamine rush from earning massive profits from my bazaar stall. When my time was up, I was sad to leave my farm, which bodes very well for when the full Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar releases this summer.

ScreenRant attended a special event for the purpose of this preview.