Capsule Review: Haven
A cozy sci-fi RPG that's all about the well-developed relationship between its two leads.
Play as couple Kay and Yu who have recently fled to an uninhabited planet in order to be with each other instead of the mates assigned by their authoritarian society.
When judged against other RPG video games, it can easily be found lacking. In most traditional categories (exploration, farming/crafting, combat) its mechanics may seem shallow. But looking at it this way would be missing the point: this game is about Yu and Kay. The mechanics use the familiar framework of an RPG but the point of everything is to let the player inhabit the characters’ relationship and world. That includes cooperation-based systems, lots of dialogue and interaction scenes between Kay and Yu, a very cozy home base and camp sites, and an absolutely beautiful setting and soundtrack.
Yu and Kay level up by doing things together, including obvious things like winning battles (which requires some rhythmic cooperation) and less-typical ones like enjoying home-cooked meals, and it always comes with a relationship scene that’s at least as much of a reward as the stat boosts. But to spread out the pacing and add weight and structure, these moments punctuate a lot of rote activities. There are a lot of samey regions to clean up and to explore for cooking ingredients, and while this can feel like you are part of Kay and Yu’s relaxing routine in a life-sim-lite kind of way, it can also feel like repetitive chores that slow down the story.
All in all, the game is enjoyable if and only if the core relationship works for you. For me, it works beautifully. I loved the way Yu and Kay act as a team and the fact that much of the game is a cozy way to hang out with them; this is more than enough to let me look past any complaints about some of the less-polished mechanics and I was absolutely left wanting to spend more time with Kay and Yu.
I Stopped Playing When: I finished the game with all achievements. A couple months later, The Game Bakers celebrated the game’s fifth anniversary by releasing a free auto-runnner tie-in game. It may not have much story, but it’s a cute way to revisit these characters and world, and it’s a wonderful gift from creators who love this game as much as its fans do.
Four Stars: Great. Not only did I finish the game, I probably played through the whole thing again and/or completed any optional objectives. It's an easy recommendation for any genre fan.