Haven is an RPG with loading screens that show a rare side of love and sex

Stories usually need tension and drama to be attractive, but once you’re hooked, you can start to feel a little protective of the poor characters who are going through this stress. This may explain why fan works to represent characters in more mundane situations, such as being a regular customer at a cafe or choosing casual clothes for the day. Inside Refuge, the developers have already done this work for you.

Refuge is a dystopian sci-fi RPG about two lovers who become fugitives after defying the orders of the “matchmaker”, a mysterious entity that decides who you can pair with. Although I have not yet won, during my eight hours with the game, I found it to be one of the best written interactive experiences I have had recently. The conversations between Yu and Kay, our heroes, seem natural, a rarity in video games that often seem to have been written to sound fun and fast.

It helps that the voice acting in Refuge it is excellent, adding a real sense of chemistry between the two connections. They fight, they are silly, they are vulnerable, they are ridiculous – the game shows everything that a relationship becomes behind closed doors. To be in love is to create your own little world, complete with your own language and customs. Done poorly, all of this can be sickening – who wants to hear a boyfriend and girlfriend suggest pet names, for example? Hell, sometimes, if you stop too long in the upper world of the game, the two of you will start to kiss. But stop Refugehuge credit, I didn’t find any of that disgusting – instead, I found myself rooting for their romance.

But again, the game needs betting, right? You spend your time trying to hide from the powers that want to separate you, but even when that danger is not present, there is constant concern about Kay and Yu’s chances of survival. They are stranded on a strange planet, isolated from everyone else and with little to eat or enjoy. Even as they discover how to survive, it remains to be seen whether the two can continue to live like this, alone, accomplished only by each other’s company.

What impressed me while playing all this, however, is that, despite the drama of the real game, every time you enter a new area, a loading screen appears. And the loading screens are the complete opposite of the intense pressure of the game itself. Here, the game portrays quieter moments between the two, such as brushing each other’s hair or sitting on the couch playing video games. It can be quite domestic: there are loading screens that seem to show Yu and Kay discussing how to take out the trash or choose a tie for a night out.

Image: The Game Bakers

The fact that I noticed it is unusual. Instead of just zoning or scrolling through the phone during load times, as I do in 99% of the games I play, I actually started looking forward to Refuge’s dozens of loading screens. They were a welcome relief from the game’s central dilemma.

The purpose of these loading screens, according to creative director Emeric Thoa, is to show Yu and Kay’s “first times” for everything.

“The first time they cooked for each other, the first time they got sick, the first nap on the couch, the first time they argued, the first time they kissed, the first time they cried in front of each other, the first time who made love … It’s a little glimpse of their previous life before leaving everything behind to escape on a deserted planet, “said Thoa by email. The screens were designed by artist Koyorin and focus entirely on the characters. There is no text or game tips and there are few colored elements.

Initially, the loading screens seem almost random, but they are not. A loading screen shows Kay, the male leader, cooking with only an apron. While this captures the dynamics between the two perfectly, there is also a later version of the screen that shows Yu cooking in nothing but an apron. In the context of a novel, both versions make sense. But the developers really wanted to gain the player’s trust before portraying Yu like that in the game.

Image: The Game Bakers

“We felt that this could be seen as a harsh stereotype,” said Thoa. “So, we developed a feature that allowed us to ‘unlock’ these loading screens progressively to ensure that some of them weren’t displayed until the middle of the game or the end of the game. That way, some of the images cannot be seen until you really know the characters, until you know that Yu is in control and she is just playing. ”

Refuge was recently released for Nintendo Switch and is part of the Xbox Game Pass. You can also play on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows PC. Even if you are currently dreading February’s imminent Valentine’s Day, I suggest you check Refuge Out. The basic depiction of the sex and romance game is soft enough to melt the hearts of even the most tired skeptics.

“Refuge is to show the heroes in their daily lives ”, said Thoa. “It’s about what’s under the curtain, between shots. It is the love that has never been shown in our epic entertainment culture. ”