Dream of the Star Haven Preview

Developed by Orchid of Redemption, Dream of the Star Haven is a whimsical 3D puzzle platformer that has recently been released for free into Early Access. At the moment, there are just a handful of levels to try, but each one is as magical and serene as the last.

If you like puzzlers that feel like a daydream come to life, à la Tin Hearts or Viewfinder, you’ll be right at home with Dream of the Star Haven. Each level takes you to the sky, quite literally, as you’ll traverse multiple floating islands to collect Stars hiding amongst them. And when I say traverse, I don’t mean a single jump across a short gap or an easy walk across a bridge; instead, you’ll triple jump to islands that seem impossible to reach. If you’re anything like me, you’ll frequently overestimate just how far you can hop and ultimately fall into the clouds. These grand leaps are the main source of Star Haven’s dreamlike quality, as they make you feel weightless, almost like you’re floating through space.

Fittingly, a majority of the puzzle-solving has to do with manipulating gravity. You can interact with blocks and bubbles that can completely turn the level on its side or upside down. At the right angle, previously hidden Stars will reveal themselves, allowing you to collect them. While it’s easy to feel a bit disoriented with this mechanic, especially since you’re doing all this from a first-person perspective, it’s still fun to play around with and offers just enough challenge to keep things from feeling stale. Additionally, you can find other objects that let you shift the environment while staying right side up, such as gears that you can use to change the direction an island is facing, which can definitely help when you need to hop to a hard-to-reach spot.

Beyond triple jumps and changing gravity, your toolkit also includes a magical Scanner. This allows you to scan the area ahead; it’s kind of like putting on a special set of glasses that unveils the locations of Stars, weapons, or enemies. As such, you’ll always know where to go or what to avoid, so you’re not just aimlessly wandering from island to island. However, to use it, you’ll need to fill your energy bar, which you can do by finding gems or certain devices as you explore. It’s currently pretty easy to keep your energy up, and I mostly used the Scanner to pinpoint the last Star needed to complete a level.

As far as combat goes, encounters are easy to manage so far, as most enemies you’ll face are unmoving masks called Geovids or crawling Phantom Beetles that you can easily dodge. Unless there was an item I needed nearby, I’d often avoid islands with enemies altogether. However, in some cases, you might want to seek combat out, as you can select optional challenges to complete for each level, such as “Defeat all Geovids” or “Find all the gems.” These yield Starbursts as a reward, which you’ll use to unlock special levels that offer more difficulty. However, remember this is all optional; you can simply grab your Stars and head to the next level — it’s entirely up to you.

In this bite-sized Early Access experience, Dream of the Star Haven establishes its relaxing atmosphere from start to finish with soothing piano music and low-stakes gameplay. If you’re looking for a short, tranquil puzzler, keep an eye on this one as it develops. Orchid of Redemption has noted that it’s aiming for a four to five-hour runtime, and the game will continue to remain free after its full release.