Blog

 

A big thank you to everyone who’s playing Haven, we are receiving your fantastic feedback about the game and it’s heartwarming. We also enjoy your cosplays and fan-arts!

We will list here the patches and updates we are bringing to Haven for your reference.
We appreciate your help reporting those issues and your patience as we fix them. Don’t hesitate to write to support@thegamebakers.com if you have more feedback for us.

 

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Minor Update March 17-18-22, 2022

Versions: 

• Switch:  v1.1.302
• PS5 / PS4:  v1.1.302
• XBOX One / Series / Windows:  v1.1.302
• GoG:  v1.1.302
• Epic:  v1.1.302

Thank you for your enthusiasm for Haven Couple Update. We’ve fixed the bugs reported so far. Thank you for all the messages, and we hope you are having fun with the new lovers.

Bug fixes: 

• Adjusted Yu’s voice volume.
• Fixed minor pronouns inconsistency in some dialogs.
• The couples selection screen now functions as expected.
• Fixed a repetition in Yu’s dialogue when discovering the reactor.
• Fixed minor pronouns inconsistency in some dialogs.
• Fixed voice inconsistency in some dialogs.
• Made sure players defeat the Bigafurai before continuing the adventure.

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Minor Update March 11, 2022

Version: 1.1.302 – PC only (Steam)

Here’s another batch of fixes following the Couple Update. We hope you are enjoying the game.  As usual, thank you for the feedback.

Bug fixes: 

• Adjusted Yu’s voice volume.
• Fixed minor pronouns inconsistency in some dialogs.

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Minor Update March 8, 2022

Version: 1.1.300 – PC only (Steam)

Thank you for your enthusiasm for Haven Couple Update. We’ve fixed the first batch of the bugs reported so far. We are also working on a fix for the level of Yu’s voice, that will be available later this week. Thank you for reporting those problems, for all the messages, and we hope you are having fun with the new lovers.

Bug fixes: 

• The couples selection screen now functions as expected.
• Fixed a repetition in Yu’s dialogue when discovering the reactor.
• Fixed minor pronouns inconsistency in some dialogs.
• Fixed voice inconsistency in some dialogs.
• Made sure players defeat the Bigafurai before continuing the adventure.

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Major Update – Couple Update March 3, 2022

• Steam, GoG, Epic : v1.1.296
• UWP : v1.1.295
• Switch : v1.1.293
• Switch Cero : v1.1.295
• PS4/PS5 : v1.1.295
• PS4 SIEE : v1.1.294

New feature: Alternative versions of Yu and Kay!

You will now be able to choose which couple you want to play as. You can choose to play as the existing Yu and Kay as you know them, as two women (Yu and an alternate version of Kay) or as two men (Kay and an alternate version of Yu). 

Note that this choice only impacts the characters you play as, but the gameplay and the story stay the same. 

The update is free and available today!

This means:

• New models, artworks, loading screens, interface art…
• New voices recorded by new fantastic actors!
• Review of all the dialogues and text to match the gender
• New menus to go with it
• And a lot of work to make sure everything works smoothly.

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Minor Update January 2022

Version:  v1.1.288 – PC only (Steam)

Hi there, a few of you have met a bug when playing the game on Steam: a second controller seems recognized and triggers co-op mode even when you play solo. If that happens, you can now deactivate the co-op mode. 

Improvement:

• Added an option to fully disable the co-op mode

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Minor Update October 2021

Version:  v1.1.260 – PC only (Steam, GoG and Epic Games Store)

Corrections: 

• Fixing a bug that prevented Yu and Kay to be naked in the shower, on the roof of the Nest and for the midnight dip.

