Haven is about the lengths you’d be willing to go to stay with the one you love.
This involves discovering uncomfortable secrets,
building a life together using limited means,
and eventually blasting across the grassy fields of a shattered alien planet.
Things get a bit shaky from a technical perspective,
but the story and characters are engaging throughout.
Fleeing a society that forces couples into arranged marriages,
lovers Kay and Yu travel to a mysterious world called Source.
After their ship is damaged in a quake,
the two have to locate spare parts by exploring a chain of land masses
connected by bridges of energy called Flow.
Each new islet is full of tainted resources and enemies that you can clean up,
along with collectible trinkets to adorn your home.
The duo can travel quickly thanks to jets they wear on their legs.
When you move near streams of flow, you collect glowing energy
that’s used to remove corrosive sediment poisoning the land.
These blue trails zig-zag through each area,
sometimes requiring careful drifting to stay on track,
and some of them are the only means you have to reach higher elevations.
There’s a fun sense of freedom in this method of traversal, but it takes some getting used to.
The right trigger fires the jets at top speed,
and when it’s not held down, you walk very slowly.
There’s no in-between.
Thankfully there’s no damage from falling,
and the borders of each floating rock stop you from flying off the edge.
However, any movement in the opposite direction prompts an abrupt 180
that can make searching smaller spaces frustrating.
It’s also unclear where each stretch of flow will take you,
leading to periodic bouts of trial and error as you search for the most efficient way forward.
Also interrupting your carefree navigation are raging beasts
that you can only cure in combat.
Battles are turn-based, and both Kay and Yu share the same abilities.
You can either direct them to act separately for lighter damage
or to work together for stronger attacks that take longer to charge.
“Blast” is a basic beam attack.
“Impact” is designed to disrupt blocking,
staggering targets to open them up for greater damage.
“Shield” protects whoever receives the next enemy attack,
and “Pacify” removes each enemy from the fight once their health has been depleted.
Your abilities are straightforward, and although you strengthen them as the relationship grows
between the two explorers,
it’s the enemy behavior that dictates which strategies you need to employ.
Some targets are only susceptible to Blast or Impact,
and some only take significant damage when staggered after getting blocked with Shield.
The power of each Shield charge also depletes if you have the same character use it over and over.
When fighting multiple targets, the game automatically picks which one you attack
based on the ability you’re using.
This system works most of the time, but isn’t perfect.
You can make things easier by sneaking up behind enemies before you take them on.
Sending out a flow pulse can allow you to avoid battles while traveling,
and you eventually learn to craft capsules for instant heals and powerful attacks.
By its own admission, Haven is not a difficult game.
Losing most battles restarts you at a nearby camp where you can get bandaged up,
and you can lower the difficulty at any time
if you want to focus on enjoying the scenery.
It’s satisfying to completely clear an area, but it’s not always necessary,
so you can keep dodging battles if you’re not enjoying them.
There are a lot of islets to clear and parts to collect,
but Kay and Yu spend most of their time back home in their ship called “The Nest.”
As better stuff comes in, you can cook more elaborate meals
to replenish a hunger meter
and synthesize advanced healing items to save room in your backpack.
You can also just chat to pass the time,
or interact with one of the keepsakes you find while rummaging through abandoned houses.
The Nest is quaint and cozy, and it's gratifying to see each improvement
or celebrate when the couple levels up and toasts the occasion.
However you view the interior through a separate first-person camera, which
can make it feel like you’re a voyeuristic third-party
invisibly floating around the space.
Home is also where most of the story exposition is delivered.
You’re kept in the dark at first, and have to figure out what led these two
on such a desperate mission, based on their recollections of the past.
Their personal struggles and difficult admissions are the highlights of the game.
Kay is a biologist, obsessed with the local flora and fauna,
and Yu is an engineer, spending her days dreaming up creative solutions to repair The Nest.
They’re both experts in their own fields, so their interactions are amusing
when they try to understand what the other is explaining.
You also get to pick dialogue options on occasion, which lets you adjust their attitudes.
These choices sometimes instill the speaker with added confidence, but
it’s unclear whether these moments have any lasting effects.
The couple’s affection for each other is undeniable, and the emotional highs and lows of their survival
are wonderfully written and performed.
You can choose to control either of them while traveling,
but the other will eventually move close enough so they can hold hands.
When idle, they embrace and kiss, which restores a bit of health.
While there’s no nudity or vulgarity, the proceedings can still get a little steamy,
which might come as a candid surprise for players attracted to this colorful world.
As charming as their courtship is, technical issues can get in the way.
Spoken dialogue and subtitles have enough differences to become distracting,
and the written text can get tripped up on errors in spelling or punctuation.
The audio quality can also vary from line to line.
Sometimes it sounds as if the levels were a bit too hot during recording,
while other lines come across oddly quiet.
With the smaller cast, and the considerable number of conversations you have to click through,
these inconsistencies add up to detract from the overall experience.
There is a calming beauty to the world that’s easy to appreciate when you’re traveling on a flow thread
that keeps climbing upward.
The green grass and grey cliffs can get repetitive though,
only switching to orange and red hues near the end of the game.
Load times on Xbox Series X are brief,
but there are a lot of them as you constantly coast from one islet to the next.
It’s unlikely you’ll run out of the resources you need,
and a system of fast travel points speeds things up,
but the process of returning to home base or finding a nearby camp to refuel
can generate a tiring amount of starts and stops.
Despite its technical hangups, Haven has passion and charisma to spare
thanks to some clever writing and an honest portrayal of a devoted relationship.
There are rough patches when you get stuck on confusing terrain
or come up against a temperamental adversary,
but the journey is mostly as difficult as you want to make it.
Keeping these wanderers together is a pleasant challenge,
and re-assembling the puzzle pieces of their past has a satisfying payoff.
Next-gen has arrived, but we're also taking time to remember
The Gen That Was.
Tune in every other week as we take a year by year look back at the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
All of our videos are made possible by generous viewers just like you.
If you like what you see, check out patreon.com/easyallies to help us make more.