Haven

Really grew attached to Yu and Kay over the course of their journey and watching their relationship evolve. As others have pointed out in their reviews, this is a pretty chill experience with a focus on narrative and exploration. There is a combat system, but it's pretty basic, and even the developers stress that it's a means to an end. That being said, I did have fun taming (I believe the term they use is "pacifying"?) various creatures throughout the world. The real stars are Yu and Kay, who are arguably one of the most well-developed and well-written couples in video game history. There aren't a lot of titles out there that convincingly engage with the topic of love and relationships. Haven is even more unique by virtue of the fact that Yu and Kay are already a couple when we first meet them. We get a glimpse into their daily lives, and the little moments that really make life and love meaningful. The characters have a great sense of humor, even when the odds are seemingly stacked against them. Music is fantastic and was composed by the electronic musician Danger. Really brings the whole experience together.

Gameplay is rather simple and that's a good thing; developers knew what they wanted to do and they did it well. The only bugs I've noticed was a few cases of dialogue not matching the voice over. The atmosphere from visuals, sound effects and music has really been making it easy for me to stay immersed and stop alt tabbing out the game most of the play, which I have a habit of doing on top of a bad attention span. The dialogue was humorous and thought provoking at times and I easily felt the relationship of the pair; it isn't just a pair of characters with some strengths pushed into it. Both have their traits and they shot it time and again that their relationship isn't based on attraction alone. And because I enjoyed the game so much, I have to be spoiler-free but specific about the few but big issues. The gameplay is relaxing and I could fly on Source for hours, but the ending just gave me an emotional pressure that I have to process first and while I can't complain that "it ended too soon" in case of P5R, this game took me under 19 hours with some AFK time and the ending came too soon and ended too soon, it felt like devs ran out of time and had to some cuts to fit a deadline. Each of the games from Mass Effect trillogy did a better job by putting some lighter, but still strong tension first, a little rest and then going full on. I understand that it was done to a degree, the problem is that the ending sequence was short and it began with the spike and the tension from before (free roaming bit) could've easily dispersed. If The Game Bakers read this by any chance, I hope you'll make at least one more game like this, because a sequel is going to be very hard with the endings given and a prequel is also unlikely. If that will happen, please make the game at least twenty hours before an average player is expected to reach the ending sequence, because the ending is the reason why I can't give full five stars and be fair about the rating.

A cute couple, great interactions, entertaining story, amazing artwork, fluid gameplay (but combat may leave something to be desired after a while). Honestly, cannot recommend this cosy game enough. (Enjoyable either solo, or in pair :) )

If you're looking for a wholesome, relaxing game to play in the evening for an hour or two afer a long day, this is the game for you. The beautiful artstyle, music and rich atmorsphere of the game make exploring the alien world of haven a deeply enjoyable experience. The cute character interactions and relatable couple dialouge also make this a perfect co-op game to play together with your partner. Being able to choose between diffrent couples (with same-sex-couple options) and having adorable pettable alien creatures in this game is the absolute cherry on top for me. 10/10, cannot recommend enough.

Ever wanted to escape to an abandoned planet with your significant other and just fly around in the grass, pick up some food, and go back to the space ship to cook and cuddle? Well, Haven's probably going to be a new favorite! As a couple, you explore a planet, and as you do, you try to uncover the mysteries that arise. You can cook, purify creatures that were corrupted by a weird pollution, and hang out together, and both battles and events fill your relationship meter. Once that's full, you can get blitzed on space moonshine, and that's how you level up. The combat is fairly simple - almost like a reverse ATB - and my brain is NOT wired for coordinating the attacks together, but it's not a huge focus, so I did just fine without even dropping the difficulty. The gameplay has enough variety to keep things fresh, but still remains pretty simple; the real strength is in the writing. In my opinion, love stories usually suck in games, because the couples usually aren't that interesting. These two hit so close to home that I kept having to stop and check the house for cameras. They have real struggles that they go through together, but they act like a real couple would; they have their affectionate moments, but they disagree and bust on each other and even fight on rare occasion. Relationships aren't this perfect pop song of, "Ooo, Girl/Boy, I Love Your Love's Lovin'", and this gets that very right, but at the end of the day, they love each other enough to face almost anything, and I got WAY too attached to them. Even better, the developer patched in same sex options! You want to be two dudes or two chicks, you can do that, and it changes nothing; the writing and voice acting are still just as good! I played the demo, and even as a straight couple, I loved them, and having this kind of option is just the icing on a lovely cake. It's on the shorter side, but it's just as long as it needs to be.