In case you’re in the marketplace for a comparatively stress-free journey with a deal with exploration — and a surprisingly partaking story — then Caravan SandWitch would be the recreation for you. Set on a largely abandoned planet, protagonist Sauge returns to the place she as soon as known as dwelling in an effort to monitor down her older sister, who’s been presumed lifeless for six entire years. Nonetheless, having been pinged by an emergency message simply days earlier than her journey begins, Sauge merely cannot ignore her newfound hope.
The plot unfolds as you traverse an open world stuffed with previous roads, a variety of sand, and the ruins of a as soon as bustling, planet-poisoning civilisation. Environmentalism is on the coronary heart of the title’s narrative, though the developer’s well-meaning messages by no means cloud the sport’s need to inform a character-based story. It is an intriguing story, and you will find your self pushing for emotional closure on Sauge’s behalf.
You will not be exploring all the map on foot, although. Sauge is presented the world’s final working car — a pleasingly sq. van — proper close to the start of the sport, and a lot of your time with Caravan SandWitch shall be spent bumbling alongside on this satisfyingly bumpy journey.
Progress is gated by van upgrades, as fundamental story targets require using instruments like an environmental scanner, or a grappling hook — each of that are connected to your car. They’re unlocked through the gathering of previous machine parts, which will be discovered both by means of exploration, or by finishing character-driven facet quests. It is truly a tightly designed expertise, as you may typically revisit sure ruins and discover that your newest gadget opens up a complete new space, or extra secrets and techniques.
The journey lasts round six or seven hours, and for probably the most half, it is enjoyably breezy. Nonetheless, proceedings do really feel a little bit padded at particular factors, with an emphasis on travelling forwards and backwards between key places. What’s extra, a complete lack of significant rewards — exterior of character growth — places a dampener on some moderately time-consuming facet quests.
Caravan SandWitch is only a actually nice online game. It may be a bit tough across the edges by way of animations and technical efficiency, however its story intrigues, and its atmospheric model of exploration is essentially a delight.