Caravan SandWitch

An open-world collect-a-phon about exploring, set mostly in an open and empty desert. It's fun to explore, though the necessity of the first few van upgrades is a frequent hinderance to trying to explore the entire world right away once it opens up to you fully in chapter 2.

93%Game Brain Score

story, graphics

grinding, stability

93% User Score Based on 932 reviews

Critic Score 80%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

Buy Nowfrom $17.94

Buy NowGet on Steam€22.49

Buy NowGet on PS Store$19.99

About

In "Caravan SandWitch," embark on a peaceful, mystery-filled journey across a sci-fi Provence-like world to find your missing sister. Interact with communities, help them with tasks, and upgrade your van for new discoveries. With no combat, death, or timer, this game offers a relaxing, immersive exploration experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 932 reviews

story226 positive mentions

grinding22 negative mentions

Beautiful art style and graphics that create a charming atmosphere.
Engaging exploration gameplay with a variety of side quests and collectibles.
Relaxing experience with no combat or death mechanics, allowing players to enjoy the story at their own pace.

The story can feel rushed and lacks depth, especially towards the ending.
Some dialogue feels clunky and poorly translated, which can detract from immersion.
Repetitive backtracking is required to complete quests and collect items, which may frustrate some players.

story
620 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
59%
5%
The story of "Caravan Sandwitch" is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its charming and cozy narrative centered around exploration and character interactions, while others criticize it for being predictable and lacking depth. The main quest, which involves searching for a missing sister, is often overshadowed by numerous fetch quests that can feel repetitive and detract from the overall experience. Despite its shortcomings, the game is noted for its engaging world-building and emotional moments, making it a pleasant, if not groundbreaking, journey for players who enjoy narrative-driven exploration.
- “A beautiful story led game with memorable graphics and engaging characters.”
- “The story is touching, and the narrative pulls you in from the very start.”
- “The game shines with its emphasis on exploration and storytelling.”
- “The main story itself is bland and leaves a bad aftertaste.”
- “However, it's clear that the focus of the game is story, and honestly, the story fell flat for me.”
- “The story is boring and ends abruptly.”
graphics
216 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
36%
1%
The graphics of the game have been widely praised for their beautiful and charming art style, which combines vibrant colors and whimsical designs, creating a cozy and inviting atmosphere. Many players appreciate the unique visual aesthetics, likening them to contemporary comic art and nostalgic game styles, while the accompanying music enhances the overall experience. Despite some minor performance issues, the visuals are considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “Absolutely stunning visuals, I could recommend this game to people just off that fact alone.”
- “The art style is beautiful, it's fun to play and has a lot of small details.”
- “Beautiful graphics, superb landscape, engaging story.”
- “The graphics are a bit rough around the edges, but I like the comic book-y look.”
- “Ps: for the graphical style, the performance is subpar; it really needs some tweaks.”
- “Regrettably, I must advise against this game until the devs do something to give it a proper set of graphical options, with the ability to individually disable nauseating post-processing effects.”
music
208 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
38%
1%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, providing a calming and immersive experience. Many players appreciate the soundtrack's emotional depth and its fitting accompaniment to the game's visuals and narrative, although some note that it can become repetitive. Overall, the combination of lovely art and a soothing soundtrack contributes significantly to the game's charm and appeal.
- “The soundtrack is mesmerising and a real stand-out feature of the game, emphasising the more emotive moments and generally connecting the player to the experience as a whole.”
- “The music adds wonderful depth to the game's atmosphere.”
- “The art direction, music, and overall design is superb.”
- “The music attempts to be unobtrusive and ambient, but merely becomes bland, uninteresting, and repetitive.”
- “Too many areas of the map use the same music, and after a while, it becomes a kind of annoying background noise.”
- “My only real gripes are minor: I felt much of the music was a little too ambient, and the ability to sit and drink in the landscape in the manner of a screensaver is for a different player than I.”
gameplay
205 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
57%
9%
