Haven, the new game from The Game Bakers, the team that brought us Furi, was playable at Gamescom 2019 and we decided to give it a go. Right from the start, you’ll see the similarities with Furi based on the minimalistic visuals and electro music by Danger but there’s where the similarities end. Haven is far from Furi 2, it’s a totally different game offering you an RPG expierence that’s rather innovating, to say the least.
The power of love
Instead of controlling one character, you control a couple. This couple has been in love for some years and they really established a strong connection to each other already. This isn’t an origin story focussing on how their relationship started, no, we follow them years later, when they were forced to travel to an unknown deserted planet for reasons yet unknown at this point. While playing, the duo reminded me of Adam and Eve a lot, being stranded on a gorgeous sunny planet filled with vibrant fields of grass and alien apples to eat. The start of the game is a slow one but that’s also the way the game is meant to be played. Unlike Furi, you won’t dive into the action straight away. In Haven, it’s crucial to survive together, to overcome your challenges as a couple. This also means you’ll have to act like a couple.
Meaning you’ll spend your time cooking, sleeping together, and generally discussing everything that’s on your mind. Judging from what I’ve played it’s a very story-driven game with a rich narrative, giving room for the players to select the answers they find most fitting from time to time. This keeps the narratives interesting to follow and thanks to the stellar voice acting, it’s like watching the plot of movie being unfold right in front of your eyes. Besides spending a lot of time together on your spaceship, called the Nest, you are also free to discover the planet and all its mysteries.
Discover the planet
Discovering the planet is divided into two main portions: flying around and battling dangerous lifeforms. First of all, flying is handled perfectly. Although it’s an early version of the game it really felt intuitive to fly around as one of the two characters. As said, you always play as a couple but if you play alone, the other character will automatically follow you. Thanks to your hovering boots, you can soar over the gorgeous planet in no time, following special blue strings to gain energy for your ship. While doing so, the game proves to be extremely relaxing, reminding me of games like Journey. The team really nailed the free-roaming exploration perfectly and with the use of small bridges, you can discover different islets on the planet, all housing their own secrets. At this point, I didn’t really know a lot about the story or why we landed on this planet but discovering secret after secret, giving away small bits of the lore really got me entertained during my session. It’s one of those game that you’ll frequently come back to if you’re looking for some time to relax.
But, exploration isn’t without danger, as proven at the end of the demo. Nearing the end I was introduced to the unique battle mechanics. It plays like a combination of a traditional RPG and real-time strategy game, spiced up with the unique couple gameplay. Both characters can attack at the same time by using the D-pad and action buttons on the controller. Their attacks are mirrored and as demonstrated in the boss fight, both characters can also launch a duo-attack to deliver an incredible amount of damage. Timing your attacks and blocking at the right time will be crucial for your survival. At first, it was a bit strange to control the actions of both characters at once but the more I battled, the more used I got to the system, really offering a fresh take on classic RPGs. It’s a fun way to introduce battles in a game like this and I’m pretty sure a lot of players will love beating all enemies the game will eventually have to offer.
Early conclusion:
Haven is a unique game that combines the joys of a relationship with the ability to freely roam around, and battle enemies from time to time. It’s clearly inspired by other RPGs but thanks to its own unique systems, it’s unlike anything currently on the market. My time with it was a bit too short to completely judge it at this moment but I’m eagerly waiting to see and play more from the game in the near future.
