Cozy Caravan Review

Cozy Caravan is a wholesome adventure crafting game that was developed and published by 5 Lives Studios. The title invites players to step into the shoes of a guild rookie, whose job is to go around the land and help others with their problems!

The game caught my attention when I caught a glimpse of the adorable avatar in one of the GIFs the team shared. I was genuinely stunned at how cute the character and its animations were, which ended up in me snooping the entire Steam page.

As soon as I booted the game, I was pleasantly shocked at the sheer avatar options available! What seems to have started as a small pool — which is still much more than in most titles — has grown into an expansive roster of cows, axolotls, owls, pigs... even frogs! I was more than delighted just browsing through all the avatars.

Once I chose how I wanted to look (obviously a frog because I love them so much), I set off on my adventure as a rookie in a guild all about bringing good to others.

While simple, the premise does a great job at tying the entirety of the game together without needing much more explanation. Players will explore a world full of small towns and cities, where they'll discover dozens of unique characters who require assistance.

By lending a hand to the various locals, there's a little meter that fills up; once it's complete, the rookie gains a token. These can be taken to Arthur — a very helpful guildie — who will exchange them for various upgrades and styles.

Since this is the only currency available to the player and it covers such a wide array of unlockables — from caravan and avatar customisation to essential tools to continue the game — there are many ways to get them. Even just using the hello button will send a flurry of greetings back and increase the meter a bit!

Aside from the usual quests that have an end, some repeatable ones can be found sporadically throughout the world, and others in specific locations. Namely, the former involves events (such as collecting trash for a raccoon around the area he's in), and the latter allows players to lend a helping hand to restaurants.

The gameplay's intense focus on usually stressful tasks, such as managing a weekend market, cooking meals, and helping wait tables, worried me a tad. I'm not a big fan of quick-time events or stressful mechanics, and I didn't want to get stuck doing just that for hours; thankfully, 5 Lives Studios did a great job at making the mini-games accessible and fun but still rewarding. If you still hate them, there are numerous accessibility settings to make things even more manageable, if not just completely remove them.

The gameplay loop doesn't take long to reveal itself: players will explore various areas, collect materials and ingredients, and prepare for the weekend market. By selling various crafted goods or raw mats, they will increase the meter and gain tokens to exchange with Arthur! Between this relaxing cycle, they will come across all sorts of silly quests and characters, including an ongoing hunt to find all the froggies hidden in the world.

I adored it! I would spend from Monday to Thursday helping folks and collecting things, and then I'd change into my in-game pajamas and spend the entirety Friday cooking and preparing for the weekend. It became especially relaxing and satisfying after unlocking various upgrades, which I won't spoil!

From the beginning of the game until the very end, my favourite aspect was travelling. I don't think I've ever been so smitten with a game's parallax background as I was with the downright stunning landscapes in Cozy Caravan! They're varied and alive, with NPCs walking and going about their day as you head to your next destination, riding cosily in your customised caravan alongside the most adorable ginormous bee and Bubba (the player's companion)!

It was so indescribably relaxing whenever I passed by my favourite areas — one of them being early in the game in Buzzington Hills — that I couldn't help but take snippets of my gameplay and save them. The tiny road trips truly encompass the word cosy!

Despite Cozy Caravan being one of the best wholesome experiences I've had, I do have some minor complaints. The one I personally hope is adjusted is that I wish that changing the playable character didn't cost tokens. Although I understand this adds more value to them — and technically also more gameplay — it was sad not to be able to switch between the many fantastic options easily.

Not many games let us play adorable animals, and even fewer have such great-looking options! It would've been nice to be able to switch around at the closet, especially as I went out of my way every day to dress my character in various cute outfits.

Even with so many ways to gain hearts, it never felt like I had enough to use for upgrades, caravan aesthetics, clothing, and my playable character’s species. I am a big fan of changing clothes and playing around with the avatar, and I loved being able to decorate how the inside and outside of my ride looked… but using my tokens on that stunted my progression making the game feel a tad grindy. 

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, of course, as I got more gameplay from it, and depending on the player, it might not even happen. I bought all the styles as soon as they were available, and I changed my avatar three times! This meant the essential upgrades took a backseat, so I ended up lagging behind on progression and having to grind; in the end, I decided to just stick with the frog to avoid elongating it too much. 

Despite not personally minding small mess-ups, like typos and dialogue having the wrong character name, there were several little hiccups (especially at the beginning of the game). Some aspects of the experience can also become very repetitive, such as the daily conversations between Bubba and the main character! NPCs will also repeat frequently repeat things. While I don't mind, it's worth pointing out for those who might.

I genuinely look forward to the content currently available only to the mobile version to make it to Steam because I'll take any excuse to go back. Cozy Caravan was a pleasant surprise, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to review it!

If you enjoy relaxing games with light customisation, wholesome quests, and a ton of collecting, I highly recommend picking it up! I hold this adorable game in my heart.