Eventually, I remembered it: Emil and the Detectives, the children’s adventure by Erich Kastner.
More specifically, those airy, bendy, thick-lined ink illustrations by Walter Trier.
Retro and modern all at once, as art struck on the cusp of the 1930s often was.
Cheerful and spirited, filled with a headlong sense of derring-do.
It’s a perfect fit.
The world is a big part of this.
There’s variety to the world too.
I loved the coast, with its pearly sea froth and spars of rock that might hold secrets.
It’s a game that wants you to linger.
Ride the van off a cliff and it’s absolutely fine.
Charmandconvenience: this is almost too much!
Rambling around in the van, the game unfolds as a series of - what exactly?
Puzzles is probably too strong a word for the stuff you get up to here.
None of it is particularly taxing, but it’s all quietly delightful.
Some of my greatest moments of joy have come from breaking the sequence.
“Accessibility-friendly sounds” indicate the kind of actions used when Sauge interacts with an item.
If there’s a problem here - and it’s only a small one - it’s padding.
Another might allow you to cross gaps by riding lines that already exist in the world.
But the price to unlock each new upgrade can feel like a kind of progress tax now and then.
This gently playful world may actually be at its best when you’re doing not much of anything.
Take the van for a coast over the dunes.
Pick through a robot graveyard that always looked interesting.
There’s a sense of adventure here that runs so deep it must emerge from the land itself.
A review copy of Caravan SandWitch was provided by Dear Villagers.
