Haven

Genre: RPG / Misc.

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Haven is a game that features an odd mix of genres. First released in 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and then ported to Nintendo Switch in 2021, this game features real-time RPG combat, exploration elements, Survival Adventure elements, and even some Visual Novel elements, all wrapped in a story about a loving couple fleeing from a dystopian society and trying to make a new life for themselves on a strange alien world consisting of an interconnected chain of floating islands.

The presentation in this game is quite wonderful, with 3D visuals that bring to mind the game Flower with its wonderfully grassy landscapes, and with subtly cel-shaded 3D characters that do a great job of expressing the abundance of personality found in their 2D artwork. This personality really shines through these characters, with their strong writing and wonderful voice acting really making this pair a lovable couple, and driving players to want to learn more about what happens to them. All of this is backed by a fantastic synthetic soundtrack with great songs like Still Free, The Beginning of Something, Home, and Source, to name a few.

While the presentation here is wonderful, the gameplay is… well, kinda’ a mess. I think the issue is that the gameplay feels like it’s being tugged in too many different directions.

The real-time RPG elements here have players using both sides of the controller to coordinate the two characters’ actions, but it’s hard to engage with this part of the game because the game’s desire to keep the presentation relatively spartan means that it’s not easy to gauge characters’ stats beyond a general “healthy/damaged/in danger” state indicated by the color of their highlighting, and there doesn’t seem to be any menu where you can look up their character progress.

The exploration elements are nice at first, but they’re made tedious by the Survival Adventure elements pushing players to collect resources. Also, the controls for moving your character around are awkward, moving more like a racing game than a free-roaming adventure. And the areas you’ll be moving through feel pretty samey, and with no map it becomes extremely easy to get lost.

The Survival Adventure elements seem like a weak after-thought here, since the RPG part of the game encourages repetition and gradual growth, resources grow back each day. On top of this, gathering these resources doesn’t seem necessary for survival so much as for character progression… resulting in this feeling like a form of grinding.

Finally, the Visual Novel elements of this game are a real highlight – the story and characters in this game are wonderful, and it is a joy to watch their adventure unfold and see their relationship play out. Unfortunately, you can’t just enjoy this story, because you’re constantly interrupted by the need to do… all that other stuff.

Also, I suppose I should mention that the game’s two-player Co-Op play, seemingly a perfect fit for a game about a relationship between two people, feels like a bit of an after-thought here.

In the end, I do think there was potential for a truly great game here… heck, maybe even multiple great games. But Haven can’t seem to decide what it wants to be, and as a result it’s pulled in so many different directions that none of its individual components grows to its full potential. I can’t even say who I’d recommend it to. RPG fans? Visual Novel fans? Players looking for a great audiovisual journey like Flower or, well, Journey? Haven has some great elements of all of those things and more… but it also steps on its own feet and makes it harder to appreciate each of those elements. Still, if each of those genres is of interest to you, you may find something beautiful to appreciate in Haven.

tl;dr – Haven is a game that combines multiple different elements, including RPGs, exploration-focused audiovisual experiences, Visual Novels, and Survival Adventure games. And while the presentation, visuals, writing, voice acting, and music here are all fantastic, the disparate needs of each of the game’s multitude of genres end up getting in the way of each other rather than complementing one another. It’s an unfortunate irony that a game about a beautiful relationship can’t find a harmony within its various components. Still, if you have an interest in the variety of genres incorporated in this game, you may find something worthwhile here.

Grade: C+

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