For those who’re available on the market for a comparatively stress-free journey with a concentrate on exploration — and a surprisingly participating story — then Caravan SandWitch stands out as the sport for you. Set on a largely abandoned planet, protagonist Sauge returns to the place she as soon as known as dwelling to be able to observe 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 filled with previous roads, lots 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 want 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 your complete 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 can be spent bumbling alongside on this satisfyingly bumpy experience.
Progress is gated by van upgrades, as major story goals require the usage of instruments like an environmental scanner, or a grappling hook — each of that are hooked up to your car. They’re unlocked by way of the gathering of previous machine elements, which may be discovered both via exploration, or by finishing character-driven aspect quests. It is truly a tightly designed expertise, as you will usually revisit sure ruins and discover that your newest gadget opens up an entire new space, or further secrets and techniques.
The journey lasts round six or seven hours, and for essentially 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 somewhat time-consuming aspect 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 basically a delight.