Cozy Caravan Preview

Have you ever dreamed of a travelling life? Free from the daily grind, never staying in one place, meeting new people every day, and having your bed underneath the starry sky? Well, I got the chance to check out Cozy Caravan, which promises to simulate that sort of life. It’s a single-player game wherein you travel across Harvestville as a member of the guild, helping and spreading happiness across the land, along with your frog companion, Bubba.

And it all starts on a bright and sunny early Thursday morning, and it's the first day of this black fox's journey.

After creating my character — whom I would constantly mistake for a wolf instead of a fox despite deliberately picking the option — the first thing that struck me was the animation. Although the game was running at 60 FPS, all the characters and animals are animated at a much lower framerate, making it look like stop motion. It's a little jarring but quite charming at the same time, although it did make me think my game wasn’t running right. Your player character and every NPC is some sort of cute animal and I loved each aspect of them, from their dialogue, the Animal Crossing-like noises they make, and just how they look. Each one is a marketable plushie waiting to take money out of your wallet.

After a small tutorial section, you are pretty much left to your own devices for the rest of the Early Access. No goal, no waypoint, no ending, just ride around in your caravan, visiting settlements and towns while looking for new items and recipes, as well as lending the occasional helping hand. Now, why do this? Well, it’s to raise your Happiness! There's literally a button just dedicated to waving at people… and it's actually pretty important that you do. Completing quests, doing favours, and selling items at the market will fill your Happiness meter. It essentially acts as EXP and filling it up grants a token that can be spent on improving your caravan. This ranges from bigger backpacks to new crafting stations installed in the carriage. 

But, now you’re thinking, what about money? Well, that’s the thing: There is no economy. Selling items at your market does nothing but increase your Happiness and everything can be obtained either through exploration, doing quests, or by harvesting crops at farms. Cooking and crafting only increase how much Happiness they give when they're bought. It's actually sort of freeing, in a way. The name of the game is “cosiness”, and worrying about logistics like supply and demand doesn't exactly fit the feeling. You’re meant to take your time, do it at your own pace. Sure, time does pass, but unlike any other game with an in-game date, I don’t feel pressure to do everything I can in one day.

However, there were some things that did make me a little bothered. It did annoy me that farm boxes, where you have to put the crops in so that they can be processed, have a limited amount of space. That means if there's no room left, you won’t be rewarded as much for your efforts or at all. Also, there isn’t a quest log to refer to, as far as I can tell. You'll have to memorise it by yourself, and from the dialogue written between Bubba and your player character, I think it's an intentional design choice. Plus, there are several repeated quests.

Overall, I had a good time with Cozy Caravan, and I can see that there’s still a lot they could improve and refine. Already, I found myself getting sucked into playing this game, and I’m sure with more updates, there will be more stuff to do. At the moment, there isn’t an end goal I was shooting towards, but I didn’t need that as the journey was just as lovely as the destination.