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Major Update – Sweet Little Things September 2021

• Steam, GoG, Epic: v1.1.258
• Switch: v1.1.250
• PS5: v1.1.246
• PS4 SIEA: v1.1.246
• PS4 SIEE/SIEJA Asia/SIEJA Japan: v1.1.255
• XBOX One, Series/Windows : v1.1.246

Common all platforms

New features:

• Two new outfits for Yu and Kay: “Streetwear” and “Top / Truth”. They can be worn after finishing the game 
• A Meloglide to listen to the game music of your choice while roaming or hanging out in the Nest after finishing the game 
• A gallery menu to discover artworks and concept art from the making of the game, it unlocks during the game

Improvements:    

• Load save menu now shows your progression in terms of ship parts and equipment
• Multiple capsules can now be crafted at once
• After cooking, it’s now possible to choose which dish to eat
• Bonus loot is now rewarded when pacifying multiple creatures at the same time during combat
• Alternative kiss animation added
• Some settings can now be configured differently between the first and second player in co-op
• Added more sounds and visual effects to several menus

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue where the main menu music would stutter sometimes
• Fixed the scrolling behavior in the settings menu
• Fixed an issue when starting a new game where the intro cutscene wouldn’t play
• Fixed a case where characters would keep their spoon in hand in a post-meal dialog
• Fixed a slug tank dialog where characters would talk about the slugs dividing into two. They now do.
• Fixed a music overlap problem when exiting camping
• Fixed an error which caused vibrations to continue when skipping some cutscenes
• Fixed several typos in some texts and dialogs

Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS5

Common +

• Fixed an issue blocking the start of the Holobug cutscene
• Fixed missing portraits in some story events

PS4

Common +

• Added a free PS4 dynamic theme that can be recovered in the gallery menu
• Fixed an issue blocking the start of the Holobug cutscene
• Fixed missing portraits in some story events

Switch

Common +

Improvements:

• Balancing on the rust needed to craft, upgrade and repair
• Flowburst ability doesn’t consume flow anymore
• Added a generic animation when using the shower after exhausting every dialog
• Prevented Beruberu to start fighting during the flow burst tutorial
• Bridges guarded by Tamajus open automatically after the player uses a flow burst
• Grass in the menu looks better, even when it’s far
• Added sound effects when interacting with a Nokk creature
• Improved character animations and navigation
• Allowed characters to jump more often
• Improved creatures animations and navigation
• Islets can be cleared even if there is still a nightcrawler roaming
• The anti-gravity sticks can’t be missed anymore
• Added a field of view option

Bug fixes:

• Fixed an issue blocking the start of the Holobug cutscene
• Fixed a black screen if returning to the main menu while characters are in a building
• Fixed a bug where the game appears blocked due to a tutorial’s popup being hidden
• Fixed a bug on the climb interaction when Birble is leaving the islet after a bait
• Fixed a bug where players could miss the event to upgrade the gloves after repairing the last ship part
• Fixed a bug where players could miss a mandatory cutscene before the end
• Fixed a bug where a character could end at 0 hp after combat
• Fixed islet descriptions that did not update properly while being discovered
• Fixed a bug that could get the Beruberu stuck if the heroes lose it by gliding onto a flying flow thread
• Fixed visual glitches on creatures walking close to the edge of an islet
• Fixed controls issues while cooking
• Fixed a visual glitch on the Nest greenhouse visual
• Fixed the duplicated guitar glitch in the Nest
• Fixed the last seed dialog playing twice
• Fixed a soft lock on the credits scrolling when players played the epilogue twice in the same session
• Fixed the cooking reward popup that wasn’t allowing the gamepad stick to be used
• Fixed a bug on the capsule tutorial dialog in combat
• Fixed missing portraits in some story events
• Fixed some typos
• Misc bug fixes

Windows

Common +

• Keyboard and mouse controls rebind overhaul
• Fixed an infinite loading issue when launching the game on Windows 7
• Fixed an issue blocking the start of the Holobug cutscene
• Fixed missing portraits in some story events

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Regular Update July 2021

Version: 1.0.234 – PC only (Steam, GoG and Epic Games Store)

A quick update today with an overhaul of the keyboard and mouse controls rebind and a few bug fixes. We hope you’re having a great summer. Thank you for playing!

