Capy Castaway Gamescom demo preview

At Gamescom’s Indie Arena we demoed Capy Castaway, a cute indie adventure from the team that gave us Pekoe. It tells the tale of a baby capybara and a bird named Corvi who’s helping his friend try to find their parents in the aftermath of a great flood. Booting up the demo, it chucks you straight into its ‘playbox’ type world where you’ll be given quests to do, but it seems most of your time will be spent playing around with the scenery and interacting with different objects. What made the demo so fun was this freedom and it’s something I’ll be looking forward to in its full release.

What stood out to me in my initial exploration of Capy’s world is the list of controls you’re given in the top left corner of the screen. There’s a lot to play around with here, from digging, sniffing, and adorably being able to pick up any item and stacking it on your Capy’s head. Capy’s gameplay is nicely paired with your more agile friend, Corvi the crow. Your companion can do things like help you glide when you jump across gaps and lock on to items to pick them up and carry them back to Capy. We’ve seen this duo of gameplay types before, but with how much there is to play around here it seems like we will be using the variable controls a lot.

The island’s main quest is to take part in the great soup competition, where competitors will add their own ingredients to impress the judges, a giant three headed Goose that definitely won’t eat us if the soup isn’t good enough. It’ll be up to Capy and Corvi to find ingredients around the island and meet the judge’s conditions.  For example, one head will ask for something hot and if you’re unsure you can prompt Corvi to give a description of items you find. Once you find all your ingredients, you can ask Chef Swallow to test the soup and once you’re happy the judging will commence! It’s only a short snippet of a quest and makes it so you explore most of the island and test the controls, so it works perfectly for a demo.

The map we find ourselves in is a neighborhood with feathered residents and several points of interest. My favorites of these were the swing set where you’ll stop to talk to Corvi about the event of the flood and your lost families. Despite Capy being mute, it felt quite somber and made me slightly worried that this game was going to get pretty sad! But who am I kidding, as soon as you gave me a baby capybara to worry about, I think I would shed a tear at anything. From this scene, I now know Capy Castaway will have a heartfelt story to explore and get invested in which is always exciting.

The look and feel of Capy Castaway are also one of its stand-out qualities with its soft colors and doodle-esque drawings of flowers and signs. It feels like I’m chilling on a hazy summer day. This is all contrasted with the devastation the flood has left behind, with abandoned washed-up houses and an abundance of litter scattered around. It’s supposed to be dirty and grimy, but it doesn’t detract from the whimsy. The environment is all wrapped up in a nice bow with a score composed by the wonderful Mark Sparling, known for his work on A Short Hike. The track that loops in the demo is calm and breezy but I’m so excited to see what else is up his sleeve.

Overall, I’m excited by this taste of Capy Castaway. It is literally a bite-sized demo, but it promises chill vibes and a heartfelt story that seems like the perfect cozy package. As coined by its creative director, Capy Castaway will be a playbox type game, where alongside quests, you’ll be distracted by all kinds of fun things to interact with in this washed up world.

For more insight into Capy Castaway’s development and vision, please look out for our interview with Saffron, the game’s creative director, where we will talk about how Toronto is infused into the world and what we can expect in the full version.

For all things Capy Castaway, stay tuned to GamingTrend!