Verdict
Cozy Caravan is a truly adorable little game on Nintendo Switch, offering a low-stakes life sim and relaxed adventure with plenty of cute critters. Plus, it has a lovely lo-fi soundtrack behind it all.
Cozy Caravan is absurdly cute. There, that's it, that's your review.
I jest. Excuse me while I try not to describe this game as 'cozy' too many times, given that it's in the title. Having put a few hours into Cozy Caravan on Nintendo Switch 2, and with many more to come, I'm sure I can say that this is just a super adorable little game with no time-sensitivity, no pressure, but a whole lot of rotund NPCs that could do with a hand.
The first thing you notice when booting up this game is the simply delightful character designs you can pick from. There's a cow. There's an axolotl. A seal, a turtle, a badger, bears, cats, dogs, birds… You name it, there's one in a round little style. Even a bat! Plus, there's a wide range of clothes and accessories to pick from from the get-go, without having to spend time and money hunting down a stylish vest to complement your reindeer's antlers.
You start off in an area with farms around it, where you can get to grips with the controls by harvesting lettuce for someone, and setting up your very first market day. That's where the caravan comes in - you and your frog-shaped companion Bubba inhabit a quaint wooden vehicle pulled by a giant bee called Rigby. Rig-bee. Ha, get it? He's super sweet, and I recommend petting him every day for the warm, fuzzy feelings.
You can ring a bell on the back of the van that signals your market is open, then lay produce on the table, make a sale, and boom - you're on the way to being a star merchant. There's no money to earn, though. The 'currency' is happiness, which appears as red hearts and fills a gauge in the top-left. This stacks up to earn you points, which you can use to renovate your caravan and unlock items inside.
After your first market, you can kind of just roll off and do what you want. It's almost like a cozy to-do-list simulator, and that's fine with me. However, you do need to search for tasks and pick them up yourself - it's a little open-ended past the first couple of tutorialized requests.
There are characters that give you 'quests' in every corner of the map, like delivering an item, or hitchhikers you can pick up, and there are mini-games at farms and eateries across the map. It's a case of finding items you can sell at the end of each week, then finding a spot in the market town and doing it all again.
Saying that, there's plenty to do. One farmer needs your help corralling his lost bees into a pen, an otter called Lucy will ask for specific photographs, or you can spend your time chopping veggies to make food in your van. Everything is just wrapped in whimsy and almost saccharine levels of cute.
The art style perfectly matches the adorable character design. Everyone is smooth and round, with whimsical buildings (which include your own caravan). This is paired with a stop-motion style of movement for the characters. I actually recommend turning this off - especially on Switch - as it almost looks like the game is lagging. I appreciate the thought process behind it, but I feel it would match better with hand-drawn, painted, or pencil-like drawing styles. Or even a claymation type vibe.
The soundtrack is a really nice set of lo-fi beats, which provides a wonderful listening experience as you roll through the countryside. It almost doesn't suit the fantasy-like setting, but I'd probably end up listening to something similar while playing, so it's fine with me.
My only gripe is that the Switch graphics aren't quite as good as advertised on Steam. Yes, they're different platforms, but the Switch lacks a little depth and has slightly crispy outlines to characters, with some fuzzy textures on the floor. There's no Switch 2 update or version (yet), so that may fix things in the future, as might any updates that 5 Lives Studios releases to address bugs brought up by the community. It's certainly not bad, and I've played a lot worse.
There's a slight discrepancy between the Apple Arcade and other versions of the game. Essentially, there's more content and places to visit in the Arcade version compared to PC and Switch, due to the partnership that 5 Lives Studios has with Apple. As stated in a message from the developer, the partnership allowed them to create more for the game, and so it's only for Apple Arcade users. 5 Lives Studios may release the extras on other platforms in the future, similar to Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, coming to Switch and Steam after a period of exclusivity. I'll be eagerly awaiting any new updates, whatever happens.
Overall, if you're a fan of all things cozy wholesome, and easygoing, I highly recommend Cozy Caravan for a good few hours of trundling through the countryside, assisting animals in need.