• Keyboard and mouse controls rebind overhaul
• Corrupted save management
• Fixed missing portraits in some story events

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Regular Update May 2021

Already five months since the release of Haven and we are still amazed by the amount of positive feedback we receive. We read all of your messages! Sometimes we even read them to our families and friends

We’re releasing a patch with some improvements and bug fixes. This update is available on Steam, PlayStation 5 and 4, XBOX Series, One and Windows, GoG.com and Epic Games Store.

Version: 1.0.222 – All platforms

PlayStation 4

Improvements:

• Balancing on the rust needed to craft, upgrade and repair
• Bridges guarded by Tamajus open automatically after the player uses a flow burst
• The anti-gravity sticks can’t be missed anymore
• Added sound effects when interacting with a Nokk creature
• Improved character navigation after a big jump
• Allowed characters to jump more often
• Improved creatures navigation
• Grass in the menu looks better, even when it’s far

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a softlock after the earthquake event when playing in Arabic language setting
• Fixed a crash when waiting too long in the Nest
• Fixed a freeze while fighting with only one of the two heroes
• Fixed a bug where the game appears blocked due to a tutorial’s popup being hidden
• Fixed islet descriptions that did not update properly while being discovered
• Fixed visual glitches on creatures walking close to the edge of an islet
• Fixed controls issues while cooking
• Fixed a bug on the climb interaction when Birble is leaving the islet after a bait
• Fixed a visual glitch on the Nest greenhouse visual
• Fixed a soft lock on the credits scrolling when players played the epilogue twice in the same session
• Fixed a bug on the capsule tutorial dialog in combat
• Fixed some typos
• Misc bug fixes

PlayStation5

Improvements:

• Balancing on the rust needed to craft, upgrade and repair
• Flowburst ability doesn’t consume flow anymore
• Added a generic animation when using the shower after exhausting every dialog
• Prevented Beruberu to start fighting during the flow burst tutorial
• Bridges guarded by Tamajus open automatically after the player uses a flow burst
• Grass in the menu looks better, even when it’s far
• Added sound effects when interacting with a Nokk creature
• Improved character animations and navigation
• Allowed characters to jump more often
• Improved creatures animations and navigation
• Islets can be cleared even if there is still a nightcrawler roaming
• The anti-gravity sticks can’t be missed anymore
• Added a field of view option
• Reduced the save file size
• Memory usage optimization
• Added a quick loading feature when launching the game through an activity card

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a softlock after the earthquake event when playing in Arabic language setting
• Fixed a crash when waiting too long in the Nest
• Fixed a freeze while fighting with only one of the two heroes
• Fixed a black screen if returning to the main menu while characters are in a building
• Fixed a bug where players couldn’t leave the islet after getting back Kay’s pants if going too fast onto the next islet while the heroes talk about it
• Fixed a bug where the game appears blocked due to a tutorial’s popup being hidden
• Fixed a bug where players could be stuck in an islet after using Birble to teleport during the throw & catch tutorial
• Fixed a bug on the climb interaction when Birble is leaving the islet after a bait.
• Fixed a bug where players could miss the event to upgrade the gloves after repairing the last ship part
• Fixed a bug where the time is frozen if starting a new game after the epilogue
• Fixed a bug where players could miss a mandatory cutscene before the end
• Fixed a bug that can skip the Spring Cleaning achievement from being completed
• Fixed a bug where a character could end at 0 hp after combat
• Fixed islet descriptions that did not update properly while being discovered
• Fixed a bug that could get the Beruberu stuck if the heroes lose it by gliding onto a flying flow thread
• Fixed visual glitches on creatures walking close to the edge of an islet
• Fixed controls issues while cooking
• Fixed invisible rust spots
• Fixed a visual glitch on the Nest greenhouse visual
• Fixed the duplicated guitar glitch in the Nest
• Fixed the last seed dialog playing twice
• Fixed a soft lock on the credits scrolling when players played the epilogue twice in the same session
• Fixed the game time not pausing when the game is not focused
• Fixed Lonako islet where the heroes could walk above the void
• Fixed the cooking reward popup that wasn’t allowing the gamepad stick to be used
• Fixed a bug on the capsule tutorial dialog in combat
• Fixed some typos
• Misc bug fixes.

