It has been a while since I last wrote something substantial on The Fourth Estate. While trying to figure out what I should be writing next, I recently decided to replay an old Flash game that I once played back in 2015 and was later ported to Steam in 2020 after Adobe Flash was unfortunately phased out. Having revisited it and almost finished what has since become a recent third playthrough, I have begun to realize that so much of the game in question has aged well to the point of being very prescient for something released in 2014.
Caravaneer 2 is a retro “post-apocalyptic trade simulation game with turn based isometric combat” and Western RPG mechanics. The game takes place in a landlocked world where environmental disasters and conflicts have turned much of the planet into a barren, lifeless desert dotted with fledgling settlements and post-apocalyptic nations. These settlements and nations thrive and prosper by fostering trade and investment as well as establishing new economic systems. As one of the “scouts” from a bunker that had eked an existence isolated from civilization, the player assumes the role of a “caravaneer,” a traveling merchant, whilst pursuing their overarching goal of rescuing another scout and their people and stopping one nation’s byzantine plot to conquer the known wasteland.
Surviving in this new world requires getting immersed in the economic simulation mechanics as a traveling merchant. To become powerful enough to complete the game, player is encouraged to amass wealth. By buying products and resources in one settlement at a low price, they can be sold off to a larger town at a higher price insofar as the latter has industries that are willing to pay more for a consistent logistics chain. The player can also interact with the local economies by establishing new industries or purchasing existing ones, injecting settlements with additional investments to create additional wealth. Prices and economic conditions are never static, always changing in response to trends occurring outside the settlement or from the transactional sales of other caravans.
The combat, according to the solo developer who created the Flash game, is supposed to be reminiscent of 1980s-1990s Western RPG titles where everything is turn-based and dependent on statistical probability. Here, the player’s skillset and stats factor heavily into whether they will survive their next encounter with the plethora of enemies that wander the surrounding wasteland. The combat is also intertwined with the economic mechanics, given that anything of value can be obtained and later sold at the next settlement. There are even smuggling and slavery mechanics, where the player can dabble in the illicit side of the traveling merchant by selling slaves and contraband in towns and settlements where such activities are rampant.
With regard to the game’s story and plot, Caravaneer 2 is centered on the player character’s quest to rescue their mentor, another scout, and later their own people after it was revealed that they were kidnapped from their bunker along with the nuclear material to power its reactor. It is eventually revealed that a powerful nation was responsible for kidnapping the people and stealing the uranium as part of a larger plan to conquer to known wasteland. From there, the player could foil the plot and integrate their people into this new world or side with the hostile nation and let their people die from a nuclear explosion in the capital of another nation.
To be fair, it is clear from the dialogue that although the game was translated into various languages, the English text was hardly the most polished. This can be attributed to the fact that the game was only developed by one person on a small budget and with some help from volunteering consultants, testers and translators. The plot is not too remarkable and does not feel fleshed out enough in certain areas, which is made worse by the writing itself feeling a little stilted at times. In fact, there were certain points where some things were not conveyed well or addressed enough to immerse the player into the game’s intriguing worldbuilding.
The worldbuilding in Caravaneer 2, if I had to summarize it, can be interpreted as a loose allegory of Europe and Russia. It continues to be relevant because of Ukraine being caught between the EU/NATO and Russia. The wasteland is defined by five regions, the “Tribal Region,” “Alkubra,” “Ozbet/Janubi,” “Qubba,” and “The Federation.” The Federation is an allegorical representation of the “Russian Federation,” the legal name of Post-Soviet Russia, its plan to conquer the wasteland comparable to Post-Soviet Russia’s claims over the former Soviet Republics. While Qubba can be considered to be the allegory of Western Europe, “Ozbet” and “Janubi” are proxies of Qubba and the Federation respectively that could both stand in for Ukraine along with Alkubra and Tribal Region.
There is a prevalent religion throughout the wasteland called the “Church of Zinc,” which originated from the veneration of a superhero depicted in some preserved American comic books. Supposedly, The Federation is aligned with the Church of Zinc, although the game is not clear as to what extent. Then again, I am not surprised that the game tends to be vague on certain details such as this, seeing how the leaders of Federation and Janubi are parodies of Putin and Trump respectively. Remember, this was an obscure Flash game released in 2014 and the whole “Russian collusion” narrative in the American media did not appear until 2016, two years later. Most players over the years have caught on to the references, especially in light of what has happened in Ukraine and in America between 2014 and 2020, but I am convinced that not everyone understood their significance.
Aside from the writing being a hit or miss, I will admit that the game feels like an indie game that could be played on PC rather than a Flash game on a web browser. Some design choices like the GUI feel cumbersome, whereas the layout of certain town economies can be questionable at times. A lot more could have been done to make the game feel more polished and well-designed. Caravaneer 2 is a curious period piece and a testament as to how much Adobe Flash was capable of achieving at its peak in the 2010s. I would only recommend playing if people are willing to look past the lukewarm writing, the steep learning curve, and the tedious grinding to be done in the Tribal Region and Alkubra.
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