Space Haven

It's a good game overall, and I am glad I bought it. I'd give it 4.5 if it were possible. The most pressing issue of this game is its middle to late game - there is not enough currently to make these meaningful. The early game is great, maybe it's a bit barebones for now, but I presume devs are actively expanding that. You start out building different additions to your ship and researching technologies, and until you get to some later techs, you'll be struggling for resources, which keeps the game engaging. But eventually you outgrow this resource hunger and start accumulating things (crew, resources, buildings, items, money) and here is the problem - there is nothing to spend these things on. There is some combat (and it is reasonably fun), but you may have to chase it (especially if you want to see other factions fight in your presence). There is some diplomacy, but it's a bit rudimentary and not consequential (you can't help a faction "win"). There is some building (stations/ships for other parties), but these are just for sale as a missing, and also don't affect anything really. So all you can do is to stop caring about resource use, and just hop from star cluster to cluster until you stumble upon Eden - an Earth-like planet, which is the end of the game. When (hopefully) the late-game mechanics are added in the game, it's 5 stars.

You are in charge of a small crew and have to build and operate a spaceship, jumping from system to system, mining asteroids and exploring derelicts in the hope of getting enough resources to keep your crew alive. Each member has individual skills and traits that you have to consider. Exploring derelicts starts a slow-paced real-time tactics section, in which you have to fight your way through abandoned ships plagued by aliens or hostile robots. If your crew survives, you can loot the resources and salvage the parts you need to survive. Complicating matters you have asteroids, solar flares, rogue bots, aliens and the like. You’ll encounter a number of NPC factions, hostile or otherwise, with which you can engage in space combat or commerce, and a limited mission-system. The game has a steep learning curve, with the early stages being a bit of a struggle until you get hold of the situation. That’s where Space Haven really shines, but as is common in the genre, by the late-game you are overpowered and can ignore most of what used to be lethal once. Hard and Brutal difficulties delay reaching that point, but you eventually get there, though the start can be relentless until you are able to research and build a minimal shield and weapon system and secure a steady food supply. I have played for more than 150h from updates Alpha 15 to Alpha 17. Devs have published two major updates per year, with new functionalities that change the playstyle quite drastically, each time deserving a new playthrough. The game is still on Early Access, but as a sandbox it is already quite compelling. Currently it doesn’t have an ending as such, more of an end-point after which you can continue playing in a new galaxy or go back to the start menu. Presentation is basic but conveys the information quite well. The game is not demanding hardware-wise and it runs well on a ten-year old laptop with HD4400 integrated graphics. Soundtrack is limited, but contributes greatly to the atmosphere.

A space opera/Rimworld type of game. The game is far to be done but the dev team is delivering quality updates regularly, a very serious team doing a great job. From the first day of deployment till today, the game evolved so much, I just can't wait to see the final product. Great job guys!

That game is awesome, with only 10 hours of gameplay, I already love this game. It's easier but as good as Rimworld. There is many things to learn, it lacks a tutorial, but if you need help there is the official discord server, in just a minute someone will be here for you ! If you think this game has not enough content, that's normal it's currently alpha 12, just come back in a few months and the game will be 10 times greater. I asked a technical question and a space haven's dev answered me in just 5 minutes (on the discord) (love you Aksel <3) To conclude, this game is worth your money even in its alpha's stage !

A 5 star, really a 4.9 because there is always room for improvement. Anyway onto the pros and cons Pros: - Active development - Successfully kickstarter funded - Constantly adding new features - Hours of content - Addictive for space sims (and exploration/management of fleets/resources) - Lots of "lore" and story telling (you can build your own story if you want its really cool) - Can specify your starting points, or what you begin with - Dev/infinity mode, just build whatever no cost or anything and throw whatever scenario you want at yourself or to create, can go wild. - Fleet combat (FTL But more depth) - Crew combat (boarding ships, being boarded) - Trading management (economy), which you CAN influence - Soon to be base building (Asteroids? Im hoping more folks will push the space station building aspects so we can have mobile stations we command in addition to pushing fleet ship mission assigning) Cons: - Addictive (Might need to learn when to take a break lost a entire 8hrs!) - Still in development, plus or minus depending on how you look at it - No multiplayer (not good or bad, but i'd like to see it), in this game it would be chaotic There's alot i'd like to add, when newer updates come out, but given how GOG sabotages reviews by limiting your ability to review only 1x per game, my review is as honest and current as of alpha 15 of the game.