Haven

Basically, this game has a focus on a romantic relationship between the protagonists. It is very relatable and honestly is one of the most refreshing takes I have seen on a romantic relationship in audiovisual media to date. Its cute, pragmatic, complex, and human more than anything. The game also has some georgous landscapes and sceneries. The game does lacksomewhat on "gameplay". Not much would be lost if they removed the combat aspect out of it and just focused on the story. And as much as the landscapes are georgeous, they can get a little repetetive. If they had removed the combat element out of the game and focused more on enhancing the uniqueness of the environments, I would not have complained. As it is, the game is sort of like a visual novel with gameplay elements, so to speak That being said, the focus of this game is on the relationship, which it does WELL. Other games really should take note of the interpersonal interactions and try to build on it. Fair warning, some of the dialogue is explicit. The game has an M rating for a reason. A few scenes are probably not appropriate if you are playing with your kids around. Solid game. Glad I played

NOTE: Finished the game and basically aimed to complete 100% of everything. Only thing left are the "play the game perfectly" achievements. Review contains spoilers from the first 5-15 minutes of the game. The game itself is 10+ hours long. Haven is the next game by the devs who brought you Furi. And other than some of the visuals and the stellar soundtrack it has nothing in common. Here you play both characters at once while exploring the paradise-like world Source, a tropical-esque alien planet that has been ravaged by a cataclysm-like event. What I personally find this game to be a triumph in storytelling is that the developers didn't aim for a larger-than-life story. Instead they aimed to be as personal as possible. The entire game is about the intimacy within a seemingly normal relationship between two 20 year olds who've escaped from an oppressive regime. What I have to say that this game is the greatest game regarding the subject of relationships. Not only did they succeed to capture the two lovebirds Yu and Kai to be realistic people with all their flaws and talents, they also put great emphasis in immersion for the player. Switching between the couple is always seemless and during fights you fight as both in semi real-time jRPG like battles. Its easy enough to grasp quickly. The main focus of the game is obviously the dialogue which is pretty dynamic. As you play both characters, you even have to read the other in what they want. If you read them wrong, it can tighten up the mood. The way the game handles dialogue is a mix between the game Bastion and a Visual Nove-type of game. Its pretty extensive and fun to see the couple evolve into something more. They went really deep into the philosophical intricancies of what "true love" means and I feel that they answered that question maturely enough to be impressed by the outcome and that alone warrants a 4-star rating. However, the fluent gameplay, stellar OST and creative writing easily adds another star.

Haven is an action-adventure game, yet it is tagged as an RPG, thus I review it as an RPG. The main characters are predetermined, from the build (all stats, abilities and equipment are the same for both characters; progression is tied to the main story) to appearance to names. Dialogue options are similar and lead to the same outcomes, though some of them increase a hidden parameter called "Confidence". Exploration is bound to the main story. In other words, it is not an RPG in any shape or form. The story follows two people who fled from an oppressive regime to be together as they explore their new home and repair their ship. The combat is partially real-time and partially turn-based. It is impossible to choose targets or formation in combat or to flee after initiating an encounter. If one character is knocked out, the other can revive them. If both characters are KO'ed, the party returns to the base to heal (except for 1 instance where the last save is reloaded). There are 2 types of attacks (+block and finisher) and 4 types of consumables. The NPC opponents are reasonably diverse and require specific approaches. There are several optional mini-bosses. 2D animated art looks good and detailed. 3D models are adequate, but either increasing the number of polygons per model or cell-shading would make it a lot better. All lines are voiced and the OST fits the game. The controls are only partially rebindable at the time of writing - most actions (from combat to cooking) require to hold 2 keys at the same time and the ones on the right are impossible to change. 5-button mice are not supported. Difficulty options are listed under the "Accessibility" tab in the menu, with separate sliders for enemy speed and damage and attacks of the main characters. The game uses auto-saves upon changing location. There are no sex scenes, no swearing and no corpses of humans or animals and the game is very vegan-friendly.

Story is a well written romance with interesting dialog/scenes/situations to unlock through interaction between characters. These two have lots of personality (especially Yu). Exploration with anti-grav boots is lots of fun. Combats are not that hard most of the time, the game is not very difficult either. It's a chill out experience, that looks good, plays good and feels good. The sci-fi world and other planets (sometimes mentioned in the story) are not that original from what we guess with the dialog of protagonists, but that's a small concern, they play little role in the story. The planet where this couple went castaway has lots of great sights and gives enough exploration opportunities to keep the player engaged. I'm playing this game solo. I don't have my Yu to play with me, I guess it could be a great couple experience as well. But as it is, as I already said: I love it.