Game Review: Caravan SandWitch

By JT

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC

Developed by Studio Plane Toast, Caravan SandWitch is an open world game that promises a relaxing experience, a captivating narrative, and maybe even a good message to go along with everything else. It's out now on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC. We're going to be looking at the PC version today.

​As the main protagonist, Sauge, you begin your journey waking up inside of a Space Station having just received a distress signal from your sister’s ship. You then take a train from the Space Station to the world of Cigalo, a desolate world full of remnants of a long lost past. From there your journey begins. It’s up to you to find your sister, and help fix the planet along the way. You'll witness a world ravaged by the elements, all the while picking up and recycling components, fixing robots, and being watched. While the message about being kind and taking care of the world is hammered into your head every step of the way, the storytelling leaves something to be desired. Despite a mysterious figure watching your every move from a distance, the game at least manages to be relaxing. Death is also nonexistent. There's a lot to cover here, so let's back up a bit.

From the moment you start up Caravan SandWitch, you know what is likely to follow. The game sends you plenty of hints at a very rapid pace before you even make it to the planet. You’re given a bit of a tutorial at the start, and shown a bit about the platforming and dialogue options. In your haste to leave the Space Station, you meet a girl named Nefle who also would like to leave via train. After a quick dialogue exchange, you both take your seats and leave for new adventures. The train shoots through space as the credits appear on screen, music plays, and overall it’s not a bad introduction to the game. Upon landing, some context is given as to why you’re both there. While Sauge is looking for her sister, Nefle is looking to put an end to a dust and lightning storm, something that is called the TARAASK Storm. After finding a snack bar, my first thought was that I could eat it, but no, it’s used for a side quest later in the game. As I mentioned earlier, there’s no dying here, so that means you won’t be able to eat any food you collect.

Not long after that opening section, we’re introduced to Grandma Rose who coincidentally crashed her van into a nearby tree. After taking it to a garage in a nearby village for repairs, you meet another group of friends. They teach you all about signal jammers and how to deactivate them, and you also get a glimpse of someone watching from afar. It's one of the Nomads of this world. These Nomads are also known as Witches, as in the titular "Witches" in Caravan SandWitch. These Witches are mysterious and some people in the world question their existence. Despite this, it soon becomes obvious that they are very much real. What does this Witch following you want? Well, to stop the Consortium of course. The Consortium is a large corporation that's exploiting the planet’s resources for profit. You're clearly better than all that of course, and you  take part in cleaning up the planet by harvesting components. Collecting these components, which are used to upgrade the van, is one of the most tedious things you'll do in the entire game, and it drags you down right from the start. Once you’re out there traversing the empty wasteland, picking up components becomes much easier with each upgrade. Sadly components serve no other practical in-game use besides van upgrades. The only tool you have at your disposal for the first chapter is one that scans the area for items. See them locked away behind a door? Too bad, better come back when you have the proper equipment. It wouldn’t be all that bad if there were more things to do, but there really isn’t all that much.

Caravan SandWitch has a very limited quest-line, with some being taken away at the end of a chapter, and others added from the start of the next. With the amount of parts you get sometimes, it would have just been quicker to simply look around for them. Attempting to get the parts necessary to upgrade the van was a total slog to get through the first time aroun. It became easier with additional upgrades, but the time it took really wore me out during the first few hours. By pressing the R button, you’re able to return to the van at almost any time, and from almost anywhere, and that was a huge plus when exploring for parts. Each chapter also dictates what kind of parts you can find, so don’t be surprised if you feel you should have seen a certain component in an area you already checked once before.

The problems with the game go deeper than poorly implemented gameplay mechanics, as the characters themselves aren’t exactly memorable. The names are certainly different from most traditional names, but they only truly stand out as being shockingly uninspired. Everyone has very controlled and safe dialogue, from the branching options to regular conversation, and I don’t think I could recall a game that felt as safe as this one. There are absolutely no chances taken here as far as the characters go. This game also handles different dialogue options in a strange way. They only slightly change what is being said, and none of it ever seems to have any impact on the actual story. This even extends all the way to the ending. You're given a choice there, but both options end up coming to very similar conclusions. Somewhat different outcomes yes, but similar in their overall execution. It was all rather underwhelming.

