Caravan SandWitch Review

It isn’t often a studio comes out with an absolute hit on their first try, particularly in the “cozy” game category, as it is one of the most oversaturated at the moment, but Plane Toast appears to have done just that with their first game Caravan SandWitch. This game has all the whimsy you would expect from Caravan SandWitch, along with a story that can really tug on the heartstrings and gameplay that keeps you moving forward.

In Caravan SandWitch, you play Sauge, a girl who has been living away from her home planet for some years. When you start the game, you find that her sister has been missing for some time. She sends a distress call, bringing new hope to the chances of finding her, so you must now return to Sauge’s home and look for her with the messages she has left behind. These messages allow you to explore the world, one which has succumbed to the never-ending creep of nature trying to reclaim. This creates a hostile and harsh environment, which is as exciting to explore as it is bleak to see through the eyes of the natives.

The game does a fantastic job of making the world feel like it could spark a constant state of deja vu. We have never been to this planet before, yet you will get a sense you are returning home. The clutter in the world seems real, and how you can see a once joyous world that has become harsh is a fantastic use of landscaping to make it feel like it was once a bustling place.

On the way to finding your sister, you will help the locals along the way. They will give you fetch quests and missions to help rebuild their world. The human characters are all nice. They are serviceable and kind characters, and you want to help. However, they do lack some depth. Their quests can often be skipped; however, you will often not want to. This is because the quests lead to collecting more resources and upgrading your van, which can also be used to explore more and find more locals.

As you advance in the game, you will meet other characters who seem to be more fleshed out. The frogmen you meet later on in more of the water-based levels are a key example of this. They have an edge, a bite to their character that makes them feel more real, like they truly are well-rounded citizens of this strange, fascinating planet.

The game is full of heart with a central story that helps keep you hooked while you are experiencing the expanded narrative Caravan SandWitch has to show. The characters are fun to interact with, even if some of the human ones can blend into one slightly. Caravan SandWitch does a fantastic job of blending the sweetness of a homecoming to a pleasant planet with the bitterness of a world trapped in the post-apocalypse. This is a mighty fine needle to thread and is done superbly. There is a reason this post-apocalyptic world is still cozy, and that is due to the skill of the writing team.

The gameplay loop of Caravan SandWitch is very simple. You have a van, which you are given early in the game. You complete side quests to improve the van. This allows you to travel to a new area of the map where you can complete more of the main quest. To do this, you need an upgrade on the van to traverse the new terrain more easily. The best way to get these upgrades is by doing side quests. And so on. It is a really fun loop that is hard to put down, leading to some very lengthy play sessions.

The world is surprisingly large, and there is a lot to explore. Different terrains keep it interesting while you are driving around. The desert areas can feel a little sparse as you explore them, but these are a great way to learn to drive a van and navigate the area. The center of the map is more built up, with small towns that start to tumble into each other as well as more woodland areas, which are very fun to look around.

You can track the quests you have been given using a social network called Toaster. This allows characters to reach out with quests they need you to complete. It works like an email service, being about to pin and archive quests. This is a fantastic set of tools, as it means you are less likely to feel overwhelmed by the number of quests you can have at once. It also breaks each quest down into individual tasks, which, again, helps keep the quest menu simple and efficient.

The hud also has a map and inventory. The map has classic waypoints and can give you more information as you upgrade your van. The inventory is very classic for games of this style; it is nothing groundbreaking but perfect for what it needs to do. A lot of the gameplay functions in this way. The controls are simple, and as you would expect, the quests are found easily, and all work cohesively.

There is also traveling outside the van, although this will be your main form of transport for most of the game. You will have to explore parts of the world on foot, completing some light platforming to maneuver your way through the terrain. This all works very well for the most part, particularly on PC. Some playing on Switch has struggled with frame rate issues; there is no combat in the game, so the main area in which this causes a problem is when you are trying to navigate a jump, sometimes jumping far too early or late due to the frames dropping. This is not a game-breaking issue, but it is rather annoying.

Caravan SandWitch has a unique art style that will help set it apart from other cozy games of today. The cartoony style creates a really fun world to play in. The exaggeration built in the art style from the beginning means every character can be given a unique look, helping set them apart. The limited differentiation between the human characters when it comes to their personalities is rectified to some extent by how stunning they all look. Even if you can’t remember someone by their personality, they will likely have a striking visual feature to help them stand out.

The non-human characters are equally unique, each standing out in a really fun way. While it is harder to make them stand out as individuals, after all, there are only so many ways to draw a frog. The team found a way to make the species as a whole feel very special. It is another great way to add personality to the exciting world in which you will spend many hours.

The environment in Caravan SandWitch also has moments where it is amazing, creating a full world that is stuffed to the brim with clutter and personality. These are the town sections where you will spend a large majority of the latter half of the game.

The opening of Caravan SandWitch mostly takes place in a desert area. This section of the game introduces the player to the hostile environment in which they are being welcomed. This area does an amazing job of making an arid arena that perfectly encapsulates the world you are about to explore. However, it is a desert. And unfortunately, deserts are not that fun to look at. It is a shame this takes up so much of the first half of the game, as it is not an accurate representation of the stunning landscapes that lay ahead to explore.

There is no voice acting in Caravan SandWitch. All the story is told through bubbles above the player's heads. Everyone has their personal preference when it comes to whether or not every game even needs voice actors, and this is more of a personal preference situation. However, the bubbles can cause an issue at moments. Often, you will drive around and explore the world you have been introduced to as two characters talk. In order to focus on important dialogue, there were several moments when I found myself swerving off a cliff while trying to keep up with the story.

The game has an excellent fix for such a situation. Rather than having a death screen, if you plummet your van down a drop no one could ever survive, your van is simply returned to the garage. There is then a prompt for you to do the same. While the option to remain exploring on foot is available, the prompt to return to the garage stays on screen, which is very annoying while navigating on foot.

Beyond this, the sound design creates a unique world. The different areas you visit have exclusive sounds and excellent indie music that accompanies much of the game. The sound is a great asset to the game and creates a pleasant atmosphere, which really suits the longer play sessions that are really encouraged when enjoying games like this.

Caravan SandWitch is an amazing addition to the landscape of cozy games. The story has a great narrative that will keep you interested for the long haul. If nonstop action is your thing, then this is not the game for you. However, the fun quests and the developed world available to explore have more than enough for gamers wanting their next story-led escape. The fun art style makes the experience feel new in a genre that has been flooded with copycats lately.