225+ "Very Positive" reviews in 2 days: New life-sim just launched on Steam to solid reception
The farming sim genre has always had a steady following, and Marvelous has just revived one of its older handheld entries for a new audience. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar released on Steam on August 27, 2025, and it reintroduces Zephyr Town’s once-famous marketplace in a whole new form.
The original Grand Bazaar first appeared on the Nintendo DS in 2010. It was well-received too. In the game, players have to run a market stall alongside farming traditionally. While it didn’t earn the same recognition as Friends of Mineral Town or A Wonderful Life, the game still held its place in series history for its focus on community-driven commerce. The new release takes those ideas and builds on them with upgraded visuals, voice acting, and more detailed systems.
Players are tasked with restoring prosperity to Zephyr Town by farming, raising animals, crafting goods, and selling them at the weekly bazaar. The town’s wind-based setting also plays a huge role in gameplay, since it allows the use of gliders and windmills for travel and production. Unlike more solitary farming sims, Grand Bazaar centers a lot around the bazaar system, where players customize stalls and attract customers.
The game's world has been expanded with additional characters and story events, all fully voiced for the first time in the series. Players can explore relationships, build families, and interact with both townsfolk and magical creatures like Nature Sprites.
Within its first days on Steam, the game has earned a "Very Positive" review aggregate from over 225 reviews as of writing. Players say that it is way more polished compared to recent Story of Seasons releases. Across the web, some reviews describe it as "the best Story of Seasons game in years," thanks to the balance of farming, selling, and character interaction.
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is priced at $49.99 on Steam. The system requirements are modest, asking for at least an Intel i5-7400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2400, 8GB of RAM, and a GTX 1050 or RX 560 graphics card, with higher-end specs recommended for smoother play.
