Space Haven Reviews

Fantastic space resource management sim. Im not a big fan of these types of games, but something about this one just scratches a great itch and is so enjoyable. Tutorial is very good at providing vital information and teaching you how to play, which is super helpful.

I am not a big colony sim player; this is the first one I have played. That being said, it's a lot of fun, and the learning curve is challenging (for me at least) but fair. Once things start to click, and you understand the importance of research, comfort, etc, it's entertaining managing everything. I have put around 40 hours into this game so far, and I feel like I just started. I highly recommend giving this game a try.

I so want to like this game and say it’s a must buy. Recent updates have extended overall play time/investment with variety and additional story, but when you achieve a certain crew size or number of ships tracking battle/invasions can become problematic because (and maybe it’s just me missing something huge) battle stations don’t really seem to work. Having to manually tell my people to recharge the interior turrets is a real pain as well, and is only really good for defense instead of deploying on wrecks for offense. There are also hints at personality for each of the crew but it comes into play so little outside of “relationships”. Otherwise they just tend to buff or nerf base stats. And characters “in relationships” don’t require a single larger bed/shared quarters or much even in the way of shared shift/break time. It can easily become a forgotten mechanic. My experience with building relationships with other factions also seems to fall short. Like many games sadly building relationships with other factions is almost entirely one-way, with you giving resources and replying to missions. There is no opportunity for you to offer missions or be offered help. Most importantly would be the idea of building an allied fleet, but at no point does your relationship allow for coordination on travel/raids, at least that I have been able to achieve. So there isn’t a lot of incentive to really build out relationships with factions, at least as I’ve been playing. There have also been suggestions/promises that you will be able to build a static base and be able to leave/come back to it as an active space, but no realization of that as of my last play through. So no long term mining operations to check in on for additional resources/support as you simply go from system to system aimlessly in search of short term resource grabs. I hope that as development continues we will see some of these mechanics further flushed out. Like I said I have really enjoyed and invested time into playing, but recent updates haven’t been targeted at these areas. Maybe in the future.

The Pawn AI is better than Rimworld, or Oxygen not included. Never has a pawn died to their priorities. Everything gets done. The System lets you know when it is overloaded. The UI clearly shows the Backlog. I have not tryed ship to ship combat. This game is significantly difficult and fun with lots of room to grow. Give me a Stargate Destiny Drive and let me Journey to the beginning of the universe.

Great game, basically Rimworld in space. would recommend

The multitude of UI issues, unhelpful hints, poor enemy, weapon and equipment variety aside, I struggled through trying to make the sandbox fun and having just enough success to keep going a little longer in the hopes that it'll turn actually entertaining, but no luck. The gameplay loop doesn't evolve, because it doesn't have many moving parts to work with. Manufacturing and selling plasma rifles and other weapons rakes in more credits than you'll ever need, economy is rudimentary. The best part was ship-building, but since hull mass factors into everything from shields to hyperdrive power, so many builds just collapse into being squares or circles. Combat, especially crew combat, is godawful. There's not much you can actually do to mitigate damage, even vanilla Rimworld has a cover system that can weigh the rolls in your favor. Haulers are cheap damage personified, you can dodge their charge and then they instantly hit you anyway. There's no actual tactical depth. The last straw came when I played a bit of the story and rolled my eyes at the antagonists. Really, now. You couldn't come up with a less tired bunch of tropes that've been rehashed over and over since the 1970s? George R R Martin did Those Dumb and Stupid Space Christians Who Are Holding Us All Back 50 years ago, and he did it better. Too much to hope for a video game plotline with some nuance these days, I guess. See, making the Cult of New Haven sane would be easy, there are any number of reasonable motivations that gives them an actual argument: "Humanity needs to remain amongst the stars. Staying on one planet means we're vulnerable to extinction." "We destroyed our old planet, and still haven't learned our lesson, with pirates and slavers amok amongst the stars while scientists only ask whether they can, not whether they should. We need to shed these before we deserve another homeworld so that we don't ruin it again." It's that simple. Instead I get a bunch of retarded psuedo-religious psychobabble from Christian caricatures. Shit tier villain: the villain is just evil.

Space Haven has one big problem you should consider before buying. It has no soul. The first five minutes are the same as the last five minutes. After about 20 hours of play: so what. It does not inspire imagination, create wonder, or drive the player to continue. Compare this to games like Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, etc. where there is a journey, an arc. Space Haven has some of the same mechanics, but none of the soul.

My favorite game so far. Hope the devs put more time and effort in, so it will be even better. Gets stale at some point, but the core mechanics are on point! :)

A couple years ago I used to love playing this game, it was fun and relaxing. Now it's a Rimworld in space ripoff with zero of the polish and balance you'll find in that game. Everyone in your crew is always pissy or having a breakdown for the dumbest things, and equipment catches fire or breaks down every single day for no reason. As for balance, it has none. The game seems completely based on rng where luck decides if you run out of fuel, food, or the throw pillows you needed to craft so your entire crew doesn't completely stop working and all just lie down and die. As comical as that is, it makes the game seem just plain stupid. Don't set up an arcade machine fast enough because you're working on food or energy since they are both running out? Well looks like it's suicide for us all because nobody brought a book or deck of cards! It's like being Christopher Columbus with a crew of bored zoomers carrying lighters. Good luck, I just can't recommend it anymore.

I just raided an enemy base along side a military alliance ship. On our way back we were: ambushed, boarded, swapped ships, fought a 20+ prisoner riot to regain control of our ship, and my scientist went on a solo mission to eliminate the enemy leader and rescue her best friend. This game is amazing. I love how this game plays like a little software facilitated board game diorama with autonomous pieces playing their own rpg inside of it. Many games fit that description but this game delivers on that feeling for me. I now want to 3d print my own buildings to recreate my storied vessels as art pieces to hang up on my wall. The only criticism I have is how long it takes to play the game, and how un-engaging a lot of that time can be. A lot of the challenges can seem unreasonably oppressive to a new player still trying to figure out 'how comfort plays a role in everything' or 'the value of spacesuits close by' or etc. Unfortunately that's just the pain you must go through to get to the "minimum viable ship" good parts.