The visual style of Caravan SandWitch is reminiscent of comic book style art. Many games before this have had a similar style, but it looks downgraded here for some reason compared to other indie-developed games. It looks almost too simple, as if it was just the easiest choice to go with aesthetically. Not terrible by any means, but it cheapens the design of all the characters. Throughout the game, I didn’t take a single screenshot because I thought the game looked beautiful, I took them because it’s what I do when writing a review. There are many games where I enjoy taking screenshots just to have them in my folders, but that wasn’t the case here. Not a deal-breaker of course, but the game has the look and feel of a title aimed at a much younger audience. With how all the uncomplicated dialogue, the simple story, and the world being both devoid of much to do, I couldn't help but feel that it was going in that direction. The entire story could probably be completed in a quarter of the time it took me, as I was attempting to find all collectibles and story items from the very beginning. Little did I know how impossible this was without progressing through the main story. There is no way to cheat through many of the secrets either. You must progress through the game, and even then you’re not guaranteed to find everything.

Caravan SandWitch has a decent number of items to find, but they’re all linked to sidequests or the main storyline. Even Cuddly Toys, which should be showcased as collectibles inside your inventory, are linked to something in-game only. If you suddenly lose track of which toys you found, you need to just guess which ones you’re missing. It can be a bit of a mess. If future content eventually comes to be, I hope that it adds more stuff to do in the wasteland between the game's chapters. Even adding another a small settlement would be welcomed, abandoned or not. There's potential here that is left unexplored, and I want to mention that I did go into this game wanting to like it.

Perhaps owing to the more narrative-driven aspects, there is very little challenge given to the player here. There were a few times where I had trouble with the platforming though. There was one section where I kept glitching into a mushroom inside the marsh cave, and another where the game's camera was making getting up the side of a canyon difficult. Thankfully, no matter the height, there is no fall damage in the game. This means that whenever a platforming section doesn’t go your way, you can just keep trying without much of a fuss. The controls can sometimes become your enemy, though I didn’t have too big of a problem with them most of the game. Holding shift allows you to go from walking to sprinting, and this includes when you're in the van. Actually, the van is where much of the control issues suddenly pop up. Constantly plowing into walls, and just simply getting stuck, were far too common an occurrence. On occasion I'd get permanently stuck and get sent back to the garage. In one particular instance I got stuck but had to restart the game because I wasn’t really touching the ground. Glitches like these are very few and far between though, but annoying whenever they popped up.

Now, for the real question. Is Caravan SandWitch worth it? The puzzles can be entertaining, but there are not a lot of them where you need to really think. The game doesn’t do anything special, despite its interesting setup. It’s sadly a bland story with forgettable characters. Exploration can be fun, but only with a single goal in mind. If you go in with too many goals, tedium sets in and you find yourself running back and forth far too often, not progressing all that much. There wasn’t much throughout the wasteland that broke up gameplay, and it was over far too quickly. There's reference to a "Helios Project" mentioned at the beginning of the game, but it’s still never fully understood, and I don’t believe it was ever fully explored either. For the price, there are simply too many other great games to safely recommend this one. Even though I felt that the game was lacking in many areas, my hope is that the developers improve upon this formula. It’s not a bad game by any means, it’s just an average.

Check Out Caravan SandWitch on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1582650/Caravan_SandWitch/

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Story: C+
Gameplay: C+
Graphics: C
Music/Sound: C
Value: C

Overall: C+

Pros:
+ Exploring an open-world wasteland can be fun.
+ Puzzles are well thought out and entertaining.
+ Driving the van was cool for the most part.

Cons:
- There's an overwhelming sense of tediousness when it comes to collecting items and completing quests.
- The game feels far too safe, both in storytelling and world building.
- There's simply not much to do in the wasteland.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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