Space Haven Preview

The Earth is no more and it is up to you to lead a rag-tag crew of humans to the stars and beyond. You will face hunger, alien attacks, and the vacuum of space among many other obstacles. Will your group succeed in traveling the known universe or become just another derelict ship for the next group of survivors to salvage?

Developed and published by Bugbyte Ltd. and released in Steam Early Access on 21st May 2020, Space Haven is a beautifully crafted spaceship colony management simulator with building, combat, and exploration elements. Boasting overwhelmingly positive feedback in the Steam Review section, I have personally invested 62 hours into building, managing, and getting to love my crew. I’ve gotten to know their personalities and dislikes along with individual strengths and weaknesses. Knowing who to send on an “away team” and who to leave behind to maintain your ship can mean the difference between success and failure in Space Haven’s unforgiving universe.

Beginning a new game presents the player with a few different starting scenarios. The “Basic Platform” acts as a tutorial of sorts and starts the player with four crew members and the groundwork to begin building your own starship. The “Abandoned Mining Station” allows the player to build their own customisable spaceship while also commanding a higher number of initial crew members. The last of the three current scenarios, “A Small Hope”, starts you with a small, older ship with only some essential supplies, leaving further upgrades, expansion, and material procurement to the player. While different difficulty levels can tailor a unique experience for each individual player, the base gameplay on all levels remains in-depth and the player needs to have an attention to detail in order to succeed in guiding their crew safely through space.

Though maintaining your crew’s food, water, and shelter needs are top priorities, they are not the only challenges you’ll face in Space Haven’s universe. An assortment of other space-faring factions are plentiful and active. While some factions such as the Military Alliance are more willing to offer a helping hand to your crew, others such as the Pirate Coalition will attack on sight, board your ship, attempt to capture or kill your crew, and leave your vessel a lifeless derelict. Each faction has its own set of behaviors, moral compasses, and likes/dislikes, leaving each encounter unique to the player’s individual play style.

In true management fashion, dealing with issues like resource gathering, combat, and diplomacy are all directly influenced by your ability to micromanage day-to-day issues such as shift assignments, food consumption, and your crew’s mood. Didn’t schedule enough sleep time? Your crew will be tired when you need them to perform. Send your crew to salvage a derelict without the ability to take a bathroom break? Nobody works well in a soiled space suit. Small, intricate details like these are abundant in Space Haven and add to the overall feeling of truly being responsible for your crew’s fate.

Aesthetically, the developers at BugByte have tapped into every space genre from Star Trek to Alien for inspiration, and this collage of different science fiction masterpieces results in one of the most beautiful looking pixel games I have seen to date. The glow of the lights on individual control panels, the contrast between areas with lights installed and without, the backdrop of your current solar system, and even the small ice crystals that begin to form when an area of your ship isn’t being heated all add to the overall atmosphere (or lack thereof) of the game.

The sound in-game is ethereal. When there is a lot going on, you hear the whirring of the different components in your ship, the beeping of the life support systems, and the bustling of your crew tending to their individual tasks. When on an away mission aboard a derelict ship, things become eerily quiet and lend to the feeling of uneasiness that your crew is facing. Overall, the sounds of the game marry up superbly with its feel. Celestial, palpable, and sublime when appropriate.

With beautiful and vibrant pixel art, a nod to almost every space genre imaginable, and an in-depth management system, Space Haven hits all of the wickets to become a very successful space colony simulator and sci-fi masterpiece upon full launch.