Haven

Not "game of the year material" or anything, but it's a fun and memorable romp around a planet created to justify hours and hours of couple banter. If that's not your thing you won't like this game but I found the characters entertaining to watch and was invested in their homesteading and cottage core space life... If only because becoming a space fugitive is a fantasy of mine.

I enjoyed that the game shows the progress you make on the planet in your living space on the home islet, its great to watch the Nest slowly look more and more "lived in" over time. A lot of effort went into the interactions between Kay and Yu and they do seem like a real couple. The game doesn't really shy away from anything in their relationship except for direct depictions of sex. The gameplay is functional; it isn't going to push you that hard but it was interesting enough to hold my attention with its combat and basic resource collecting mechanics.

My main gripe is with the crafting interfaces- I really wish you could just cook or synthesize items in bulk. Having to wait for the items to fill up in the crafting menu over and over just to craft on Balm or Tonic at a time got old fast. Some additional biomes would have also gone a long way into making the map feel more distinct- right now a majority of the game takes place in similar looking areas and the additional biomes amount to little more than palette swaps. The grass and sky look a little different but otherwise it's the same thing and they are quite small. I would have loved to see biomes with creative flora like what you can find in Subnautica.

Overall recommended, even at full price, if a casual character driven game interests you at all.