The Bazaar

The Bazaar is a unique and highly addictive auto-battler roguelike with excellent gameplay mechanics, beautiful art, and immersive sound design. Players praise its infinite replayability, strategic depth, and distinct heroes, which offer varied playstyles. The asynchronous nature allows players to engage at their own pace, making it accessible and enjoyable for many hours.

However, the game is marred by poor management, frequent monetization shifts, and harsh community moderation. The developer, Tempo and its CEO, have repeatedly changed the business model—from NFT-based to free-to-play, subscription, and now a premium buy-to-play model with expensive DLC heroes—often without sufficient notice. This has alienated early backers and caused distrust. Additionally, community criticism is met with bans across official forums, Discord, and Reddit, creating a toxic environment. Technical issues and balance problems also persist, though the core gameplay remains strong.

Highlights

Players consistently praise the deep and engaging gameplay mechanics, highlighting the strategic complexity and variety of builds. The art style and sound design receive high marks for polish and thematic coherence. The asynchronous auto-battler format is appreciated for allowing relaxed play sessions without time pressure. Many consider it one of the best games in its genre, with unique heroes and an expansive item pool that encourage experimentation and creativity.

Replayability is noted as nearly limitless, with frequent content updates that add new cards and heroes, keeping the experience fresh for long-term players.

Criticisms

The most common criticisms focus on the developer's poor communication and frequent monetization changes, which have frustrated and alienated the player base. Early promises of free-to-play access and in-game currency hero unlocks were broken, replaced by expensive DLC and paywalls. The community management is heavily criticized for censorship and banning players for any negative or even neutral feedback, leading to distrust and a hostile environment.

Technical issues such as bugs, crashes, and slow UI persist. Balance problems remain a concern, with dominant meta strategies and delayed nerfs causing frustration. The high price point and fragmented content access further deter new players.