Caravan SandWitch Review – Serene Post-Apocalyptic Exploration With Heart

Welcome to Cigalo, where mysteries and wonders await

It’s difficult to believe that Caravan SandWitch, developed by the small French studio Plane Toast, is a debut title. Published by Dear Villagers, this exploration based game promises adventure, a captivating narrative and a mystery to solve. The team consists of less than 20 people, and tackles an interesting challenge with this project: how can you balance a relaxing experience focused on exploring a beautiful environment with the tension that comes with a post-apocalyptic setting and a narrative driven by a missing person’s case?

A narrative focused around community

Potential players are likely to immediately be charmed by the lovely aesthetics or the relaxed exploration the game promises. However, it would be a disservice to Caravan SandWitch, not to mention one of its less apparent selling points: a thoughtful, community-focused narrative. Our protagonist Sauge starts off in a sterile space station. We find out that their sister Garance has gone missing over 6 years ago – however, her space ship has now started emitting a distress signal. And so, Sauge decides to return to their home planet of Cigalo, which they had left after Garance’s disappearance, determined to find out what happened to their sister. The story is not life-changing or even particularly deep, but it is relatable and easy to connect with.

Upon their arrival in the settlement, the player is immediately greeted by a lovely cast of characters with a range of quirky plant themed names as is custom on Cigalo, such as Nèfle, Clémentine and Safran. I was very impressed by how clearly defined and fleshed out the characters are.

You could sense their relationships to each other, their history with our protagonist, and their individual personalities.

Throughout my time with Caravan SandWitch, I also played a number of side quests, helping out the residents, finding out more about their struggles. From the parents of a young child trying to decide between staying with the community or moving to the city where there are more opportunities, Sauge and their father struggling to come to terms with Garance’s sudden disappearance, or a small group of robots I ran into later grappling with what grief means to them, a lot of their struggles felt relatable and every side quest worth playing.

The plot progresses at a nice pace controlled by the player – I particularly enjoyed the heads up the game would give me before moving on to a new chapter, letting me know if I had finished all time-limited side quests yet, so I didn’t accidentally lock myself out of an experience.

Not only does Caravan SandWitch explore individual struggles, but it also poses the question of what it means to belong, how to compromise in order to protect your home, and what you are willing to sacrifice for those you love.

Explore a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi world

The words “post-apocalyptic” and “sci-fi” conjure a vision of a dark, desolate world with rampant violence, a battle for survival and a gloomy atmosphere. Caravan SandWitch is the exact opposite. Based on the Provence, a region in the south-east of France, Cigalo is bright, colourful, and blends abandoned spaceships and factories with nomadic settlements, sandy beaches, a seemingly endless desert and rich, lush forests.

I loved my time on Cigalo. As I slowly uncovered the map, I became more and more familiar with this small planet and its different locations, and I loved taking the time to just… sit and enjoy the scenery.

The game encourages this, with different points of interests marked out on the map for the player to find. There are radios playing music, pillows to rest on, mementos to find and components to improve your van. Speaking of the van, I loved driving it – it felt like an efficient and fun way to get around. The skills you unlock, such as a scanner or a grapple hook, are focused on the van rather than the player, and I felt it was a really clever way to make sure it was part your adventure. It never made sense to go anywhere without it, and was integral to the experience.

Despite the storm looming threateningly in the distance, it felt relaxing to explore Cigalo – there are no time limits, no way to die, stamina bar, or combat, and so I really took my time to make sure I had seen it all. The only real resource are the components to drive forward the plot, and there are so abundant that you will have more than enough even without exploring everything. In fact, by the end I had so many, that I was wishing for something to do with them. At the same time, Caravan SandWitch never got boring. There was always another side quest that seemed interesting, a new location to explore, or a sudden titular SandWitch sighting to keep me interested in the mysteries of Cigalo,

Discovery made easy

As I drove around the vast planet, accompanied by the lovely atmospheric soundtrack, I noticed just how natural exploring Cigalo felt. Points of interest are cleverly signposted with trails of dirt over climbable surfaces, paint streaks in abandoned factories, conveniently placed boxes and guiding light sources.

And so, I never really got stuck for long and was able to explore every corner of this world – it felt fluid and fun.

The scanner function you unlock early also makes it easy to figure out which locations you have not yet explored and have components for you to find. Certain locations were a bit more challenging to access than others – requiring balancing across beams or climbing a high tower. Each of those challenges were rewarded with rarer components, exploration felt worthwhile. Usually, I am also a big fan of fast travel – and you do unlock a few fast travel points through the course of the game. However, I actually found myself not using them particularly often, finding it nicer to immerse myself into the world and drive my trusty van.

A fantastic debut title

Considering all the depth and clever design that has gone into this game, I was initially really surprised to find out this was a title made by a small team. But in retrospect, it makes sense: you can clearly feel the love every member put into this project and the inspiration taken from their home region. It is actually only after finishing Caravan SandWitch that I looked up what inspired Cigalo, only to find out that it was a region I visited on numerous occasions as a child, spending summers with my grandma and making fond memories. And suddenly, I understood why I immediately felt a connection with this fictional world.

That being said, I did run into a few minor issues – namely, a few clunky instances with the climbing and jumping, or struggling to angle ziplines in a way that did not have me collide with the corner of a building, sending me  tumbling down. Thankfully, there is no fall damage and so it was not a big issue, only mildly annoying. There are also a few quests that “lock” you into your van, requiring you to drive to a specific location, sometimes with a passenger. You are not able to leave the van or stray too far from your path during these sequences, and I was a bit frustrated when I was forced to drive past something cool, especially as the number of markers you can place on your map are limited and not very representative of what you are marking. Finally, I also feel like the title of the game isn’t quite fitting for the experience it offers, and I worry it might lead to some potential players giving it a miss.

Caravan SandWitch is available on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Epic Games and Steam and is sure to delight anyone looking for an approachable, relaxed exploration game with a lovely narrative. Cigalo felt like coming home and I am sure other players will feel the same sense of nostalgia that accompanied me throughout this experience. While there are a few minor issues that I expect will get ironed out, I am really impressed by how quickly I became attached to this world and its inhabitants, and I truly hope many of you will feel the same.