Coffee Caravan
- May 20, 2024
- Broccoli Games
- 5h median play time
Get on SteamIn Coffee Caravan, manage a coffee business on wheels and brew a variety of recipes in a charming 3D environment. With procedurally generated levels, discover new coffee recipes, purchase upgrades, and cater to customer preferences on your daily road trip. It's a strategic and enjoyable exploration of the world of coffee.
Mac OS
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- The game is cute, cozy, and engaging, providing a fun and relaxing experience.
- Players appreciate the ability to customize their caravan and adjust difficulty levels, making it accessible for various skill levels.
- The gameplay loop is addictive, with many players losing track of time while playing.
- The game can feel repetitive and short, with some players completing it in just a few hours and desiring more content.
- There is little room for error, as one failed order forces players to restart the entire map, which can be frustrating.
- Some players find the game too easy, especially after unlocking all recipes and upgrades, leading to a lack of challenge.
- gameplay76 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally praised for its engaging mechanics and fun time management elements, reminiscent of games like "Overcooked," though some players find it a bit easy and lacking in depth. The rogue-like features add variety, but the linear upgrade paths and occasional bugs can detract from the experience. Overall, the game offers a charming aesthetic and satisfying controls, making it a delightful, albeit short, gaming experience with potential for replayability.
“With the engaging gameplay, beautiful visuals, and soothing soundtrack, it is easy to get lost in its world.”
“The gameplay can be a bit chaotic at times, but in a good way.”
“It has this great balance between feeling progress while also not feeling like I'm stuck at a single level all the time because I can choose which recipes to serve, choose which paths I want to take, which upgrades to use, but the gameplay doesn't feel stale because I'm not forced to repeat one level over and over.”
“The map serves no mechanical purpose at all but is just there to be there.”
“When interacting with a workstation and focus switches to another workstation, the progress is frozen even if you come back to it, which makes gameplay feel less fluent and prohibits you from coming up with nice corner-based setups in which you swing back and forth, pick things up and place them down and keep X pressed all along.”
“While the roguelite mechanics were fine for me, they might deter some players, especially since one mistake means starting the map over.”
- graphics47 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their cute and charming aesthetic, featuring a minimalistic art style that enhances the cozy atmosphere. Players appreciate the bubbly visuals and smooth performance, although some minor graphical issues have been noted. Overall, the graphics contribute significantly to the game's engaging and relaxing experience.
“With the engaging gameplay, beautiful visuals, and soothing soundtrack, it is easy to get lost in its world.”
“The graphics are so bubbly and immersive.”
“Love the old school blocky art style and the jazzy vibes with the tunes...makes me feel like I am almost in an actual cafe.”
“For the price it is, the only negative aspect is some very minor graphical elements (like dirt on cups clipping through the glass, or the female character model having some not too well integrated chest polygons to differentiate it.) 9/10”
“The graphics?”
“Graphics/design is cute and simple; limited accessories and character customization, but not a big deal.”
- replayability34 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game offers a decent level of replayability, primarily through its roguelike mechanics and the ability to experiment with different recipes and difficulty settings. However, many players note that once most upgrades and recipes are unlocked, the experience can become repetitive, potentially diminishing long-term engagement. Future content updates may enhance replay value, but currently, the single-player focus limits the variety of gameplay experiences.
“A very fun and cute coffee game that is very short and has a lot of replayability if you change up the recipes you do.”
“Great replay value, and the developer has already said that more content is planned once they get through the first few rounds of bug squishing.”
“There isn’t necessarily an end to the game, which adds to the replayability, but I 'completed' both the coffee world and the tea world as well as earned all of the Steam achievements in about 9 hours.”
“Replayability is there, but to stay interested in playing, you have to change the recipes you do or purposely make the layout harder to handle if you want a real challenge.”
“The game's replayability dips quickly as you can unlock most upgrades and recipes pretty early on, and the shop system becomes basically redundant after the first map.”
“But I'm a bit afraid that I might not be playing that game anymore a few weeks from now if I can't find how to switch things up every once in a while; it has some replayability value when some of its initial run includes some repetition.”
- music22 mentions
- 45 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its soothing and relaxing qualities, complementing the charming visuals and engaging gameplay. Players appreciate the quaint soundtrack, often expressing a desire to purchase the music separately. Overall, the sound design enhances the immersive experience, making it enjoyable to play alongside other audio, such as audiobooks or cafe background music.
