Cozy Corner – Grab a cup of hot coffee in this oddly relaxing roguelite

It’s time for another week of cozy game discussions, Destructoid. This week, I’m here with a game I picked up a few months ago after getting a sudden craving for cooking games. Let’s give it up for Coffee Caravan, a management roguelite that’s all about brewing drinks for impatient customers.

In the game, you, a barista, are in charge of serving coffee to customers through your caravan cafe. You’ll gradually unlock new recipes, equipment, and decorations to make your run easier, with various checkpoint marking challenges to overcome, such as needing a certain number of recipes or serving specific customer types. Think PlateUp, but much calmer.

I’ll be honest, I was expecting a casual restaurant management game when I first booted this up. I completely missed that it was a roguelite, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw the genre’s famous branching paths and realized what I was getting myself into. Thankfully, these elements actually made the experience more fun. Rather than stressing over whether I’ll succeed, I look forward to each new node and the chance to find fun items.

You don’t even have to worry about the stressful nature of roguelikes. Sure, there’s a level of pressure in knowing that failing your run means starting over. On the other hand, it’s overall an easy game that focuses on cozy relaxation over stressful, fast-paced gameplay. You can even play weekly challenges if that’s more your style.

For some, that means it’s too easy, as you may find yourself prepping ingredients or sitting and waiting for customers rather than sprinting around and having them leave constantly. For others, this is perfect, as you won’t have to worry about min-maxing your setup for peak efficiency. Heck, I don’t like thinking about my builds in games and tend to just use whatever looks fun.

Coffee Caravan is a great choice for anyone who wants a change of pace in their cozy games. If you’re bored with your typical farming, life, or cooking sim games, this’ll crank up the action slightly without feeling like an overwhelming challenge that’s impossible to overcome. You’ll still need some level of strategy, but you don’t necessarily have to plan every step of the way if you don’t want to.

Do you normally prefer slow-paced, relaxing games, or fast-paced action with some fun and cute moments sprinkled in? Are you here to discover a new game during the Steam Summer Sale, or did you see coffee in the title and become curious? Let us know in the comments below!