THElove it is a theme now used in a thousand contexts, often abused to the point of being stale, precisely because it is present in everyone's life and now redesigned in thousands of works. From cinema to television, passing through books and shows, we could perhaps be talking about Jolly most exploited in all fields of entertainment, given the thousand possibilities it offers and the result it can easily achieve: involving users in the story told. However, it must be said that in the world of video games it is not so common to find yourself in front of a romantic tale textbook, bitter and sweet like the word itself, now classic, which manages to identify anyone who does not have a real heart of stone in the narrative. Halfway between the classic and the innovative therefore, the developer The Game Bakers - which might sound familiar thanks to Furi, his previous work - proposes the adventure of Port.
A game that puts the relationship between Yu e Kai, two guys with a story that deserves to be told, which is enriched and made unique in its common being. The work is available from today on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One e Xbox series X / S (Also on Xbox Game Pass), but the developer is also working on versions PlayStation 4 e Nintendo Switch, which will make their debut over the next year. In order to try some exclusive features of the work related to the Dualense, we have therefore thoroughly tested the game on PlayStation 5 and are here to tell you about it. Obviously, the following text does not contain any plot spoilers, which would ruin part of the experience, if not the brief narrative incipits aimed at contextualizing the peculiarities of the experience.
Never one, without the other
In a futuristic and dystopian universe, a political system of tyranny forces two boys to flee to a distant planet, almost untraceable and almost impossible to raggiungere. The journey is - relatively - successful, however, and this is where the real story of Haven begins. The game aims to make us live there love story of Yu and Kai, including every detail. From having to survive in these magical and inspired lands, to moments of anger and despair, to the sweetest and even sometimes thrusting situations. With a calm narrative style, the developer manages to give the right times for each action, letting the player evolve his knowledge of the game right along with the relationship of the two. As already mentioned, we do not want to provide you with any further hints on the story, which at times presents wrong rhythms as well as various gaps scattered here and there, but which you will be pleased to hear and experience firsthand if you are a lover of this kind of productions.
It is not easy to put together a relationship like this with the classic needs of a video game, and that is why the developer has seen fit to use the game world as a an imaginative canvas to be painted slowly, in complete tranquility. The play system provides in fact the only - or almost - movements of the protagonists, who travel through flow currents to obtain resources, giving the user the opportunity to gradually discover more about this absurd planet and the history of its world, thanks especially the well-kept dialogues. To be honest there are also fights, which are rarely obligatory fortunately, that they often break the rhythm incorrectly, with a not particularly successful real-time tactical system, enriched by various old-style RPG mechanics that are anything but satisfactory. This is proposed because the protagonists often have to free the nice beings of their world from Rust, a strange material that is explored over the course of the game, which makes them aggressive. This then covers almost all areas of the game, but by clearing it it becomes possible to build some objects, as well as progress in the story and unlock some secrets that were covered.
The entire management part is not insignificant, this provides the right excuse to explore the world in search of resources, to cook and to obtain upgrades. Although the developer has taken great care of the interlude scenes and the relationship of the protagonists, it must be said that over the course of about 6 hours of play, some actions become monotonous, and at the end it is easy to realize how the software house did well not to take it long. Once the game is over, it is still possible to continue to hang out in the world, to collect resources and continue the experience in a potentially infinite end-game, perhaps aimed at reaching the Platinum Trophy or collecting objectives on the Xbox platforms.
The magical world of Haven, all to ourselves
If there's an applause to the developer, it's about the artistic direction of the experience. Anyone who has played Haven will be able to remember the emotions they felt by looking at a simple screen, thanks to really well characterized characters and settings, expressive even within the graphic limits and protagonists in a world that really has charisma to sell. It is not uncommon for people to want to explore the planet only to find out what lies behind a structure or near a bit of Rust, or perhaps to get to know the beings that inhabit it and find collectibles (with which it is then possible interact to create nice sketches). What makes the production interesting also lies behind the naturalness of Yu and Kai's relationship, more human than ever and far beyond the concept of fictional characters, this will undoubtedly make your heart squeeze on more than one occasion. We specify that it is also possible to live the experience in a cooperative, but that probably to fully appreciate it requires contemplative moments and exploration more suited to the single player.
On the technical side, the game unfortunately does not offer very high resolution textures, a factor which, as already mentioned, is fortunately well filled by an impactful and satisfying artistic sector. The level design is well structured and successfully characterizes the narrative universe, just like all the characters that are part of it. On the sonic side the work defends itself quite well, thanks to a really quality soundtrack, however often misplaced and repetitive to the point of ruining magical moments. On PlayStation 5 Haven allows you to choose between performance and graphics mode. The latter slightly improves the overall impact, but it is quite difficult to notice the actual differences, if not for the drops in framerate to be honest rather frequent. While aiming for 120 FPS instead, the performance mode does not reach the goal very often, and in any case does not offer a granite number, considering then that the type of gameplay is not particularly suitable for appreciating this feature. We can say in a nutshell that the choice of one or the other modality will not radically change your experience, and that perhaps a single middle way would have been more appreciable. Honorable mention must be made for the DualSense, which adaptive triggers are exploited on several occasions during exploration (nothing revolutionary, but rather pleasant and unexpected), as is also the case for the haptic feedback.