XBOX Series X, Xbox One and Windows store

Improvements:

• Balancing on the rust needed to craft, upgrade and repair
• Flowburst ability doesn’t consume flow anymore
• Added a generic animation when using the shower after exhausting every dialog
• Prevented Beruberu to start fighting during the flow burst tutorial
• Bridges guarded by Tamajus open automatically after the player uses a flow burst
• Grass in the menu looks better, even when it’s far
• Added sound effects when interacting with a Nokk creature
• Improved character animations and navigation
• Allowed characters to jump more often
• Improved creatures animations and navigation
• Islets can be cleared even if there is still a nightcrawler roaming
• The anti-gravity sticks can’t be missed anymore
• Added a field of view option
• Reduced the save file size
• Memory usage optimization

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a softlock after the earthquake event when playing in Arabic language setting
• Fixed a crash when waiting too long in the Nest
• Fixed a freeze while fighting with only one of the two heroes
• Fixed a black screen if returning to the main menu while characters are in a building
• Fixed a bug where players couldn’t leave the islet after getting back Kay’s pants if going too fast onto the next islet while the heroes talk about it
• Fixed a bug where the game appears blocked due to a tutorial’s popup being hidden
• Fixed a bug where players could be stuck in an islet after using Birble to teleport during the throw & catch tutorial
• Fixed a bug on the climb interaction when Birble is leaving the islet after a bait
• Fixed a bug where players could miss the event to upgrade the gloves after repairing the last ship part
• Fixed a bug where the time is frozen if starting a new game after the epilogue
• Fixed a bug where players could miss a mandatory cutscene before the end
• Fixed a bug that can skip the Spring Cleaning achievement from being completed
• Fixed a bug where a character could end at 0 hp after combat
• Fixed islet descriptions that did not update properly while being discovered
• Fixed a bug that could get the Beruberu stuck if the heroes lose it by gliding onto a flying flow thread
• Fixed visual glitches on creatures walking close to the edge of an islet
• Fixed controls issues while cooking
• Fixed invisible rust spots
• Fixed a visual glitch on the Nest greenhouse visual
• Fixed the duplicated guitar glitch in the Nest
• Fixed the last seed dialog playing twice
• Fixed a soft lock on the credits scrolling when players played the epilogue twice in the same session
• Fixed the game time not pausing when the game is not focused
• Fixed Lonako islet where the heroes could walk above the void
• Fixed the cooking reward popup that wasn’t allowing the gamepad stick to be used
• Fixed a bug on the capsule tutorial dialog in combat
• Fixed some typos
• Misc bug fixes.

PC platform ( Steam/GoG/Epic)

Improvements:

• Balancing on the rust needed to craft, upgrade and repair
• Bridges guarded by Tamajus open automatically after the player uses a flow burst
• The anti-gravity sticks can’t be missed anymore
• Grass in the menu looks better, even when it’s far
• Improved creatures animations and navigation.

Bug fixes:

• Fixed a freeze while fighting with only one of the two heroes
• Fixed islet descriptions that did not update properly while being discovered
• Fixed visual glitches on creatures walking close to the edge of an islet
• Fixed a soft lock on the credits scrolling when players played the epilogue twice in the same session
• Fixed a bug on the climb interaction when Birble is leaving the islet after a bait
• Fixed a visual glitch on the Nest greenhouse visual
• Fixed a bug on the capsule tutorial dialog in combat
• Fixed some typos
• Misc bug fixes.

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Update Nintendo Switch March 8th, 2021

The update is available on Nintendo Switch. The update is mandatory.

Version: 1.0.209

Bug fixes:

• Fix memory leaks that cause crashes when loading levels and may completely cover an islet of rust
• Fix a crash when canceling the shield action right before taking a hit in combat
• Fix a red flash during credits
• Prevents a rare showstopper bug where the door on LONAKO doesn’t open

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Update Nintendo Switch February 24th, 2021

The update is available on Nintendo Switch. The update is mandatory.