“With the engaging gameplay, beautiful visuals, and soothing soundtrack, it is easy to get lost in its world.”
“The music is quaint, the clay-blob graphic style is charming, and everything works smoothly and as it should!”
“The music is so chill, the graphics are comforting, and I cannot wait to get further into the game.”
“The soundtrack?”
“Wallpaper, flooring, maybe some alternate background music tracks, different lighting options and more decor options would be a wonderful way to allow players to change up the vibe, and would give more options to spend our coins on once we're starting to get a bit saved up with nothing really left for us to buy.”
“I've been playing this while listening to cafe background music.”
- grinding13 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly when it comes to moving and rearranging objects, fulfilling achievements, and managing inventory during setup. The repetitive nature of these tasks can detract from the overall enjoyment, suggesting that adjustments could enhance the experience. Many recommend waiting for a price reduction if players are primarily interested in grinding out achievements.
“Moving things around got a bit tedious when trying to fulfill certain achievements.”
“Carrying everything out of the van is extremely tedious, especially since your 'faster movement' plants don’t work during setup.”
“Having to move every single object out of the way to get to your single new one is really tedious.”
- optimization12 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is praised for its ability to run on low-end computers and for allowing players the freedom to arrange their tools creatively. However, players note that finding the right optimization can be challenging, as poor arrangements lead to slow customer flow and a repetitive experience once optimized. Suggestions for improvement include adding storytelling elements and a leveling system to enhance gameplay longevity.
“Incorporating all coffee caravan’s current elements with added storytelling, slower money-earning associated with player round performance, more meaningful upgrades, and maybe an XP leveling system tied to certain advancements would significantly enhance its longevity and make this a cozy dream game!”
“It's my first time playing a game that let me place my tools wherever I wanted, and I love the freedom of building my own shop... but it's unforgiving if you haven't found an optimized way to arrange your caravan yet!”
“Maybe I am too shell-shocked by PlateUp's rather extreme curve in difficulty to serve customers, but in this game you hit a level of optimization where customers just agonizingly slowly trickle in, making you just stand around waiting for them to arrive.”
“However, once optimized, it does feel a bit repetitive.”
- story12 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game lacks a storyline or narrative, focusing instead on barista management without deeper engagement. Players express a desire for a more substantial story mode to enhance gameplay longevity and provide meaningful challenges, suggesting that the current experience feels limited compared to other titles with richer narratives. Overall, while enjoyable for fans of similar games, the absence of a storyline is a notable drawback.
“Reminded me of Diner Dash, so I grabbed it. I enjoy how the rounds are quick but wish there was more storyline or challenges.”
“There is no storyline, no narrative, just a barista managing their own little coffee/tea truck.”
“One significant improvement would be for developers to add a story mode.”
“Incorporating all Coffee Caravan’s current elements with added storytelling, slower money-earning associated with player round performance, more meaningful upgrades, and maybe an XP leveling system tied to certain advancements would significantly enhance its longevity and make this a cozy dream game!”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Despite being fully released, users report that the game suffers from a buggy user interface, particularly in the shop section, indicating ongoing stability issues.
“It is fully released, but the UI is still very buggy.”
“Buggy UI in the shop.”
“It is fully released, but the UI is still very buggy.”
- monetization3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game is heavily criticized for its frequent ad interruptions, which detract from the overall experience. Players express a desire for an ad-free version, indicating that while the game is enjoyable, the constant ads and micro-transactions significantly hinder gameplay.
“You know those mobile ads you get for that one hotel game, where you just run around doing mini timer tasks and it looks super fun, so you download it, but then every literal 10 seconds there's an ad and it just ruins the whole thing.”
“Overall, yes I'd recommend this game, especially to those who like a catering establishment mobile game and hate being bombarded with ads and micro-transactions.”
“You know those mobile ads you get for that one hotel game, where you just run around doing mini timer tasks and it looks super fun, so you download it, but then every literal 10 seconds there's an ad and it just ruins the whole thing.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game to be enjoyable and lighthearted, contributing to a fun experience. The low penalty for failure, allowing players to retain upgrades, enhances the satisfaction and overall comedic tone of the roguelike gameplay.
“This funny game is a roguelike... I had fun, there is not too much punishment if you fail, you keep the upgrades and it is so satisfying, I don't know why.”
