Cozy Caravan – A Charming Adventure on a Bee-Pulled Wagon!

“How lovely it must be to live in a house that has wheels and can go away down the lanes and through the towns, and stand still in fields at night!” – Enid Blyton

Overview

Cozy Caravan is a delightful, top-down adventure in which the player embarks on a journey through charming towns, helping kind and jolly citizens along the way, all in aid of the upcoming whizz-bang fair!

Narrative

Cozy Caravan begins with the player receiving a note from their Aunty Madeline who needs some help keeping the towns up together as she is organising the whizz-bang fair. As the player is a guild rookie, they take on this request with the help of their good friend Bubba, and the pair travel around on the bee-pulled caravan helping folks out and spreading some happiness.

There will be a number of notes delivered to the player throughout the game, often from Aunty with updates on the fair, or instructions for things that need to be done. The focus, however, is the gameplay, and the individual interactions and tasks, rather than the overarching narrative.

The dialogue is well-written and the sweet conversations perfectly match the feel of the environment and the gameplay, helping to further build the charming game world and immerse the player in the experience.

Gameplay

At the start of Cozy Caravan, the player is greeted by a character creation screen with plenty of options for different animals to play as, such as an axolotl, cow, red panda, gecko, capybara and more. There are also options for the colour of the animal as well as their outfit. The player also gets to freely name their character whatever they choose. Later in the game, there are purchasable options for customising the caravan too.

The caravan travels between a host of different towns and areas such as Whisperfell Lookout, ‘Dairy Me’ Milk Bar, Toffe Top Orchard and more. Some areas are unreachable at the start of the game due to muddy roads but a caravan upgrade can be bought to overcome this and explore further.

Happiness can be earned by waving at different NPCs as well as completing tasks for them. As the player’s happiness meter fills, guild tokens are obtained; these can then be spent on caravan upgrades such as cooking tools and customisations. Tasks include helping with harvesting crops, finding treasure, returning library books herding bees, and fixing gates. Some tasks, such as farming, will offer extra rewards which can then be crafted with or sold directly.

Crafting is mostly limited to cooking, which is done inside the caravan and involves simple but satisfying mechanics that represent stirring, chopping, fanning an oven, and other such tasks. Turning raw ingredients into prepared food will increase its value and different recipes can be earned by helping people around the towns.

Time progresses in days within the game, and at the end of each day, a camp must be set up to enable sleep. Players can sell their wares at markets which can be started in major towns but only on weekend days. At the market, the player can choose which wares to display on their table (or tables if more have been purchased) and townsfolk will look around and buy things. The NPCs will often display thought bubbles indicating which things they would like to buy. At the end of the market, earnings are transferred to the happiness meter which potentially awards more guild tokens.

Farms replenish their crops regularly allowing the player to revisit and gain more produce. It is also possible to gain more happiness by waving again and NPCs that have not been visited recently. The gameplay is very casual overall, stress-free and undemanding, and it manages to be highly enjoyable and satisfying despite the general lack of challenge.

Styling

Cozy Caravan boasts a very cute and colourful 3D art style that uses slightly rounded shapes, with no hard outlines. It is very easy on the eye and adds to the generally cosy and wholesome feel of the game. It utilises a top-down view which works well for the style of gameplay and gives the player a good view of the different locations and characters.

The sound design is delightful, with upbeat but relaxing music and adorable sound effects that help bring the world to life. The characters speak in charming gibberish with silly noises, the only vaguely discernable word is ‘hello’ of which cute iterations are uttered as the player sociably waves at any available NPC.

Summary

Cozy Caravan is a joy to play, with laid-back gameplay, wholesome themes, a delightful narrative, and adorable characters. Despite being in early access, there is a good amount of content so far and consistent and regular updates are always being added. The game is entirely family-friendly and will be enjoyable for a range of player types and age groups. The devs have created a game world that is delightful and adorable in all its facets, ensuring a charming and relaxing experience that is very engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed this game and would recommend it to fans of wholesome games without hesitation.

Looking for more cosy games? You might also enjoy these reviews:
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge – A Charming Farming Sim Full of Cute Frogs! – Bear and Breakfast – A Cute and Casual B&B Management Sim – Lil Gator Game – An Utterly Adorable Alligator Adventure

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