Version: 1.0.204

Bug fixes:

• Optimize memory usage to prevent some crashes when loading levels
• Fix a crash when waiting too long in the Nest
• Fix a softlock when losing against the Hornets
• Fix audio on the islet Bename
• Fix not being able to delete a game slot right after copying it

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Regular update December 15th 2020

The update is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, One and Windows, Steam and GOG.

Version: 1.0.165

PlayStation5

Feature addition and improvement:

• Automatic backup save before ending: a save is created for those of you who will want to go back and explore the game before the end. For players who have finished the game already, when loading your epilogue save, a backup save will be created before the take off, giving you a change to revisit.
• Camera axis: Option to invert the camera in the Nest.
• Accessibility: Option to disable camera wobble.

Bug fixes:

• Blocking bug at the big door on Lonako: Some cases where the big door would not open. Running the update should fix the issue for users currently having the problem in their saved game.
• Turkish regional settings issue: When playing with regional settings set to Turkish, some menu UI localization would not show up properly and actor voices were missing.
• Gloves upgrade: Fixed a bug where Yu says she has enough hyper rust to upgrade the gloves, although this upgrade is not accessible yet.
• Trophy minor fix: fixed the trophy set name and the description of the trophy Perfect Timing
• Combat soft lock: fixed a bug where the game characters would become unresponsive after using a Help in combat. 
• Misc bug fixes including screenshake option fix, credits update, title screen visual update.

Xbox Series, One and Windows

Feature addition and improvement:

• Automatic backup save before ending: a save is created for those of you who will want to go back and explore the game before the end. For players who have finished the game already, when loading your epilogue save, a backup save will be created before the take off, giving you a change to revisit.
• Camera axis: Option to invert the camera in the Nest. 
• Accessibility: Option to disable camera wobble. 

Bug fixes:

• Blocking bug at the big door on Lonako: Some cases where the big door would not open. Running the update should fix the issue for users currently having the problem in their saved game.
• Gloves upgrade: Fixed a bug where Yu says she has enough hyper rust to upgrade the gloves, although this upgrade is not accessible yet.
• Combat soft lock: fixed a bug where the game characters would become unresponsive after using a Help in combat. 
• Misc bug fixes including screenshake option fix, credits update, title screen visual update and interaction fix on the opening movie.

Windows: 

Feature addition and improvement:

• Co-op with Keyboard & Mouse and one controller: Ability to play co-op with Keyboard & Mouse + one controller (local co-op).
• Wide screen resolutions improvements: Display options now gives the choices of resolution wider than 16/9 for ultrawide monitor support. Fix for the main menu that was getting out of the screen on very wide resolutions.
• UI: Ability to choose what button prompts are displayed

Bug fixes:

• Roaming stutter: Prevent some stutter that could happen routinely every 10-20 seconds while roaming.
• Turkish regional settings issue: When playing with Windows regional settings set to Turkish, some menu UI localization would not show up properly and actor voices were missing.
• Thai regional settings issue: When playing with Windows regional settings set to Thai, the game would crash on startup.

Steam, GoG:

Feature addition and improvement

• Automatic backup save before ending: a save is created for those of you who will want to go back and explore the game before the end. For players who have finished the game already, when loading your epilogue save, a backup save will be created before the take off, giving you a change to revisit.
• Co-op with Keyboard & Mouse and one controller: Ability to play co-op with Keyboard & Mouse + one controller (local and remote play).
• Accessibility: Option to disable camera wobble.
• UI: Ability to choose what button prompts are displayed

Bug fixes

• Gloves upgrade: Fixed a bug where Yu says she has enough hyper rust to upgrade the gloves, although this upgrade is not accessible yet.
• Combat soft lock: fixed a bug where the game characters would become unresponsive after using a Help in combat.
• Misc bug fixes

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Patch note – Minor Patch December 9th 2020

Platforms: Steam, GoG

Version: 1.0.157

Bug fixes:

• Turkish regional settings issue: When playing with Windows regional settings set to Turkish, some menu UI localization would not show up properly and actor voices were missing.
• Blocking bug at the big door on Lonako: Some cases where the big door would not open. Running the update should fix the issue for users currently having the problem in their save game.
• Unexpected behavior if you played the demo: Some users who previously played Haven demo could encounter a crash or unexpected behavior if they continue playing the game from a save from the demo.
• Roaming stutter: Prevent some stutter that could happen routinely every 10-20 seconds while roaming.
• Wide screens resolutions improvements: Display options now gives the choices of resolution wider than 16/9 for ultrawide monitor support and fix main menu out of the screen on very wide resolutions.

 

 

 

 

Note: This contains spoilers for the game Haven

It has been brought to our attention some aspects of Haven setting in relation to the character Erena and the Matchmaker are tone deaf to the reality the LGBTQ+ community is facing. 

To players who have felt unwelcome while playing our game: we’re sorry. This goes against our inclusive values as a team and the theme of the game.

Haven is a game about love and freedom. Our intentions have always been to advocate for freedom of love regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, class etc. Our two heroes being heterosexual, of different classes and ethnicity, we designed Erena to achieve a wider representation within our limited options. 

We realize we should have brought some clarifications earlier in the game:

• We understand now that Erena can come off as the “villain” which reinforces stereotypes used against LGBTQ+ people. In our story arc Erena is not the adversarial force. She is doing what mums do: try to save the skin of her child. Being pragmatic, she tries to make her accept the rules – and we understand this also lacks sensitivity. In the extra content planned for the game, Erena becomes a very positive force fighting for freedom of love. 
• We realize that The Matchmaker recalibration program brings up references to “conversion therapy”. The reasons why the Matchmaker exists cannot be unveiled at this stage, but they are not ideological and not about forcing people to a relation with a person of a specific gender. The Matchmaker choses couples independently of their gender and sexual orientation. Erena and her mate were matched together, Yu and Ozias were too. 

We are looking into ways to improve those aspects in the game and in any upcoming content, and we will strive to do better. 

Thank you for your support and understanding,

 

The Game Bakers

 

Play the two heroes at the same time, alone or with a special someone.

In Haven, you play as two lovers who gave up everything and escaped to a lost planet to be together. It’s a romantic RPG about love and freedom, but a strong characteristic of the game is that you play two characters at the same time: Yu and Kay. It’s first and foremost a solo game, in which you play these two characters, but with such a duo for main characters, we couldn’t pass on the opportunity to make it also a couch co-op experience. In this blogpost, I’ll dive in details about the co-op experience for the first time.

Haven can be enjoyed solo, it’s designed for that. But at any time in the game, another player can join by simply taking another gamepad and pressing a button. The UI will show that co-op has started, it’s completely seamless.

Here, the UI shows another player just joined and triggered the co-op play.

An important part of the gameplay makes Yu and Kay explore the deserted planet gliding over the grass, collecting flow and food, and cleaning the rust in search for resources and new paths (learn more about the gameplay in our previous blog post). While gliding, one player is leading, and the other is following. The character that is following has the freedom to roam around the lead one. Each time you stop, you can exchange the lead, and “take the wheel” like it’s your turn to drive.

However, the following player is not just a co-pilot. They can control what we call a “flowblob”, a circle of flow on the ground that they can project around them to interact with the world as they glide. They can use the flowblob to clean the rust or gather resources. The lead character chooses where to go and the following character helps clean the area.

The flowblob can also be used to slow down a creature that’s chasing you:

In solo combat, the game pad is split in half. You use the dpad to load Kay’s actions and the buttons for Yu’s. In co-op, each player controls their character. The players have to combine their actions.

For instance one can be shielding while the other prepares an attack.

You can exploit temporary weaknesses by having a player stun a creature, while the other prepares an attack that will make critical damage. Or you can synchronize two similar actions on each character to make powerful duo attacks.

Last but not least, if one of your hero is down, the other one can help them stand up again.

