House of Caravan

About

House of Caravan is a single player arcade puzzle game with a horror theme. It was developed by Rosebud Games and was released on April 16, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"House of Caravan" is a suspenseful adventure game set in a 3D-rendered mansion filled with puzzles and secrets. As a kidnapped boy, you must explore the house, uncover clues about your capture, and find a way out. With full voice acting and inspired by classic horror, the game offers a fusion of narrative exploration and point-and-click adventure, providing 60-90 minutes of gameplay. Will you escape the dark secrets hidden within the house?

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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65%

Audience ScoreBased on 329 reviews

story44 positive mentions

gameplay10 negative mentions

The atmosphere is well-crafted, evoking a sense of unease and curiosity throughout the game.
Puzzles are simple yet enjoyable, providing a satisfying challenge without being overly complex.
The game offers a unique exploration experience, allowing players to interact with many objects in the environment.

The game is very short, often completed in under two hours, leaving players wanting more content.
There are numerous bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, including game-breaking issues that prevent progression.
The inventory system is cumbersome, making it difficult to manage items and often leading to frustration.

story
144 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
61%
8%
The story of "House of Caravan" revolves around the unsettling abduction of a young boy, Lester Barnard, who finds himself in a mysterious manor filled with environmental storytelling elements like letters and objects that hint at a tragic family history. While the narrative is atmospheric and encourages exploration, many players find it lacking depth and engagement, often describing it as predictable or thin, with crucial story elements hidden in collectible notes that can be easily missed. Overall, the game offers a hauntingly intriguing premise but fails to deliver a memorable or emotionally resonant experience.
- “The story begins with a simple but unsettling premise: a young boy named Lester Barnard is abducted while walking home from school and awakens in a strange, candlelit manor.”
- “What follows is a slow, atmospheric experience that places more emphasis on unease and curiosity than on overt horror, relying on mood and subtle storytelling to pull you in.”
- “Still, for players who enjoy slow-paced exploration games and value ambiance over complexity, House of Caravan offers a brief but evocative escape into a world of candlelit mystery and quiet dread—a ghost story told not through screams or specters, but through the weight of silence in an empty, echoing house.”
- “A dull, confusing puzzle game with repetitive mechanics, poor storytelling, and minimal engagement.”
- “The story is flat; there is little explanation of why Lester was kidnapped and woke up in the house - it is formulated in a few sentences in the letters.”
- “The story wasn't clear; I think I just inherited a house?”
atmosphere
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
37%
6%
The atmosphere in "House of Caravan" is its standout feature, effectively capturing the eerie essence of the Edwardian era through rich visuals, sound design, and a focus on unease rather than overt horror. While the game offers a compellingly creepy environment and decent puzzles, it lacks depth in storytelling and character development, leading to a somewhat shallow experience despite its atmospheric strengths. Overall, players appreciate the game's ability to create a haunting ambiance, though it may not satisfy those seeking a traditional horror experience.
- “What follows is a slow, atmospheric experience that places more emphasis on unease and curiosity than on overt horror, relying on mood and subtle storytelling to pull you in.”
- “The atmosphere of House of Caravan is easily its strongest asset.”
- “The game manages to create a spooky atmosphere that piques one's interest to see what you will find in the mansion and how the game will end.”
- “There are a couple of jump-scares, but they are otherwise harmless and only meant to keep the player on edge, feeding into the atmosphere that the game is trying to instill without an actually present, impending danger.”
- “The voice acting is very amateurish and breaks whatever atmosphere is created by the visuals.”
- “While it's a rather short game, House of Caravan doesn't skip on atmosphere and the puzzles are a decent enough challenge, particularly those involving photographs, to keep you busy so that you don't blow through the entire thing too swiftly.”
gameplay
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
64%
20%
The gameplay in "House of Caravan" is characterized by a repetitive exploration loop typical of walking simulators, where players search through rooms and solve simple puzzles. While the atmospheric horror elements and detailed environments are praised, many reviewers criticize the lack of depth, engaging mechanics, and narrative payoff, leading to a sense of tedium and frustration. Overall, the gameplay is seen as simplistic and clunky, with some players finding it enjoyable for its price but ultimately lacking in innovation and challenge.
- “Gameplay in House of Caravan follows a familiar pattern for fans of first-person exploration adventures, often referred to as 'walking simulators.' Players navigate through interconnected rooms, searching drawers, unlocking doors, and collecting key items to advance.”
- “Gameplay is simple and fluid; it's highly integral to snooping into everything. Leave no room corner unlit, no drawer unopened, and no cupboard left closed. There are ample matches to light each corner and lamps to turn on, and even if things are in the dark, you can still find them, so gameplay isn't stunted.”
- “For 2 bucks, it's worth the 3 hours of gameplay you'll get out of it.”
- “However, their simplicity may disappoint players looking for deeper or more inventive mechanics.”
- “The mansion is impressively detailed, but the exploration never evolves beyond its initial loop—there are no new mechanics introduced, no escalating sense of threat, and little narrative payoff.”
- “House of Caravan's gameplay only consists of opening drawers and slowly walking around, checking if you can pick up every single item around with only 2 or 3 jump scares here and there without a single reason.”
graphics
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
44%
7%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the atmospheric and artistic style while others criticize the outdated textures and dark lighting. Many players appreciate the decent visuals for an indie title, noting that the graphics contribute positively to the overall experience, despite some technical limitations. Overall, while the graphics are not universally acclaimed, they are often described as good or decent, enhancing the game's immersive qualities.
- “I like the olden day aesthetic.”
- “The soundtrack is fitting and the graphics look beautiful.”
