Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Apr 17, 2015

  Before I continue, I will mention this is a rough recommend. A low recommend, if you will. In The House of Caravan, you spend the game exploring a house, you have limited lighting, and must make use of matches to light things in the environment, and a flashlight with limited battery life (I only managed to find a couple of batteries during the game). You mostly go around, looking and collecting items for puzzles, and keys to unlock doors. It's a first-person adventure game where you freely walk around, and has some slight horror tones, though nothing particularly scary happens (there's two light jump scares and some strange audio cues at points, and the house starts shaking at random intervals, but nothing particularly spooky happens from it). The house is nicely designed, and is fun enough to explore. Some of the puzzles are a bit of fun, none are too hard and most are easily solved. There's some physics when you pick things up. Some of the music is nice. The story isn't bad, but there isn't anything remarkable about it either. Game is on kind of the short side, probably taking someone 90-120 minutes to complete it. There are optional documents laying around you can pick up which have voiced dialogue talking more about the background of the game. If you can get it for a cheap price and don't mind a sort of light adventure game, it's worth playing. There are much better game's than it in the same sort of genre, but for a cheaper price it's not a bad bet. There are a few niggles with it, I witnessed some frame drops, and a few glitches of me dropping something on the floor and it flinging me into the air a bit, but nothing too bad and some light polish could easily fix this. Some audio volume elements were also a little low in my opinion. If you want to explore a house with some light puzzles in it, then it's decent. If not your cup of tea, you won't be missing anything amazing by skipping out on it.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 17, 2015

  A pretty short game, but well worth the $6. Not really horror, but an atmospheric, creepy game much more like "Gone Home". The puzzles are pretty strightforward, there were one or two that had me scratching my head, but all in all a good game. My only real complaints are that it could use a bit more optimization, and some of the physics on the items are a bit wonky. Recommended!
• gamedeal user

  Apr 20, 2015

  House of Caravan is a perfect example of games being more than a simple gameplay. You won't run from monsters, track down a serial killer or lose your sanity, but you will become immersed in a surprisingly very well-written drama with great visuals (maybe a bit too dark but still great). Of course there is a lack of action in this game, but being immersed in such deep way to the story being told, I didn’t missed it at all. I had fun playing this the game, specially the end part that comes with the credits as the voiceover made me understand some things I missed at first, and left me wanting to know more about the Caravan’s universe, when we will see House of Caravan 2?
• gamedeal user

  Jan 10, 2016

  Nice game. Played it for 39 minutes. Got world record and everything. Would play again.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 12, 2016

  I don't exactly know what the game is about or what is going on, but I hold the world record for completing this game the fastest at 13.2 seconds from start to finish.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 8, 2016

  House of Caravan is a short atmospheric puzzle game that provides the player with a few hours of gametime in which the player will be exploring a mansion and solving various puzzles. Bugs are by no means frequent, but may occur and force you to restart your progress. The game overall manages to provide the player with enough substance to justify a purchase.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 13, 2016

  An ok indie walking/drawer opening simulator which can be completed with 100% achievements in under 2 hours. Buy it on a sale, otherwise looks too expensive for what it offers.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 23, 2016

  [u]The good[/u] Occasionally intriguing story Decent use of the Unity engine Reasonable visuals Some creepy ambient sounds Easy to get a perfect game on Steam Puzzles can be challenging I got it for 49 cents [u]The bad[/u] Minimal replay value Some lost in translation issues (or just poor copyediting, who knows?) The interactivity could be better handled
• gamedeal user

  Jan 14, 2017

  House of Caravan is a game that lacks an identity and has been poorly designed on a fundamental level. As a first game for a studio it's not horrible, and the price is reasonable for the amount of playtime, but for their next game I hope the developers learn that opening drawers is not the best gameplay. The good: Solid scope for a first game, they did not take on too much. Coherent style in the graphics, and enough variation in models/props to avoid being repetitive. Hidden doors in a mansion. Who does not like hidden doors? The mansion itself seems to have gotten some love, even though it does not feel like people have actually lived in it. The bad: The writing is terrible on a fundamental level. Who writes a letter about a murder that they commited to the person who asked them to? and who keeps said letter in a drawer in a garage? signed with both names? The letters are clearly not written to a person, they are just a tool to tell the player what they should know. The puzzles are varied, but their sollutions are sometimes less than elegant, and essentially you just walk around opening drawers until you find the right items. You don't feel smart when you succeed, which you should always aim for as a game designer. VO is not the worst I've heard, but it does nothing to elevate the writing. The ending is abrupt, and we are left with no sense of how the main character felt about the whole thing. The repetitive voice lines for trying to open locked doors and finding match boxes are super enoying and shatter any immersion. In Conclusion: As a first game from a small studio it's not the worst I've played, but when you brag about having worked on the Witcher etc, I expect a more polished experience with better fundamentals of what the player actions are. Also: sprint is too slow, walking is too fast.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 12, 2017

  [i]House of Caravan[/i] is a first-person adventure game. You were kidnapped and taken to a mansion. To find a way out of the mansion, you'll need to explore all the rooms, gather items and solve puzzles. This is a very basic game of mystery, exploration and puzzling: [list] [*] the mystery is nothing special but like all adventure game mysteries it beckons to be solved nonetheless [*] you'll either find a way into the next room or find two or three keys to other rooms so the game is not completely linear but it comes close [*] there are only 6 puzzles and they are not hard at all [/list] Most of the negative reviews do have a point. It would have been better if the character's walking speed was a bit higher. If you want the Steam Achievements for collecting all the items and all the letters that tell the story, you will open an afwul lot of drawers. There are only 3 types of puzzles, each of which you'll encounter twice, and experienced puzzlers won't find them challenging at all. But it's not all bad. [i]House of Caravan[/i] has decent graphics for an indie game. The voice acting isn't half bad, especially for an indie game. The game manages to create a spooky atmosphere that piques one's interest to see what you will find in the mansion and how the game will end. You have to take [i]House of Caravan[/i] for what it is. A short indie adventure game that has you exploring a mansion while you learn why you're there. It's one of those games you should never pick up unless it's heavily discounted (at least -80%), even if the genre appeals to you. I bought [i]House of Caravan[/i] for 19 cents and for that I got two hours of adventuring through a spooky mansion, so I'm content. And from [b]that[/b] perspective I do recommend this game.