Review: Caravan SandWitch is one of the best games I’ve played this year by far

I knew that I was likely going to enjoy Caravan SandWitch, but I had no clue that I was going to enjoy it quite this much. I’ll be honest and say that I rarely finish a game. When your main job is to write game reviews, there’s always the next game in the lineup needing attention.

So, the fact that I am 10 hours into this game and I’m still finding reasons to play it despite having more than enough data to write a review from is an accomplishment. 

Caravan SandWitch is definitely a game you need in your library

So, let’s start with the barest foundation on which Caravan SandWitch is built. At its core, you’re going to be exploring a planet and doing fetch quests/missions. You’re not going to fight enemies. Hell, you don’t even take damage from falling from astronomical heights.

There’s no action, but there’s so much adventure. This type of game is my absolute bread and butter. I’m never happier than when I get free reign to explore where I want and do things in the order that I want to.

I suffer from what I lovingly call “squirrel brain” which means that I will change gears while on a mission to find hidden objects or explore new areas.

If Caravan SandWitch were this and only this, then I’d be happy. But, luckily for us, there’s so much more at play! The world is steeped in lore, the characters are diverse and rich in character, the graphics are stunning, the music is engaging – the list goes on and on.

You play as a young woman named Sauge who used to live on, Cigalo, a planet ruled by a nebulous Consortium until they pulled out, leaving broken tech behind and taking jobs with them.

As time goes on, life on Cigalo gets more and more strained for the inhabitants as resources and opportunities dry up. Many leave for the Space City hanging above, Sauge included. We actually start the game there where we’ve been for the last 6 or so years.

Our life in the Space City isn’t the journey. We get a warning on our Toaster – basically a cell phone – informing us that our sister’s ship has sent out a distress call. Except that our sister, Garance, has been presumed dead for years. Even weirder, the signal is coming from Cigalo. 

Adventure calls and we must answer it!

Abandoning the City, we make the journey back to Cigalo to our hometown of Estello. We reconnect with old friends and help them with their own personal endeavors. You’ll help the villagers with their tasks and they’ll give you the components needed to upgrade your van.

You get said van from Rose – one of the villagers. You’ll use it to explore the desert planet, poke around the abandoned consortium debris and buildings, and scavenge parts left over.

Once you have enough components, you’ll be able to add features to your van like scanning your surroundings for useful items or installing a grapple hook to tear open heavy doors.

There’s a bit of a cycle to the gameplay in that you’re likely going to revisit areas several times, but as you upgrade your van you’ll find new things that you weren’t able to get to without your new upgrades.

The tasks that you’re asked to carry out are varied, so you’ll never get bored. One person will ask you to take down all the jammers that fry the signal to toasters, another wants you to find hidden data, or retrieve seeds from the nomads.

Caravan SandWitch feels like a journey. At no time during the gameplay did I feel like I was doing a chore or getting bored. I boot up this game genuinely eager to progress.

For a cozy gamer, this need to continue is so rare and so welcome.

There is an overarching story with the SandWitches, a mysterious branch of people that live on Cigalo, but I haven’t finished the game to know the conclusion. I have some suspicions, but I’ll just have to wait to see if I’m right. Honestly, for being part of the title, you don’t have to worry too much about the SandWitches.

So, what’s the bad? Every game has some qualms, right? Well, not today. In the 10+ hours I’ve sunk into Caravan SandWitch, I didn’t encounter a glitch, a spelling error, or a bug. 

Caravan SandWitch is legitimately a delight.

For a game that expects you to climb, jump, and speed off in a van, you’d expect to find yourself stuck. To be fair, I did actually get the van stuck and I did fall into a crevice that I couldn’t get out of. However, you have the ability to teleport to your van at any given moment. And if your van is stuck? The game understands that you’ve gotten yourself into a tricky situation and allows you to teleport back to the garage in Estello.

Yeah, it might be a little frustrating to drive back to where you were, but it’s much less irritating than being stuck with no hope.

I can’t find fault in Caravan SandWitch and that’s why you should buy it and experience it for yourself. Hell, even if exploration and questlines aren’t your thing, you may be surprised.

If you’d like to give Caravan SandWitch a try, you can get it on Steam, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch for $24.99. Otherwise, you can check out our latest review: My Museum: Treasure Hunter.