While it’s common to see co-op mechanics for action gameplay, it’s much more unusual to see them intertwined in the storytelling. Narration-wise, when the characters talk, the player regularly has dialog choices to make, which sometimes have an impact on the game. When playing co-op, both players have to agree and validate the same dialog choice to progress. From what we’ve seen, it’s very engaging and creates heated discussions between the players on the couch.

We wanted to make a game that can be enjoyed by everyone: solo for a deep immersion with Yu and Kay, or co-op with a friend or a romantic partner. As you read this we are adding the finishing touches to the game. Haven will release December 3rd 2020 on PS5 and early 2021 on PS4.

Hello everyone,

That’s it, we have a release date!!! We’re so pleased to tell you that Haven will be available on December 3rd 2020 on PC (Steam, GOG.com & Microsoft Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox One. We can’t wait for you to share Yu & Kay’s adventure! The PC version will be available at launch on Steam, GoG and Windows store. And yes, we also hard at work on our Nintendo Switch and PS4 versions, slated to launch Q1 2021.

We are also happy to share with you a brand new story trailer “Can love conquer all?” Watch it below:

 

The trailer has subtitles in English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.

Also check those new screenshots from the game:

36 days left before the launch of Haven! We can tell you we are counting the days too!
Looking forward to having you play the game,

The team at Game Bakers

Pierre Corbinais has been writing for and about games for a decade now and he is the writer of Haven. He’s mostly known for Bury Me My Love, a reality-inspired fiction about love and exile, and ‘Til Cows tear us apart, a two-cowgirls’ road-movie in space but also created a lot of other small games during various game jams. Haven is the biggest project he worked on so far (and he can’t wait for you to play it).

What’s your opinion about romance in video games? What is good and bad, from your point of view?

My main opinion about romance in video games is that we don’t see enough of it, and when you think about it, it’s actually a bit baffling. Romances are everywhere except in video games: I don’t know about the other countries, but in France, every year without fail, the best selling novels are love stories. Turn on a mainstream radio and there’s a fairly good chance that a love song will be playing. And romance (whether it is comedy or drama) had always been one of the strongest film genres: While released more than 20 years ago, Titanic still is the third highest grossing film of all times (#1 in France!), how crazy is that? Everything points to think that people LOVE romances, but a bunch of exceptions aside, we don’t have romance in games, at best we have flirting (in dating sims or RPGs). Why is that? There is this idea floating around that video games are mostly played by men and that men aren’t into romance, but I think both these assumptions are untrue. To me, the main reason why there is so few romances in game is that we, game creators, still don’t really know how to make them. It’s “easy” to make a game where you shoot people (“If bullet collides with enemy then enemy = dead”, but how do you program a game about falling in love? Being in love? Falling out of love? Everything must be rethought, reinvented. That’s a tough job, and a lot of work, but what a great challenge!

Where would you like to see the genre go? What kind of romance story or style would you like to see in a video game?

I would like it to go in every directions, form-wise and content-wise. There are so many different love stories to tell, and so many ways to interact with them to invent. Just try to imagine how every video game genre could be twisted to become a love story: What is a First Person Romance? What is a relationship management game? A heart racing game? A love puzzle?
And we’re not even talking about the new genres that might emerge.
As for the content, there is a subreddit called r/relationships where people share relationships stories (romantic or not) to get advice from the community. I love browsing through the posts there. They are sometimes funny, sometimes grave, sometimes relatable, sometimes just plain weird… I think these posts tell a lot about what being human is, about what loving is, and I’d like every single one of them to be turned into a video game.

Haven has quite a modern treatment in terms of dialogs, compared to traditional RPGs. Was it difficult to come up with that? How do people react to that style?

