Trade, explore and hopefully survive in Daedalic's Caravan

First, the bad news. This is not a simulation game recreating those terrible family holidays you spent in a tiny static caravan; Daedalic Entertainment's Caravan concerns that other type of caravan, you know, the one made out of camels and horses and carts and people. "In a pre-medieval Oriental setting," the blurb declares, "players will send their caravan from town to town. On their way, they will experience dangerous, mystical adventures, embark on rewarding quests in towns, and fight against dangerous bandits, beasts, ghoulish creatures and djinns".

It's set on the Arabian Peninsula, hence the djinns, and various other fantastical elements drawn from Arabian Nights. I suppose that's one way to inject a bit of excitement into an historical game, but I hope it doesn't muck too much with the setting, as a trading game set in that period sounds fab.

It's not just trading, of course; it's also exploration, strategy and roleplaying, and let's see how all those mush together in the launch trailer:

Caravan is out now on Steam, and from GOG, and it'll set you back just over £10.

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.