The gameplay of "Caravan Sandwitch" is characterized by its focus on exploration and light puzzle-solving, offering a relaxing experience with simple mechanics and no combat. While the driving and traversal mechanics are generally smooth, some players noted issues with backtracking and limited challenge, leading to a somewhat repetitive gameplay loop. Overall, the game is praised for its charming art style and engaging world, making it a pleasant choice for those seeking a laid-back adventure.
- “Beautifully simplistic worldbuilding and laidback gameplay.”
- “The gameplay loop is quite robust and boiled down to the basics - as you explore, you'll be picking up components to simply advance towards a new ability for your van which will enable you to access more of the gorgeously presented world that's just pleasant to look at and cruise through.”
- “A delightful game with a fun gameplay loop and stunning exploration.”
- “Trying hard to enjoy this, but for a game that's trying to be about exploring, it has some of the worst traversal mechanics of any game I can think of recently.”
- “I have to say the gameplay might become a little disappointing at some point with the mechanics being limited and the game forces you to visit some areas multiple times as you unlock new tools.”
- “The gameplay mechanics are shallow, dialogue is pretty simple, there's no danger or challenge, the story has some weaknesses, and there is still quite a bit of roughness around the edges.”
atmosphere
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
31%
6%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its relaxing and immersive qualities, enhanced by beautiful visuals, a soothing soundtrack, and a charming narrative. Players appreciate the cozy vibes and the freedom to explore, often finding themselves lost in the game's enchanting world. Overall, the combination of art style, sound design, and emotional depth creates a captivating experience that resonates with many players.
- “With its engaging puzzles, charming story, and cozy atmosphere, it's the perfect way to unwind and escape reality for a while.”
- “Beautiful atmosphere and a touching story drive this cutesy little indie game straight into my heart with its charming dialogue and breathtaking views!”
- “I tend to be cautious about games that position themselves as 'cozy' - I need something with a bit of bite, and I tend to find that cozy games often sacrifice narrative or theme in the pursuit of atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere is incredibly calming, with gentle soundscapes and a beautifully minimalist design that transports you to a place of peace.”
- “After 100%ing the game, I think it's a fantastic exploration game with a very relaxing atmosphere; however, some parts of the game drag a little and I also think the objectives could be made clearer as there were a couple of times I was completely lost as to what I should be doing.”
emotional
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is widely praised for its heartfelt storytelling, charming characters, and evocative music, which together create a touching and nostalgic experience. Players appreciate the game's ability to convey themes of grief, connection, and community within a beautifully crafted world, despite some critiques regarding dialogue flow and emotional depth in certain moments. Overall, it is described as a cozy, heartwarming adventure that resonates deeply with players, making it a memorable journey.
- “An emotional and small-scale personal storyline told within a well-thought-out and expansive universe.”
- “The game is a heartfelt story of grief and connection in a post-colonial world where the abandonment of critical commercial infrastructure affects regular people.”
- “Beautiful atmosphere and a touching story drive this cutesy little indie game straight into my heart with its charming dialogue and breathtaking views!”
grinding
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
4%
85%
Reviews indicate that grinding in the game can become tedious, particularly due to repetitive quests and backtracking for upgrades. While some players appreciate the exploration and find the resource collection manageable, many express frustration with the lack of engaging content and the overall simplicity of the game design. Overall, the experience can feel drawn out, especially in the later stages, despite some players enjoying the soundtrack and art.
- “The computer parts to collect are very abundant and found everywhere on the map, even outside ruined locations too (thus there will be no grinding for those), yet scattered in a way that motivates you to progressively visit new places.”
- “Collecting items is not too tedious and can generally be done while progressing the story.”
- “For once, it is a nice change to be able to play an exploration/open world type game that has no grinding, survival, fighting or death - just an engaging story and relaxing soundtrack.”
- “And while a chill and relaxing experience at first, it quickly becomes tedious.”
- “The game design is quite simple and repetitive and doesn’t try anything new - you’re grinding a lot to get the necessary upgrades for the next chapter!”
- “The tedious part is that there's only like 7 major locations in the game if you ignore the NPC areas and each one has an area locked behind the next van upgrade, so you're going back to these same locations over and over again for the rest of the game.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
