I’m a simple person – if a game has ‘witch’ in the title, it’s likely that I’m going to play it. That’s what initially drew me to Caravan SandWitch, and although the setting and plot are a lot less mystical than I was expecting, I’m very glad that I followed my instincts and chose to review this game.
Caravan SandWitch follows Sauge as she travels back to her home planet of Cigalo in search of her missing sister, prompted by an unexpected distress call from her ship after seven years of silence. Cigalo is a long-forgotten planet by much of the galaxy after an opportunistic capitalist organization used it for its resources, with only the native race of Reinetos as a handful of humans left.
Instead of paying attention to the ‘witch’ in the title, I should have noticed ‘caravan’. A huge part of this game is that Sauge drives around the ruins and desert of Cigalo in her neighbor’s all-terrain van, looking for clues about her sister’s disappearance and helping people out as she goes. Typically I’m terrible at driving in games, unless you count Mario Kart. I don’t drive in real life, and something about the combination of buttons and triggers always confuses me, but driving in Caravan SandWitch is a dream.
I’m not sure what exactly is different about controlling Sauge’s van to driving a car in GTA 5, but I picked up the controls instantly and I finally understand why people love driving games so much. Plus, as this is an open-world game, having a vehicle gives you so much more freedom to explore. In general, moving around Cigalo is really fun and intuitive thanks to the combination of Sauge’s van and her climbing skills.
Caravan SandWitch could have been designed with me in mind as it meets so many of my personal preferences for videogames. There are diverse characters, including those with they/them pronouns like myself, it’s a cozy game with no time limits or fail states, and the initial mystery of the plot leads to a wider story about the importance of community care and putting people before profit. The game’s website describes it as ‘a hopeful post-apocalypse’, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Much of Caravan SandWitch’s exploration revolves around driving through the desert, disabling signal jammers, and revealing the map as you go. These signal jammers act a bit like fast travel points in games like Genshin Impact, but as an added detail, you can’t read any of your messages on the Toaster app (presumably named for the developer, Plane Toast) when you’re in a jammed zone – the messages turn into encrypted strings of numbers and letters. It’s really immersive and adds to the abandoned space outpost feel, but it’s easy enough to restore your texts if you need to check a quest or hint.
Finally, partially thanks to its stunning painterly art style, Caravan SandWitch looks and feels great on the Switch. I’ve not experienced any performance issues, just some minor camera glitches that were easily fixed by repositioning Sauge, and everything is legible and just as pretty in handheld mode. If you like cozy exploration and hopeful stories about the future of humanity, you need to pick up Caravan SandWitch.
If you’re better at handling your vehicles than I am, check out our list of the best car games on Switch and mobile next. We’ve also got a guide to the best sci-fi games if you’re after more interstellar exploration.