Long-time viewers will know that What’s It Like humbly started from a caravan as I traveled this great southern land with my family. There are a lot of challenges living in a van, but they are far outweighed by moments of beautiful desolation like playing No Man’s Sky under the stars of the outback or making new friends along the way. Caravan SandWitch (yes witch as in Hocus Pocus) by Plane Toast, is a bit of a different Caravanning experience than what I’m used to, so I thought I would see what it’s all about. What’s It Like? Put on your seatbelt, turn on the air conditioning, and prepare for the end of the world as we review Caravan SandWitch on Nintendo SandSwitch.
Caravan SandWitch follows Sauge, a former denizen of the planet Cigalo which was ravaged by a corporation called “The Consortium” who abandoned it after a failed project decimated the planet. You are living on a space station when you receive an emergency SOS message from your sister who died 6 years prior. So begins a deep mystery in returning to the planet and trying to uncover the truth about your sister, and the very project that destroyed the planet. The premise hooked me right from the start and during the course of my 10-hour playthrough, I lost myself in the world of Caravan SandWitch.
The game is best described as a cozy post-apocalyptic treasure-hunting game, and you spend a lot of your time exploring the desolate wastes while salvaging various tech to upgrade your van to be able to advance through the story and hopefully unravel the mystery around your sister’s sudden re-appearance. There are no real management systems in place like fuel or resources, and progression ties to the amount of salvage you scrap. There are also no enemies, combat, or fall damage to speak of. Now, while you may think that that doesn’t sound so great, Carvaan SandWitch uses this lack of threat or management to the game’s strength, by allowing you to be fully immersed in the world and exploring it. I felt sort of like Wall-E, taking my time climbing over wreckage to find computer chips, and searching high and low for any parts I could find. You will also enter an almost matrix-style world that allows you to fast travel around the world, and unlock codes to get closer to the secret of the failed project Helios.
There are beautiful and unexpected moments like preparing a funeral for a sentient robots child, who is trying to understand human behavior in the tradition of funerals, or collecting toys for the only child left on the planet. The story is further fleshed out with the “Toaster.” A social network for citizens of the planet, which has characters communicate with you depending on your progress through whatever mission you are on. Sauge will also comment about items or the ruins you are exploring by reflecting on her childhood memories which further flesh out both the world and Sauge’s character.
The game uses a minimalistic almost cel-shaded art style that does a good job of creating a sense of isolation on the planet Cigalo. The environment of the planet ranges from dilapidated ruins, slowly succumbing to time, overgrown forests, and a vast and desolate desert with a menacing eternal storm lingering in the distance. Characters are varied with their own mannerisms and personalities, and despite the world being sparsely populated, the ones that exist are well-written. There’s also your Van, which playfully rocks as the suspension tries to make your ride as smooth as possible while you can hear the gravel crunch under your wheels, making cruising around the wasteland a rather enjoyable experience.
All of this world-building and art style is backed by an absolutely stellar OST by the artist, Antynomy. Acoustic guitars and soft percussions set a cozy vibe, with the occasional French vocals and harmonization that softly cut through the noise to set the mood. It’s used sparingly and efficiently, expertly invoking feelings of both isolation and the comfort sometimes felt within it. The soundtrack reminds me of my time with “The Cub” where the music does more than fill the silence but elevates the game to an emotional experience, and the score will stay with you long after the credits roll.
The biggest pitfall for Caravan SandWitch on Switch is it constantly struggles to maintain a smooth framerate throughout the entire journey. It’s particularly worse when you’re in the main settlement hub, but it also stutters when out in the wild too. There are some texture issues and a fair amount of pop-in that can take some of the immersion away. These issues happen in both docked and handheld mode, but handheld seems to fare slightly better with its scalable resolution. There are also a few bugs, like missions starting and then immediately restarting because you’ve lost your way. You don’t lose any progress, just an odd start I suppose. Despite this, I couldn’t put the game down, and I wanted to see how the mystery unfolded. For my nomads looking into accessibility options, I’m pleased to report that Caravan SandWitch offers several options to help you enjoy the game more. There is a motion sickness reduction mode, displaying a black dot to help keep you centered while stabilising the camera more, and opening the field of view. There is also an accessibility radar in which you can ping objects of interest with both a visual and audio queue to assist. You are also able to set your mini-map to a fixed or relative position, adjust your audio queues separately from the main volume options, and remap most controls. It’s so great to see accessibility options like this in a smaller-budget game, and as always, I recommend further research to find out if Caravan SandWitch suits your needs.
Caravan SandWitch is far from perfect on the Nintendo Switch, and the performance issues will certainly put many players off which is a shame since it will reward patient players with a beautiful narrative about a devastated world, friendship, and loss. The lack of threat doesn’t dull the sense of urgency due to the way the narrative is fleshed out both in progression and the Toaster social system. Its superb soundtrack that’s used sparingly helps emotionally invest you in the game and will stay with you long after the credits roll. Caravan SandWitch is much like the planet of Cigalo, it can be a bit rough and a little messy, but there is hope and moments of beauty that ultimately make it an unforgettable adventure.
So, What’s It Like? Caravan SandWitch is Like My Time at Sandrock, crossed with a road trip through the apocalypse.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the publisher, but this doesn’t influence my score.