Caravan SandWitch

This game does so many things right. For a relatively small game, there is a lot of lore and worldbuilding. Story is well paced, with satisfying ending, and side quest provide many interesting details about the world. Chatacters are likeable and funny, and you start caring about them - which actually matters for the story. As for the gameplay it's rather simple, chill and relaxing. It was a good decison, that your character cannot die and the van is indestructible. Thanks to this, we can have an open world without saving and reloading, nothing interrupts the flow. The main game loop is driving to a point of interest, solving a spatial puzzle (with a lot of verticality), collecting quest items, and moving to the next. Also, there are some little secrets and observation points spread around the world. The van is your multitool for solving puzzles, and some of the locations are locked behind van upgrades. I.E. you cannot open that door, until you get certain upgrade. Locations in game provide enough varations for the puzzle gameplay to keep it interesting for the 12 - 13 hours gameplay (a very healthy length), though the game is easy. None of the puzzles should stop you for more than a few minutes, which is a good thing to keep the game chill and relaxed as it is. I have only two nitpicks. First, is that van driving is underplayed. Sadly this is one of those open worlds, where, while moving from point A to point B, you spend more time looking at minimap and quest markers, than the world itself. The game even gives you quest marker, when your task is to follow a certain object in the world. So instead of looking at said object, you look at minimap. For me, examples of open world games, that succesfully avoid the quest marker fallacy are Snowrunner, The Long Dark, Project Zomboid and Stalker series. In each of those games, navigating the environmental challenges while moving between locations is a pillar of gameplay. On the opposite are games like Horizon Zero Dawn or Bethesda Fallouts, where you rather use fast travel, than actually walk between A and B, because walking adds nothing to gameplay. Similar is Caravan Sandwitch: there is a lot of backtracking, and after some 3 - 4 hours I regreted, that there is no fast travel. Another nitpick is a bit too many "collectible" quests, that require you to find 5 pieces of this or 10 pieces of that, spread randomly around the world. IMO this is the worst and most lazy type of quests, that modern open worlds have to offer. Exploration should be about surprise and finding valuable information, not about tedious wall licking. You know, which game did exploration right? The original Unreal from 1998. Anyway, the game is really, really good, and those two nitpicks don't change that. I wholeheartedly recommend it, even at full price.

My biggest issue with this game is the exploration.. you're locked out and stopped from exploring all the time because you don't have the upgrades you need yet, so I thought I'd progress the main story and come back later when I had everything, except you can't even do that because you need components to progress so you gotta keep exploring and leave things half finished... also, when you finally have every tool it still won't be enough because you have sections locked behind antennas that you unlock as you continue the story.. which you need to do IN ORDER mind you.. also hope you don't trigger a cutscene and the game teleports you outside when you weren't done exploring. Some quests will also guide you where you need to go and you won't be able to do anything else or even get outside your van while doing them. The world is really small and the quests will take you to the same places multiple times, and together with everything being locked behind the main story it feels REALLY LINEAR and like I have little freedom, it's an exploration game that does everything it can to stop you from exploring. The art is good, the soundtrack has some good tracks but it's mostly forgettable, the story is okay, it serves more as a background, the dialogue can be tiring and go on too long sometimes. The game is okay, still recommending it since it has a few good moments but be warned.

If this game looks at all interesting, I highly recommend trying the demo to see if you like it. I played for a minute or two and then just bought it so I could play the full game. It's beautiful, bright, very fun to explore, the controls are smooth, and the story is interesting and the side quests have meaning and value (even a fetch quest provides an excuse to explore and rewards you with a party and some character backstory). There's also an impressive amount and variety of accessibility options--I turned on a few of the audio cue options and it made gentle distinct pings when in reach of ladders and ziplines and when certain items were detected on my radar. The one thing I will note, for completionists, is that it's possible to get 100% of the achievements in a single playthrough. [Spoiler]As I reached the end,[/spoiler] I was concerned about two apparently mutually exclusive achievements and possibly needing to play through a second time. However, [spoiler]after choosing an ending, if you go back and select to continue, it will start you back before you choose to start the ending sequence.[/spoiler] I just really appreciated that thoughtful bit of design; I liked the game a lot and may revisit it, but I didn't want to force myself to play through a second time right away just to get an achievement.

Right now game feels like standard unreal engine 5 third person template. Game has problem with lack of settings example mouse(mouse acceleration and smoothing) and graphics settings. Otherwise 5/10 game not good not bad. Game has interesting graphical design and ok gameplay. But a lot of story can be skipped if you just jump at right position. Tldr: If you can buy it from sale for 5 euros buy it but current retail price is just too hight for this experience

Magnifique jeu très paisible. open-world d'exploration sans combat ni mort. Pour celles et ceux qui aiment le contemplatif sans stress. Cell shading somptueux, sons et musiques très soignés. Histoire originale "post-apo" et personnages très attachants. Mention spéciale pour la qualité de la langue française inclusive aux diversités de genre.

6/10

enjoyed it very much, fun exploration, very chill game, nice stories, some very cute characters, ribbit

The game is alright. It certainly looks good, part of what pulled me in in the first place, with its vibrant artstyle and interesting setting. And yet, while playing it, I kept having this feeling there was missing something to really grab my attention and hook me in. Especially when it comes to exploring this stunning yet forsaken land. It's still fun driving around and seeing some interesting structures in the distance peaking my interest, or unlocking new abilities to gain access to areas previously inaccessable, feeding that sense of curiousity and adventure, but eventually exploring those places did not end up feeling all that rewarding to be honest. You'll mainly be climbing a bunch of ladders and ledges, jumping over gaps and pushing buttons to open doors or lower more ladders to climb, to ultimately just gather up more curcuit boards. Not only did that feel slightly underwhelming, there is also little challenge to be found there, just button pushing to continue. There are these towers with signal jammers you have to take down which are scattered across the map and once you reach them it is no more than a button push to deactivate them. No taking out a device and getting a minigame or button sequence, just press X and you've destroyed it. That's it. in general it made the gameplay come across as basic, uninspired and shallow. And that goes for the story and the characters involved as well. I get it, cozy game. Community, love, inclusivity, no stress. But I just didn't care for the frictionless, surface level small talk and writing. It actually felt like a choir to me getting through the early part of the game. Eventually I just started to spam the X button to get through all the dialogue and get back to the game. All in all, there is definitely something there to enjoy, even though it being pretty basic imo. But I guess that is what cosy gamers are looking for. So if that is the case, I can recommend.

Ein süßes und entspanntes Indie Game zum durchspielen am Wochenende. Die Story ist zwar genauso spannend wie mein Leben......also kein bisschen, aber das Spiel macht an sich nach ca. 1 etwas Spaß da es sehr entspannend ist. Joa wenn du Rentner bist und langsam spielst, dauert es so seine 6-7 Stunden sonst kannst du auch schon nach 5 wieder deinstallieren. Nur Liebe ♥

Un jeu rafraichissant qui ne prétend pas être un must have, fait preuve d'humilité et atteint ses objectifs. Une exploration relaxante, avec des personnages attachants et un gameplay simple et efficace. La DA reflète d'ailleurs parfaitement ces choix et colle à l'ambiance. Alors ce que le jeu perd en suspens, en ampleur (le lore n'est pas si grand)... il le gagne en charme et réussit à donner une dimension humaine aux différents personnages. Bon, l'écriture inclusive nuit, pour moi, un peu aux dialogues, mais ce serait dommage de s'y arrêter. En résumé un bon moment, qui peut même convenir aux plus jeunes, avec une petite touche écolo pas si courante et bienvenue.