Cozy Caravan feels like it could be a spin-off of the popular Animal Crossing series. Set in vibrant pastoral lands, Cozy Caravan sees you and Bubba, your quirky best friend, start off as fledgling guild merchants. The newest entry from Australia’s 5 Lives Studios, this cozy crafting and exploration adventure game is sure to leave you wishing for a pastoral life with your own bee-driven caravan.
Before you start your journey, you must create your character! You play as one of the world’s animal folk, such as a badger, a goat, or an axolotl. Your little caravan character is then given the option to choose an outfit, their voice, their name, and a change of skin/fur tone. As caravan merchants you travel from town to town building up your rapport with local farmers by collecting crops and receiving some of their yield as payment. These crops can be used to create recipes found on your travels and then sold on the weekends in market squares.
The market can range from being reasonably busy to a charged, lunch rush crowd of picky customers looking for a specific item. I didn’t have a specific recipe yet, and boy were some of the customers mad. These hangry shoppers would stomp off in a disappointed manner having left empty-handed without their favorite treat. It was adorable! Happy customers, though, will leave with a little smile on their face leaving you with a sense of fulfillment and pride at a hard day’s work done. However, you can be running around quite a bit during a market day due to having to keep your tables stocked, as well as ringing up customers at your register. I wonder what Bubba does during this time? Probably napping with your noble bee-ast of burden, Rigby. And yes, you can pet the dog (err bee)!
On the road with Bubba and Rigby, you’ll find colorful characters in need of some help, from the lost frogs looking for their dad to a librarian begging for people to return their overdue books on time. My favorite character, Dylan, seems to take inspiration from the certain not-so-cozy game series, Assassin’s Creed. I won’t spoil it, because it’s so much fun to watch him. Helping people in this world benefits your guild’s reputation and in turn helps you by being able to unlock more options for your caravan. Reputation can be gained by simply waving at someone, doing some side quests, or via market day sales. I was a waving menace. I would get up in people’s business as they were eating and talking to their friends to wave at them. But, I was playing a raccoon, so I think it was in-character.
It should be noted that I am playing a beta access copy of this game. There are some performance issues that will hopefully be fixed by the time of Cozy Caravan’s public release. The most notable of these is the shakiness and stuttering in the animation, which made the game a bit of a challenge to play due to some of the issues I have with my eyesight. That being said, I am optimistic that this will be addressed as they continue to squash bugs on its way to full release.
All in all, Cozy Caravan is a great entry into the cozy world of pastoral gaming. The world, characters, and story of this game pull you into the lives of these animal farmers, never wanting to leave the simple life! Cozy Caravan is definitely worth picking up if you’re looking for the kind of escapism this genre offers.
Cozy Caravan releases Early Access on May 16, 2024, available on Steam.