Meet The Bazaar: a new and addictive auto-battler!

Hi everyone, and welcome to The Bazaar! No, I'm not trying to sell you anything - I want to invite you to meet a new game, an Auto-battler / Hero Builder developed by Tempo.

The Bazaar is available for free, in english, and you can download for either PC or MAC with this link!

In this article, I'll teach you the first steps to the game, how to start playing and what you should know so you can have a successful adventure from beginning to end.

In the Bazaar, so far we have 4 heroes released: Vanessa, Dooley, Pygmalien and Mak. Tempo has also two other heroes that should be released soon: Jules and Stelle, and there may be more and more heroes coming in the future.

Each hero has their own mechanics, unique item pool and skills, with their corresponding synergies. You should explore these synergies to the fullest, since you need the best available items in your board to achieve more victories!

At first, only Vanessa is unlocked. You can unlock other heroes over time, by playing and farming gems, or just buying them with real money.

In my next examples, I will always refer as if you're playing as Vanessa, since she's everyone's first hero, and easier to understand.

This is the first screen you'll see once you start a new game and the first day begins:

1 - Your current PvP wins, ranging from 0 to 10;

2 - The current in-game day and time;

3 - Your Prestige, ranging from 20 to 0.

4 - Your current options: events, shops or enemies to fight;

5 - Your current board, with your items in use.

6 - Your stash, where you store extra items.

7 - Your passive skills.

8 - Your character portrait, with your current level and XP;

9 - Your maximum health or current health during combat;

10 - Your income (gold per day) and your current amount of gold.

It may seem like a lot, but it's very intuitive and you'll quickly get used to it. When you move your cursor over these elements, they'll show additional info, which is very helpful! Try it!

The first thing you'll do once you start a game is choose one of three events:

The choices are, from left to right:

- Start with +12 Gold and +2 Income;

- Start with +6 Gold and one Enchanted Small Item;

- Start with a Gold-level Skill.

The first option is the most flexible, since it allows you more gold and options once you enter the shops to start gathering items.

In the second option, you will pick one out of three small enchanted items from your character's item pool, which means you'll get an item with some kind of power-up, and also some additional gold.

The third option will allow you to choose one out of three gold level skills.

The Bazaar is a crazy place and anything can happen. Choose whichever one you find most interesting and the game will advance to the second hour of the day!

The game is built on a days and hours structure to track your turns and the passing of time. Each day in the game is divided in six hours, and the final number of days will depend on your outcomes in battle: defeat or victory, whichever comes first.

Your first hour of the first day happens like we described in the previous section. Each time you complete an event or visit a merchant, the clock moves forward one hour. With the exception of this first choice on day one, all subsequent days and hours follow the same pattern:

Hours 1, 2, 4, and 5: choose one out of three events and/or merchants;

Hour 3: fight against your choice of one out of three monsters - PvE fight;

Hour 6: fight against a random player's board - PvP fight;

At hours 1, 2, 4, and 5, you will have to choose between a random merchant, a random event, or a random free item or bonus. You'll never see the same merchant or event a second time on the same day.

Each time you select one of these options, you will move the clock forward one hour.

At the third hour of each day, you will have to choose one of three random monsters to fight. The monsters will have different power levels depending on the day you are in, with an increasing difficult as you advance. Defeating these monsters grants you gold, experience, and a random item or skill from their pool.

In the sixth and final hour of each day, you will face a random player's ghost. This is basically an exact reproduction of a player's board that was on the same day as you. Hovering over the event shows additional information about this player, and based on this, you can adjust your board before the fight.

This is the game's meat and potatoes: buying and selling items! After all, that's what a Bazaar is all about, right? Throughout each day, you'll be able to buy, sell or obtain items to develop your battle board.

Items come in 3 different sizes: small, medium and large, and respectively will occupy 1, 2 or 3 slots in your board. Of course, there's a limit to your board, which starts with 4 slots and gains 2 extra slots per level, up to a maximum of 10. Your stash will always have 10 slots available.

When you visit a merchant, they will usually show you three different items, with the exception of some specific merchants. You can also reroll each merchant's item choices once per visit, by paying an amount of gold depending on the merchant's rarity.

To purchase an item, click or drag it from the merchant board to your board or stash. The value of the item is indicated in the bottom left corner, with a label.

You can sell an item by dragging it to the top of the screen, where you see the merchant's portrait. Selling items is allowed at any time in the game when you can rearrange your inventory.

If you run out of space on your board, items obtained from events or merchants will automatically go to your stash.

The stash allows you to store important items for the future, and some of them may even work while they're stashed. Managing your inventory takes practice, but you'll get the hang of it after a few games!

It's an Auto-battler, so as the name probably tells, battles happen automatically. Whoever has the strongest board, wins!

Every battle has the same mechanics, whether against a player or a monster. The difference is in the outcome.

Monsters give you loot and experience when defeated, but you don't lose anything if you are defeated.

Against players, you score 1 point, to a maximum of 10 points, when you win. If you lose the fight, you lose prestige equal to the day you are in. This means that a loss in the early days is much less significant than a loss in later days. You always start with 20 prestige points.

It's important to remember that there are no draws: if both fighters are reduced to 0 or less health at the same time, the victory is still yours!

The ultimate goal is to win 10 battles against other players' ghosts. However, if you lose all your prestige, the game gives you a second chance event, and you continue your run but with 1 prestige left. If you lose your next battle, it is game over and you will be taken to the results screen.

Your final result depends on the number of wins on PvP Battles:

0-3 Wins: “Unfortunate Journey”

4-6 Wins: Bronze Trophy

7-9 Wins: Silver Trophy

10 Wins: Gold Trophy

10 Wins and 20 or more Prestige left: Perfect Victory (Diamond Trophy)

Once you start playing ranked matches, you'll also earn chests, where you can get skins and gems. I recommend you first get used to the basics on normal mode, and once you're feeling ready you start playing ranked mode!

And that's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this basic tutorial on how to start playing The Bazaar, and that you have as much fun as I did with this rich and wonderful game.

If you want to learn more about the game and watch some gameplay, you can click here and check out my YouTube channel!

I wish you all a great day, a great week and great purchases and fights in The Bazaar!