Why do wholesome, lovely games do this to me? First Unpacking sent me to weird places because I decided to listen to my own music, and now we have Malapata Studio’s Camper Van: Make it Home. I originally saw this one last November and fell in love instantly, from light pastel colors to wholesome decorating of your beautiful little van life, as I’m sure Instagram wants to tell me it is. We’ve all seen those videos, right? Typically, White-centric 20-somethings with their manicured little social media presence and their beautiful little “#VanLife” is sorted. Now you can sort of Unpacking-style progress through Malapata Studio’s game as someone lives an ideal pastel-colored nomad life.

The comparison is going to be heavy here, but much like Unpacking, you play as someone unknown as they grow, go in and out of relationships, and experience life. I’ll admit, this is quite a voyeuristic genre of wholesome games, but who hasn’t sat in a bar watching couples as they are on date nights, an old man as he contemplates life’s mistakes, and the bar staff who are exhausted because someone quit last night and management is terrible? No, just me? Ok.

Much like normal life, you start as a young woman breaking free from “normal” life to live in a small (very tiny) conversion of a normal car into one with a bed in it. Unlike one of two decent Oasis songs, you’re just pooing in the bushes, I guess. As you are progressively aging and getting better vans to stay in, you’ll include a shower, a place to hang clothes, and even have a pet, and so on. Despite my attempts at humor, it is all very wholesome and wonderful, to the point I sort of wondered when the heartbreak was set to come in. There isn’t, Camper Van: Make it Home is broadly speaking as lovely as can be.

Broken up into little sections of an island, you have several different converted old cars, old vans, and eventually a double-decker bus to not only decorate but also design. At the start of a new chapter in your user-named character’s life, they might get a new van to live in for one reason or another. I’m trying to be broad here because what little explicit plot there is throughout Camper Van: Make it Home is just as lovely as the light, bright colors you pick when designing each van. Then, to tell said story, you unpack and place everything you have in one or two chapters, highlighting this period of life.

I’ll be honest, there isn’t much to the idea other than placing stuff. That’s fine, that’s what I wanted and expected. Nonetheless, I can’t say that I didn’t sometimes conflict with the controls or while trying to do something. Once you’ve designed your little van’s interior (color of bed, flooring, and such), you’ll park up and unpack your stuff, but you’ll also eventually realize there is stuff to look over and collect. Sometimes, with certain objects like the camera, which will take pictures, it doesn’t matter where you place it.

What felt sluggish and “annoying” to me most was the movement of the in-game camera once you’re outside of the van. Sometimes it is a flower you’ll be scrapbooking to remember the journey, or you’re doing something else later on by placing an item and chasing something to place it. Again, I’m trying to be broad here. I understand why the camera moves slowly and such. You’re getting into the nooks and crannies to place mugs, toothbrushes, and other such items, so you need the slower, tempered movement in the van.

However, when you’re in there, that was my only other complaint with controls and overall for Camper Van: Make it Home. You can either rotate (turn) objects you’re placing by pressing T or right-clicking, which is fine most of the time, as everything rotates at 90 degrees. The “trouble” is when you’re impatient and fueled on a very chocolaty coffee, you’ll be rotating plant pots 17 times because you clicked one over the rotations you wanted, and now you’re just quickly clicking to turn something clockwise when you wanted it to go anti-clockwise once so you were as “frustrated.”

At only a few hours long, that issue isn’t a “don’t buy” complaint with Camper Van: Make it Home, because that would be stupid. At the very best, I am nitpicking to justify the idea of giving Camper Van: Make it Home a score that I feel is right. The truth is, this is one of those reviews where the question isn’t “Is the review score high enough?” It should be “Do you recommend, yes or no?”

Wholeheartedly, yes, a million times over. Malapata Studio’s Camper Van: Make it Home is aimed at those who sit for a couple of hours on Animal Crossing, designing their island, playing Tiny Glade, or something like Sticky Business. It is constrained enough to keep you focused on doing the thing you’re doing, making a van a home, but creative enough to let you spend a few hours doing that very thing. What I loved the most was trying to fit everything into the kitchenette area with limited space.

Ultimately, every single person who watches the Wholesome Direct yearly and adds the majority of the showcases’ roster will want to pick up Camper Van: Make it Home right now. Sat with a hot drink, some chocolate chip shortbread, and Camper Van: Make it Home is just a really lovely time. I can bemoan the camera for being a bit here or there with your needs, but for the most part, it is an issue that you can shrug off as a quirk of an otherwise fun, wholesome game with a hint of story to enjoy.

A PC review copy of Camper Van: Make it Home was provided by Malapata Studio for this review.

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Camper Van: Make it Home

$14.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Brilliantly wholesome.
• Creative but constricted enough to rein you in.
• Simple controls.

Cons

• A troubled camera controls and the rotation of items.
• An odd bug or unexplained thing here or there.