Earlier this year, Furi developer The Game Bakers announced Haven, an RPG about lovers on a lost planet. The description at the time was pretty vague: It's playable alone or in two-player coop, and "the only thing that matters is to stay together." Today the studio revealed a little more about what's coming, including the first-ever gameplay trailer and a rundown of basic gameplay.
"Haven is a story-rich adventure, with touching characters with whom you fall in love as you follow them through their challenges and everyday life. But it’s also a (J)RPG with an innovative combat system that lets you play the two characters at the same time, and chain actions using tactics and timing," The Game Bakers explained in an update on Steam.
"The colorful and dreamy art direction of the light science fiction world of Haven is coming to life thanks to an original electro soundtrack by Danger, with a range of tracks that will carry players from the energy of a sunny morning to the tension of a fight in the mountains at night. Haven is a solo game at its core, but at any time, a second player can jump in locally. Players can then share a moment of exploration and progression together."
The gameplay trailer is lovely and promises an interesting blend of exploration, combat, and sci-fi romance novel, but I still have no clue what it's actually about. It looks to me like a camping trip to the stars, which is fine but not exactly compelling: You go, relax, cook outside, shake off your troubles, and then... what? Throwing down with the local fauna isn't usually on the itinerary and that suggests there's more to this lover's getaway than first meets the eye (as does the tagline, "They escaped to a lost planet to be together"), but what could it be?
A blog post at thegamebakers.com suggests that the camping trip analogy isn't too far off, at least some of the time. It describes Haven as having "a completely different pace" that's suitable for players of all skill levels: "Exploration is designed to create thrill, serenity and satisfaction," while there's a "sensual rhythm" in chained and combined attacks, but "no real stress" on players in battle.
"The story is told through the daily life of Yu and Kay. You cook, eat, sleep with them during their journey. Dialog choices impact what you learn about the story, but may also have long term consequences…" creative director Emeric Thoa wrote.
"Of course, life for Yu and Kay is not always a vacation. Survival is not even their bigger problem. The original soundtrack created by Danger covers this wide range of emotions: the pleasure of waking up on a sunny day surrounded by a beautiful landscape, the dreamlike feeling of being alone in the universe or the tension of being hunted down."
We'll hopefully find out more fairly soon: The developers are holding a Q&A session on Discord on July 17 beginning at 12 pm PT/3 pm ET, and a Haven demo will be playable at PAX West, which will run from August 30 to September 2.
