Haven Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · December 11, 2020

Two lovers gave up everything and escaped to a lost planet to be together. Glide through a mysterious landscape, explore a fragmented world and fight against what’s trying to tear them apart in this RPG adventure about love, rebellion, and freedom.

Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
4192MB Download size.
Steam achievements.
Controller support. (recommended)
Graphics-fullscreen, resolution, v-sync, render quality, and brightness.
Remote play together support.
Drop-in/out co-op local and online via remote play.
Third-person view.
Can rebind controls for player 1 and player 2.
Two difficulties-default and reduced.
Fully voiced character interactions with multiple-choice options.
Can skip cutscenes and fast forward dialogue.
Tutorial pop-ups and dialogue at the start.
Two characters Yu and Kay. You can swap between them at will as you travel as one.
Flow bridges-fast ways to go between islands.
Adventure RPG gameplay.
Travel-you can walk around but you can also glide which is faster plus you can Drift and fast u-turn making it all easier.
Crude rust-fly over it to get rid of it and collects samples.
Interact with animals.
Can replay old dialogue.
Rust will hide plants and parts of the level.
Fruit-grows and can be picked, you use it to combine them and cook new meals/dishes.
Humour and innuendo aplenty.
Nest-your home, your little ship where you can cook, sleep and so on. When in the nest you are in the first person and can see both characters.
The combat-the d-pad is for the left player and button for the right, you press a direction/button to do an attack, it’s a case of once charged you can use it. Incapacitated enemies must be pacified in order to save them.
In combat, you can hold the attack or shield button down and it won’t go until you let go.
How you interact with the characters can change them in how they feel and act.
Learn new abilities and enhance your stats.
Plays a bit like a romantic counselor simulator.
Camping spots- find these in the world and use them to-heal, cook, eat and sleep.
Map-fills in as you play and also shows all the possible routes.
Duo attacks with a qte style execution.

Haven Review (Steam)

Cons:

Slow starter.
Minimal graphic settings.
Drifting takes a while to get used to.
A lot of loading screens.
Gets choppy with audio cutouts a fair bit.
Tedious gliding sections.
No replay value.
Never feels like conversation choices matter.
When in the nest, it feels like you are a creepy voyeur as you fly around watching them sleep.
If you don’t eat food before starting a new day then the characters will just whine about it.

Haven Review (Steam)

8/10

Graphics - 8/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
7/10

Accessibility - 7/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

7.2/10

Summary

Haven is a love story, a game about relationships, and how to manage that with a bunch of game stuff chucked in. You play as both characters and can flitter between them with a press of a button. The game parts is a semi-open world affair where you go around clearing out the rust residue by flying over it and getting materials which are then crafted into parts for your crashed ship. Along the way, you will gain new abilities and powers and fight creatures that have been taken over by the rust. Combat is a clever cool little thing whereby you control both characters at the same time and each side of the pad is for and the other, pressing a direction or button will charge up and use that attack or shield. You can do one at a time attack or time it so both attack at once, it’s definitely one of those who play it and it makes sense kinda deals. Once an enemy is downed you then purify it and release it, creatures can be petted and scratched. Navigating the world can be done by merely walking or by gliding NG which is ten times faster, you hitch rides on these plant-like airwaves that as long as you stay on them will let you go faster and in the air, this is kinda common place alongside the big more obvious bridges. The map is simple but very easy to read, the characters will say comments to help with navigation and feeding, etc. The relationship/love side is a story whereby you have multiple choice interactions, do attacks together to build up your relationship strength. You must shower, eat, and heal as you play and this is done at home in your nest or out in the world at the many camp sites. Overall the game has a great look to it the combat is a fun new take and the story is OK. I’m not really one for all the love and couple goals shit but it’s OK but for me, the controls just never feel smooth enough in any situation. Constantly I’d find myself dropping off the lines or not doing a Drift perfectly and hitting the scenery. It’s a good game but it’s one I would gravitate too but I don’t hate it, Haven is a fun little game.