61%
Overall, the game's stability is generally solid, with most players reporting a smooth experience on various platforms, including mid-range PCs and handheld devices like the Steam Deck. While some users noted occasional minor glitches, such as camera issues and translation errors, these do not significantly detract from gameplay. A few players experienced more notable bugs, including progression-blocking issues, but these instances appear to be rare.
- “It runs great on mid-range specs, it's not prone to bugs, and the gameplay is always engaging.”
- “The game has been completely bug-free for me, and feels like a pretty well-polished experience.”
- “From the visuals to the audio, the quality seems amazing and it runs great on a handheld device (ROG Ally).”
- “Very buggy - you'll encounter places where you get stuck, visual bugs, and in one location I encountered a progression-blocking bug that I had to quit and reopen the game to resolve. For some reason, the game also reverted to French once I finished it.”
- “Camera glitches and clipping, although not frequent, can be annoying when they happen.”
- “It can get a little buggy, not in a way that was game-breaking for me, but in small ways that were either amusing or a little irritating.”
optimization
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
56%
19%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players noting smooth performance, especially on the Steam Deck, while others pointed out that it could benefit from further polish and tweaks. Although the Unreal Engine 5 may contribute to some optimization challenges, many found the gameplay enjoyable despite occasional clunkiness and performance issues. In general, while there are areas for improvement, the game remains accessible and engaging for most players.
- “Performance on the Steam Deck is quite smooth with medium graphics, FSR 3.0 balanced @ capped 40 fps.”
- “Perfect for Steam Deck and performance is excellent.”
- “No optimization issues.”
- “It needed some more polish regarding gameplay, writing, and optimization (but this might also be because UE5 is a really poorly optimized engine).”
- “For the graphical style, the performance is subpar; it really needs some tweaks.”
- “While its repetitive quest design, iffy PC performance (better now compared to the review build), and technical issues prevent the game from achieving its full potential, Caravan Sandwich offers a pleasant experience that all demographics will be able to pick up and enjoy.”
character development
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
Character development in the game is a mixed bag, with some players praising the depth of the storyline and the realistic dialogue between characters, while others criticize the character designs and dialogue quality. The cohesive visual and artistic choices contribute to the overall experience, but opinions vary on the attractiveness and effectiveness of the character designs. Overall, the game offers a blend of engaging character dynamics and artistic expression, though not all players find it satisfying.
- “The depth of the storyline, the rich character design, the simple elegance of a rocky alien world with solarpunk and post-industrial aesthetics, and the well thought out mechanics of the game make for a relaxing gameplay to let your mind wander off in a peaceful place.”
- “Wonderfully written scenario, character development, and realistic feeling dialogue between the main character and the others you meet.”
- “Interesting character designs and dynamics!”
- “However, I'm not that big on the character designs.”
- “Very tempted to not recommend the game because of the atrocious character designs and dialogue.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag; while some players find it genuinely funny and heartfelt, others express frustration with gameplay mechanics, such as driving, that detract from the comedic experience. Additionally, the portrayal of characters adds a humorous twist, particularly with the universal representation of sexuality.
- “It reads so much more naturally, and is legitimately funny and heartfelt a lot of the time.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
Reviews indicate a mixed perception of replayability; while some players find the game infinitely replayable, others feel that there is little incentive to replay it after completing the main content.
- “The game is infinitely replayable, offering new experiences with each playthrough.”
- “Every run feels fresh and exciting, making me want to dive back in again and again.”
- “The variety of choices and outcomes ensures that no two playthroughs are ever the same.”
- “There is also not much replayability after you complete the game.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is criticized for reflecting greed and exploitation, despite being presented through a diverse and colorful cast that promotes community and safety. This contrast highlights the tension between the game's casual appeal and its underlying capitalist motivations.
- “A great tell of the greed and exploitation by unchecked capitalist powers and consequences, all told from the perspective of a very diverse cast of colorful characters advertising for community, love, and safety.”