- “The graphics and atmosphere, in still images, are brilliant.”
- “The graphics are also very outdated, using DirectX 9, and some textures are very blurry and muddy with low resolution.”
- “Graphically unappealing and very dark.”
- “The mansion is pretty and the visuals are very atmospheric, but unfortunately the story is uninteresting, obvious, and very poorly told.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many players reporting frequent bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, such as issues with achievements, inventory, and physics. While it generally runs smoothly on various hardware, the presence of clipping and frame drops detracts from the experience, leading some to label it as a "buggy mess." Overall, players recommend caution, as the game's stability issues may hinder enjoyment, especially for those not keen on dealing with technical problems.
- “The inventory is really buggy, and I was unable to finish the very last thing.”
- “It's a buggy mess.”
- “Unfortunately, the game is sometimes buggy, and I hope the bugs get fixed soon (you can even skip one part of the house).”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
The music in the game is minimal yet impactful, enhancing the atmosphere with subtle, melancholic tracks that complement the ambient sounds. While some players found the music relaxing and fitting, others experienced issues with volume levels during cutscenes, detracting from the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack contributes to an eerie and immersive environment, though opinions on its quality vary from "decent" to "haunting."
- “The sound design and music, though minimal, play an important role in maintaining the game’s mood.”
- “When music does emerge, it’s subtle and melancholic, heightening the tension without overwhelming it.”
- “Sound: the background music is rather appropriate and ominous which makes sense as you're trying to figure things out and you're not quite sure how bad things will get.”
- “I skipped the cutscene thinking it wasn't the end, but whilst the video stopped playing, the speaking continued, with music so loud I have no idea what the speaker was saying (I had the 'music' SFX set to 0 which clearly didn't work).”
- “The puzzles are decent, the atmosphere is decent, the music is decent; decent is the key word for this title.”
- “The music was relaxing, but movement was rough and there was very little direction to solve some of the puzzles, though they weren't particularly challenging.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
28%
43%
Overall, the game's optimization has seen improvements following the first patch, enhancing performance and providing additional tweaking options. However, players still report issues such as minor physics glitches, clipping, and occasional slowdowns, particularly in specific areas. While the game runs smoothly on a range of hardware, further optimization could enhance the overall experience.
- “Technically, the game runs smoothly and its minimalistic design ensures accessibility on a wide range of hardware, though small physics glitches and occasional clipping can disrupt the immersion.”
- “The optimization has improved and runs better now with the first patch, and there are options to tweak now, with the possibility of more in the future.”
- “Stuff like items glitching, you being stuck in the cabinets and other items, and of course frequent slowdowns due to poor optimization.”
- “Only thing I noticed about the game is it could use a bit more optimization; just in the one room that has the trap door frames, it really jumped around in there for some reason.”
- “My only real complaints are that it could use a bit more optimization, and some of the physics on the items are a bit wonky.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a standout feature, with players finding joy in its glitches and absurdities, leading to moments of uncontrollable laughter. The comedic elements, including funny narrator vocals and the chaotic gameplay, contribute to a lighthearted experience that many users appreciate, even if the overall quality of the game is debated. Overall, the humor is described as both entertaining and a key reason to engage with the game.
- “And when I played it for the first time, literally the first thing I tried to do was wedge a chair under the doorknob so it wouldn't open, and the next thing I knew I was a mile above the map laughing my ass off at how broken this game is.”
- “It's hilarious and very easy to wreck.”
- “Narrator vocals are funny.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game effectively evokes themes of isolation and curiosity reminiscent of gothic fiction, but ultimately fails to deliver a deeply emotional or memorable narrative. While the ending monologue attempts to convey a sense of heartfelt pleading and familial obligation, it is overshadowed by the character's disturbing nature, leaving players with a complex mix of emotions rather than genuine sympathy.
- “Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake.”
- “In the end, you escape, and are given a little monologue from the person ultimately responsible for your kidnapping - delivered as a message, some time later, perhaps - hoping that, despite things, you will carry on his wishes to continue the family name and 'do anything for family.' Despite the somewhat pleading, heartfelt delivery of the ending monologue, I think it should be received as yet more of his horrible nature or insanity rather than anything worth sympathy.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers minimal replayability, as all achievements can be earned in a single playthrough, leaving little incentive to replay once completed. Players express a desire for a sequel due to the game's short length and lack of engaging content for multiple runs.
- “The achievements can all be earned your first time playing, and after you have completed the game once, there is no replayability.”
- “A sequel would be lovely due to the very short length and limited replayability.”
- “Minimal replay value.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy has been criticized for being exploitative, with accusations of plagiarism due to the lack of credit given to original artists and developers, leading to perceptions of the game as a cash grab.
- “The developers here didn't credit any of the artists and real game developers who created the assets, so this feels like plagiarism and a cash grab.”
- “The monetization strategy is overly aggressive, making it difficult to enjoy the game without spending money.”
- “It feels like the game is designed to push players towards microtransactions rather than providing a fair experience.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, as it involves aimlessly searching through a dark mansion for items to solve monotonous puzzles. The frequent interruptions from repeated earthquakes further exacerbate the frustration, making the overall experience feel laborious.
- “Gameplay is just walking around a dull, dark mansion, opening every single drawer and cabinet looking for photos to solve tediously dull puzzles.”
- “Frequent earthquakes halt gaming progress and become tedious after a while.”