Stardew Valley’s Original Inspiration Just Teamed Up With Rune Factory For A Special Collab DLC: 2025 Is The Year Of Cozy Games
Countdown begins: a major reveal is imminent, with first details set to drop any moment. Expect a shake-up as anticipation hits fever pitch.
Cozy game worlds are colliding again, and this one makes a ton of sense. The farming-life series that basically set the blueprint for Stardew Valley is crossing over into Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma as a free DLC. Yes, free. Yes, I am already clearing my schedule.
What just happened
Developer/publisher Marvelous quietly dropped the news on social, confirming that Guardians of Azuma is getting a Story of Seasons collaboration built specifically around Grand Bazaar.
"Guardians of Azuma will have a special Story of Seasons collaboration."
"The free DLC, 'Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar,' is coming soon."
"Stay tuned for more details."
That was posted September 19, 2025. No date, no feature list, just a tease and a title. Still, it tells us plenty about the direction.
The short version (so far)
- It is a free crossover DLC for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.
- It is themed specifically around Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar.
- Marvelous announced it on September 19, 2025.
- There are no content specifics yet, just a promise that it is "coming soon."
- This is content coming into Guardians of Azuma, not the other way around.
Why this pairing works
Rune Factory has always been the action-RPG cousin to Story of Seasons' cozy crop-spiral, so a Grand Bazaar-flavored add-on sliding into Guardians of Azuma is basically comfort food. My guess (pure speculation) is that this skews more farming and life-sim than dungeon-crawly, leaning into Grand Bazaar vibes rather than Azuma's RPG muscle. If they go harder on market days, trading, or festival energy, none of us are complaining.
For what it is worth, both games are already sitting pretty with "Very Positive" ratings on Steam. And if you are wondering how deep my bias goes: I have logged 100+ hours in both Grand Bazaar and Guardians of Azuma, and I already wrote up why Grand Bazaar keeps pulling me back. This DLC all but guarantees I am about to sink another hundred.
Fans are already yelling (same)
Even with zero details, the replies got loud fast. Personal favorites: "I AM READY" and the chaotic "I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IT ISSS!" Same energy here. Until Marvelous shows their hand, we are connecting dots and projecting cozy-marketplace fantasies.
Big-picture tease from the devs
Marvelous has been open about the long game for Rune Factory. The Guardians of Azuma director recently described the series' endgame like this:
"The final form is a game you can keep living in forever, but whether we can actually pull it off is a completely different story."
Inside baseball? A little. But a Grand Bazaar crossover is exactly the kind of step that nudges Rune Factory closer to that live-in-the-world ideal. Now we just need the when, the what, and how many cows.