Caravan SandWitch Review: Memory of a Place

Since the pandemic, laid-back exploration-heavy games have become popular, particularly on Steam and the Nintendo Switch. French developer Studio Plane Toast’s first venture into this diverse category of games is Caravan SandWitch, an open-world adventure game that looks and plays cozy. It’s the kind of game for everyone, literally and figuratively, as the budding indie developer aims to deliver an inclusive experience in terms of the story and gameplay. But what makes Caravan SandWitch stand out from its peers is its indulgence in presenting a multitude of thought-provoking themes without coming across as preachy. After spending 11 hours with the game and eventually achieving 100% achievements, I have some thoughts on Caravan SandWitch. So, lay back, grab your comfy blanket and a warm beverage, and let’s explore Caravan SandWitch together.

Prodigal Daughter

Caravan SandWitch is the story of Sauge, a Space City resident who travels back to her hometown of the planet Cigalo after picking up a distress call from her missing sister. Scratch that. Caravan SandWitch is not just the story of Sauge, it’s the story of the remnants of civilization. A rag-tag group of diverse post-apocalyptic residents who haven’t forlorn hope and seek nothing but harmony in these troubling times. Sauge’s search for her sister Garance is a proverbial vehicle Studio Plane Toast uses to tell the stories of the people closest to her. As the prodigal daughter of Cigalo, it’s up to her to bring her friends and family together in search of a better future.

Sauge’s journey takes her across the windswept wastes of a once-proud civilization inspired by Provence, chasing her sister’s shadow. While the plot is relatively simple, Caravan SandWitch subtly but heartfeltly explores themes of environmental issues, greed, love, loss, harmony, and closure. The game is pretty short, clocking in around 10 hours for completionists and even less for casual players. This might seem pretty short for an open-world game. However, Caravan SandWitch’s mission design makes good use of its small open world and strikes a nice balance between exploration and story-driven content.

Van Life Chronicles

Exploration is an important aspect of any open-world game. In Caravan SandWitch, the majority of the exploration is done through the use of a comfy van you see in all those van life vlogs. While Sauge is free to run around the map, the van is her primary mode of transportation. Furthermore, throughout the story, the van can be upgraded to incorporate different tools like a radar scanner, a hacking antenna, a grappling hook, and a motorized pulley. These open up the previously inaccessible locations and enrich the exploration. For example, Sauge can use the van-mounted grappling hook, to create zip lines and use the pulley to reach high places or use the power generator upgrade to unlock late-game locations.

But upgrades aren’t given away for free. To unlock each new tool, Sauge has to find components, which make up the currency of the game. Components come in four varieties and can either be found via exploration or are given away as quest rewards. Don’t fret. The game doesn’t require you to go out of your way and grind to acquire components. Rather, you’ll find more than what you need just by organic exploration and by doing short side quests.

Speaking of quests, it’s one of the weakest aspects of Caravan SandWitch. While the story and motivations behind the quests make them worth going through, a majority of the quests in the game are of the fetch variety. More than often, Sauge will be tasked with finding X amounts of something or doing some light puzzles to access a hidden-away item. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, the game doesn’t overstay its welcome, and quest logs provide enough information so that Sauge doesn’t have to run away in circles to figure out where to find the required items. The gameplay loop of traveling to an objective, doing some light platforming and puzzles, and collecting items would have ended up being a chore if the game were longer (cough Sable cough). I also felt that some of the locations could have used a bit more environmental storytelling because the lore here is genuinely interesting.

Gorgeous, Through and Through

Caravan SandWitch is a looker and there’s no doubt about it. The game makes clever use of browns, yellows, and blues to create a picturesque world that will surely make you press the screenshot button plenty of times. The visuals are further enriched by an unintrusive UI and minimalist aesthetics. The stunning soundtrack requires another mention. French composer Antynomy has done a stellar job in providing the game with a soothing, harmonious OST that will surely make you buy the OST separately.

But not everything is perfect. I found the performance of Caravan SandWitch to be a bit spotty at times. On my 3070 PC and 4060 laptop, I experienced several frame drops from the 100s to the 50s at 1080p. On the Steam Deck, the game runs at nearly 60 fps, but at low settings. While the game looks great, it shouldn’t be this demanding. There are no upscaling options at the time of writing this review (EDIT: FSR 3 and AMD Frame Generation are now available). That being said, all of this is subject to change when the game officially launches. I also experienced several bugs, like one that completely prevented me from entering the van, forcing me to complete the last few objectives on foot, and one that nuked my save file. Thankfully, there’s a restore option available when loading save files that revert the save to several minutes before the checkpoint. Then there are the minor glitches like getting stuck in terrain, button prompts not working momentarily, glitch animations, etc. Again, note that there have been two patches since I last played the game and chances are that these bugs are already fixed by the time the game launches.

YMMMV

Now, this section is entirely subjective and YMMV. While I appreciate the stress-free nature of the game and its selection of accessibility options, I’m torn on the lack of any sort of challenge or repercussions to the player’s actions. Sauge and her van are invulnerable to all damage. There’s not even fall damage in the game. Sauge can fall or drive her van off 30 feet down a cliff and still land on all fours without even flinching. At least some form of animation acknowledging the said action would have been nice to have. Again, I the reasoning behind this design but for me, it kind of breaks the immersion.

Real Talk

Caravan SandWitch is exactly what it markets itself to be — a stress-free, relaxing 10-hour romp through a beautiful wasteland filled with heartfelt stories and colorful characters. While its repetitive quest design, iffy PC performance, and technical issues prevent the game from achieving its full potential, Caravan SandWitch offers a pleasant experience that all demographics will be able to pick up and enjoy.

FINAL RATING: 75/100