Haven’s dialogue style came up pretty naturally. While you can find some epicness in the game, I felt it was more about the little things, the daily life, and I needed the dialogues to reflect that. Yu and Kay shouldn’t talk like badass-and-somehow-also-super-witty heroes, they should talk like us, with our hesitations, verbal tics, cursing… I’m really into alternative comics that tell “slice of life” stories (Hernandez brothers’ Love & Rockets, Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise, Vanyda’s The Building Opposite to cite a few), I probably draw this style of writing from there.
I didn’t get the chance to see a lot of people playing the game so far so I’m yet not sure how people will react to that style, but the team and voice-actors seemed to like it! The very first dialogue I wrote to try out that style and see if it fitted the game ended up becoming Haven’s first scene.

There’s also a lot of humour in the game. Do you think it’s a way to make the players have fun or to make them get attached to the characters?

Yes, people usually enjoy to laugh and smile, so why not allow that? But humor is also a useful tool for Haven’s narrative structure. In Haven there are a lot of dialogue scenes that aren’t there to make the story advance toward an ending. They’re just slices of life meant to create attachment to the characters, chill moments spent in the Nest. How can you satisfyingly end such scenes that don’t really lead anywhere plot-wise? There aren’t that many solutions: You can end it with something cute, something deep, or something funny. Juggling with the three is the best way to keep the player surprised, and thus entertained.

Do you have a special process for writing dialogs? What’s your one advice for writing dialogs?

Writing is a very weird and personal thing, the more I talk with other writers the more I realise there aren’t two writing processes alike. Some people will tell you that you need to precisely know where your dialogue is going beforehand, me, I tend to just go with the flow and let the characters decide for themselves. Most of the time, when I start writing a dialogue scene, I have no idea how it’s gonna end. This is a terrible thing to do when you work in movies for example, because movies only lasts 90mn and you don’t have one minute to spare. But I think it works pretty well with video games, especially when you want your dialogues to branch in different directions: not having an ending in mind is a great way to allow the emergence of multiple ones.
As for the advice I will give this very simple one: whenever you’re stuck in your writing, drop your pen (or keyboard, or typewriter) and go outside. Walk. Sit in a park. Have a coffee (and don’t forget your notebook in case the inspiration comes back). Breaks aren’t a waste of time, sitting in front of an empty page is.

Finally, everyone wants to know. Are you more a Yu or Kay person?

I put a lot of myself in both characters, Kay got my poor sense of humour and Yu my terrible sense of direction, but I’m probably more a Kay person overall. Yet, when playing the game, I mostly play Yu. Go figure.

 

We are celebrating Furi’s amazing community with a Community Week starting this Friday September 11th. You can see all the detail here (LINK).

We are running a fan art contest with the theme “Fall down seven times, stand up eight”. The fan art can take the shape of your choice (drawing, illustration, sculpture, collage, installation…) but has to be created especially for the contest. You have to be the original author of it. The contest runs from today until September 25th at 11:59 PM CEST / 2:59 PM PT.

To participate, please send your fan art, your nickname, your social media profile and the name of your art to fanartcontest@thegamebakers.com. Don’t hesitate to share it also on social media with #furifanartcontest or in our community hub here! Be careful, you have to send us an email to participate, posting on social media doesn’t count.

Here are the prizes for the winners:

• 1st: Limited Run Furi Definitive Edition (Switch or PS4) + Furi Artbook + Furi Original Soundtrack LP (Vinyl) + Poster Rider Victory + Poster All Bosses
• 2nd: Furi Artbook + Furi Original Soundtrack CD + Poster Rider Victory + Poster All Bosses
• 3nd: Furi Original Soundtrack CD + Poster Rider Victory + Poster All Bosses
• “Coup de coeur”: Furi Original Soundtrack CD  + Poster Rider Victory + Poster All Bosses

Since the release of Furi, you have created fantastic fan art, it’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate your talent, and to share some of our favourite ones!

Deltarune x Furi Game by Aamakuruu

 

The Edge – By Leviafun // Genderbending Furi’s rider – By Nikoneda

 

Rider – By Surejanel

Rider – By Alga // The Strap – By Mysnaileatspizza1

The Chain – Cosplay by Pandadorf

 

Rider – By Rohantohu

  

The Strap – By ChainSawTeddyBear

 

We can’t wait to see the new creation you will share with us for the contest!