The list of indie games coming to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 continues to grow, as Sony has confirmed that its newly-announced slate of current and next-gen “PlayStation Indies” will include Haven, the chill co-op RPG coming from The Game Bakers later this year.
The Game Bakers is known for its 2016 bullet hell/hack-and-slash hybrid Furi, which drew praise for its fast and frenetic gameplay. With its next game, however, the studio wants to do something different and more laidback, a sci-fi romance about two lovers, Yu and Kay, escaping to a lost planet to stay together and discovering its secrets.
This will extend to the gameplay as well. In a break from RPG convention, the game will streamline the experience by removing common genre features like quest logs and skill trees and simplifying its crafting and inventory systems. The goal, according to creative director Emeric Thoa, is to cut out the clutter so people playing Haven alone or with a co-op partner can focus on exploring the world and watching Yu and Kay’s relationship grow.
“I love a hairy and dense RPG as much as anyone else. But sometimes, between these deep and exhausting systems you learn in games, it’s good to take a little break,” Thoa explained. “It’s what we wanted to achieve with Haven. Make it a gentle breeze, a soft hand that will take you through its journey without asking you to care too much about details. In Haven, we only want you to care about Yu and Kay.”
Haven is set to launch in 2020 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, and Xbox One.
Source: PlayStation Blog