Haven

I just beat the game on Xbox last week (took 13 hours), seeing it was on deep sale here on Steam, I had to repurchase it again ($2.5 sale) just to post a Review to help spread good news (i wrote a full length review originally in my website)
🟩Pros
❤️ The relationship of the two main characters feels genuinely real, setting a new lowkey standard for a romantic, slice-of-life story in a game.
🏡 Masterful, unique cozy vibe that compels you to explore everything and live alongside the characters.
🎧 Amazing soundtrack that perfectly syncs with the gameplay.
📖 Subtle, unique worldbuilding is highly effective, creating an immersive sci-fi exile without heavy exposition.
🎨 The art direction is gorgeous and consistent, creating a visually stunning and cohesive anime-like aesthetic.
🫂 The game nails the portrayal of an established relationship, focusing on mature intimacy, small arguments, and constant mutual support.
🟥Cons
🧱 The gliding controls can occasionally work against the player, leading to small, frustrating moments of movement friction.
🎮Coop gameplay feels forced/underbaked, its much better to play this as a solo player.
To summarize, I love everything about it. awesome soundtrack. soothing atmosphere. chill gameplay. A very slice-of-life feel good game that will make you feel like youre in there with the characters or one of them, sitting beside them in the campfire.
A soothing slice-of-life romantic adventure that's wonderfully genuine
I would argue that Haven is far more of a cozier, calming adventure and romantic couple story than it is the RPG survival game it is often described as, perhaps by even the developers themselves in an attempt to reach a wider audience. The core of the gameplay is navigating a planet full of islets connected by “flow bridges,” an energy phenomenon that also powers your impressive gliders, allowing you to seamlessly travel the beautiful landscape, fight corrupted enemies, purify the land, and find resources for crafting and cooking.
The gliding is the main traversal method and boy it is fun to zip across the land, giving movement a satisfying rhythm that syncs perfectly with the banger electro/synth-like soundtrack.
The overall aesthetic is stunning and cohesive, favoring a beautiful mix of anime and watercolor-pastel art style for the alien landscapes, creatures, and characters. This visual care extends to every detail, including the loading screens and menus, which are filled with gorgeous, personalized snapshots of Yu and Kay’s relationship.
Instead of generic tips, these pieces of art constantly provide intimate flavor and personality, the developers didn’t even need to add these loading screen touches, but they understood that such detail is essential to reinforcing the game’s central theme of enduring love. Simple things but it added so much to the personality of the game.
Intimacy, Worldbuilding, and the Slice-of-Life beauty
The game’s narrative strength lies in its subtle and unique worldbuilding. The lore uses sci-fi and Orwellian elements, mixed with post-apocalyptic and survival themes, but without the darkness, grittiness, or extreme hardships. This unique tone is supported by the narrative structure: the game inserts you directly into the middle of Yu and Kay’s adventure, without needing to explain every single thing at the get-go.
When some exposition does arrive, it feels earned, and you truly appreciate the storytelling and the lore. I love the premise of being stranded in a beautiful paradise with a cozy ship full of life with a partner, that i actually want that to happen to me.
This immersive atmosphere is built upon the perfect chemistry between the two leads. Yu and Kay talk and interact like a real couple. They sound like a real couple. Not every conversation has to be plot-heavy; some are just happy, playful banter, some involve just looking at the sky gazing at the stars, and some are just glazing at how delicious the food is. It truly feels genuine, achieving a slice-of-life quality, but set in their unique sci-fi exile, not our regular world.
That genuine feel is very rarely seen in games involving romantic couples. The game’s narrative is very immersive, focusing on the realistic chemistry of the couple through mundane yet intimate dialogue, a feat only made possible by the high-quality, convincing performances from both voice actors.
Combat: Simple, Yet Fits The Game nicely
I was initially afraid that combat would be tedious or detract from the cozy vibe, especially since the first few hours focus solely on the gliding and exploration. Turns out, it wasn’t that way, and it complemented the game perfectly. Its not a complex turn-based system like in most JRPGs, but it’s not as basic as I expected.
The game is marketed as coop, but in my opinion the game works better as as solo player experience (perhaps with your partner just watching you play) because the coop gameplay elements feel underbaked or forced.
Conclusion
Haven is overall a very calming, soothing, cozy experience wrongfully disguised as an RPG. It’s actually an adventure game with a heavy focus on a genuine, realistic, romantic story set in a unique sci-fi world.
The soothing, cozy aspect of the game completely changed my habits: I’m never much of a completionist, but this game made me go out and explore every nook and cranny of the world, purifying everything, finding every ingredient to cook, eating all the dishes, and experiencing all the dialogue it has to offer.
I really wish the developers could do a sequel. If the devs are reading this, thank you for this wonderful game. despite being a shortlived experience, its one of the most memorable games ive played, truly something that will stick with me forever. I might have play it again here on Steam in the future.
For anyone interested in the full review you can check it out on my website on playtested (dot) net

Playing this while I am still single turn this game into a reminder that I will never have this relationship goal
9/10

Good plot and looks, do not recommend playing with a sibling

Very refreshing game with creative gameplay. To make it short, the game is about a love story with adventure, poetry and humor. Maybe a bit repetitive after a few hours, so I ended lowerring the difficulty to finnish it more quickly , despite that the game is not hard (16h, I tend to explore a lot, could be done in 10h I guess), but very good experience. The artistic direction is a great example of doing great with limited means.
It is the kind of game that is not forgotten once played.

I love this game. I love the art (the watercolours intro, come on!), the world, the story, the music! I love the voice acting (I played for the girls), love that non straight couples got represented.. somewhat.
Simple turn based gameplay, if you aren't directionally challenged simple map. No time limit on exploration. I played it for the writing.
It's hard to write a meaningful review when all you're left with upon completion is a myriad of tangled feelings. Maybe that in itself is indicative of the quality of the game. Glass half full or bitter sweet happy ending - have everything you need but something's always missing, or have nothing and be trapped with just one person in the end of a world. Think past any ending, without romanticizing, there isn't a good one. It's a great story of young and stubborn love. I'd give them 5 years

Get this if you like visual novels, don't if you're here for the gameplay. Dialogue is funny. I'm totally adopting some shit Kay has said.
Also I just realized, their names are Yu and Kay? Like UK? And they landed on this new land which already has inhabitants... Interesting

Everything about this game is so frickin´ wholesome!
Yeah, the story was confusing for me in the beginning. Slowly but surely I started to understand more and more about the story. That Kay an Yu left there home because the society on there home planet arranges relationships and marriages.
So they flee to the planet Source where the gameplay begins.
The gameplay is basic but addictive. Exploring the planet, gathering exteristial plants to cook delicious food, collect rescourses to repair your ship and craft other stuff and fight against the infected species.
And the best part: The relationship between Kay and Yu is very realistic and wholesome written. They laugh, cry, fight. They are humans! Humans who love each other.
Another good point is the art style and how dialoges are told. Because in the foreground it´s like a visual novel. But in the background there characters are moving etc.
All in all this game is pure love (I even must cry at some points) and I hope you will enjoy it too.
Edit: 11/10
Edit: A game that made me cry in a while. Was a long time since a game managed that (caugh Life Is Strange caugh)
And I ordered my own Oink plushie from the official merch shop. If the devs read this: Thank you for this heard warming awesome game. Love you all <3