Caravaneer 2

[Jubal]

Caravaneer 2

Game Type: Free Online Play
Genre: Where it fits: RPG/Strategy

Link: http://www.gamesofhonor.com/caravaneer-2

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I'll start out with this, before we go any further; Caravaneer 2 is one of the best games I've had the pleasure of playing in some time, and easily one of the best free games I've ever played. It's a tactical and trading RPG based around surviving a post-apocalyptic desert landscape, building up a party of mercenaries, traders, and carts and fighting your way past bandits and the many additional threats that exist as part of the quest lines.

Mechanically, the game has got a huge amount of interest and depth to recommend it. One of the earliest things one notices is the importance of plotting your journeys. The wide-scale map does not show your own location, and frequently one is in areas where there are no landmarks visible nearby on the smaller-scale map. One has to plot a direct route, ensure enough food and water is available for the journey, and then trudge along it hoping not to be attacked by bandits. If an attack does happen, it's a hard decision between fighting and risking loss of life, and fleeing only to have lost track of one's position and risk being unable to find a settlement before dehydration occurs. The towns and visitable locations are artistically nice, with a functional trade system that ultimately dominates the game – the main quest lines are fantastic, but Caravaneer 2 is a game that reminds the over-eager player that survival is the first necessity, and not always an easy one.

The battles are also worth discussing, as a very major feature of gameplay. They take place on an iso map with turn-based gameplay, with you controlling each of your party in turn. There is an "action point" system determining movement speed, turn order, and the number of other actions available (with, for example, an "aimed shot" taking up more AP than a "quick shot" but having a higher % hit chance). Characters also have variable weapon proficiencies and health, there is a wide range of weaponry available, and additional equipment such as helmets and medical packs may also be bought. The handling is occasionally a little difficult, mainly in ensuring that one clicks correctly on the relatively small enemy figures when ordering one of your own people to shoot at them. I have had too many times when, intending to shoot an enemy, I misclicked and ordered someone to run at them only to be mown down by rifle bullets. As long as one is patient, though, the battles are a very rewarding and immersive experience. Tactically, the presence of ruined walls and trees for cover gives the battles much of their, and the different functions of parts of your party's arsenal – including crossbows, swords, shotguns, and rifles – must be used correctly to win.

I make little secret of the fact that I'm a total sucker for good world building, and that's one of the things that makes Caravaneer 2 really, really stand out strongly. The world of Caravaneer is a masterclass in how to do post-apocalypse right; struggling townships, a wasteland society in near-continual breakdown, but (and this is important) with very real people and motivations still operating. The peace-loving scientist, the optimistic rebel with a taste for historical music and unusual guns, the embittered warrior woman; despite the relatively low levels of dialogue in the game at times, the characters come wonderfully to live. They are not merely ciphers – they do not feel as if they exist solely to fill standard tropes – and that gives Caravaneer's desert setting a great deal more life than some equivalents. The depth is there as well; farms and businesses operate (indeed you can become quite the businessman yourself), caravans trek across the wastes, people huddle in churches and chapels (dedicated to the Man of Zinc, a misremembered fusion of Jesus and Superman), and struggles over slaves and territory tear fault lines across a complex political patchwork.

Since this is theoretically a review despite mostly just being a Caravaneer 2 love-fest, I will give my list of the most obvious improvements that I think would have be good to see.

• Battle maps could do with more interest. The random terrain generation is great, but a few more different types/items of terrain and a bit more variation in the density could add a lot more replay value to battles. Just some more boulders, bushes and tree variants could have added quite a lot here.
• Music. Basically just turn Caravaneer's own music off from the start and play something else in the background, if you want your brain to still be functional after playing, the short music clip on the map is awfully repetitive.
• I'd have liked to get a bit more buzz from the towns, and locations like the church in Orth; getting a bit more front-end depth and personality into some of the towns should be possible given the impressive depth of population numbers, business statistics, and supply/demand values that the game has within it.

I think there's one thing that unites most of the things I'd like to see improve about Caravaneer 2 though – they're almost all additions rather than mistakes, and that's because this is a game that continually leaves me thinking "I'd like more of that". All in all, one of the strongest recommendations I'd give for any game I've played in the last few years would go to Caravaneer 2; I encourage you to head over check it out.