If you love cozy camping sims, try Haven Park!
I don’t normally play too many games that I can complete in a short number of Twitch streams, so it was a lot of fun to play Haven Park by Fabien Weibel published by Mooneye Indies.
I was provided a free copy of Haven Park for promotional and review purposes.
Explore a tiny and peaceful open world. Meet and talk to the campers, find the resources required to build cozy little campsites and keep the campers happy. You will also have plenty of side quests on your journey. But no rush, this place is your safe haven to discover!
Haven Park was inspired by games like A Short Hike or Animal Crossing, so if you are a fan of those, this game is definitely for you!
It’s not a long game, but it does have a lot to explore, with several side quests, cute challenges and gorgeous views. You play Flint, who has been entrusted by his grandmother to look after Haven Park. This means tidying up the park, making necessary repairs and keeping the campsites up to visitor expectations!
The basics are simple, but sometimes keeping visitors happy is a balance of resource gathering and attraction placement, but I never felt like the game was trying to punish me for not gathering or being unable to decide exactly which way I should rotate a tent before my final decision.
Controls are super simple, allowing for controller or mouse & keyboard. You mostly move around the park and interact with resources to collect, visiting campers to talk to, or updating and editing your park attractions. As you play, you level up and earn points to enhance your skills from movement to inventory size to increased resource gathering.
And the best part, you can make Flint say “Pew! Pew!” as you run around the park. So cute!
There is an overarching story among the side quests and challenges. While maintaining the park and satisfying visitors, Flint has to meet his grandmother at a certain place in the park. The map slowly reveals itself as you discover additional campsites, and there are trail markers to keep you from getting lost too badly. Though I did find myself running around in circles from time to time due to a big empty piece of the map I hadn’t yet cleared. And depending on the order in which you find some side quests, it could get confusing as what sequence you need to complete things.
All in all, the game is adorable, the challenges and side quests don’t divert too much from the main story and you could finish the game in one or two sittings. The developer has been making some updates to improve clarity, game issues and quality of life, so I could see myself returning to this after a while, major updates or not.
Overall, it feels like a nice mix somewhere between Cozy Grove and A Short Hike. While there is a day/night cycle in the game, you can play at your own pace, and nothing feels time-sensitive.
You can see my entire playthrough of the Haven Park on my YouTube channel, but don’t let me spoil it for you too much. Check it out for yourself, and happy gaming! 🎮🏳🌈💖
