Haven & Hearth

Goodness. After dedicating three solid years of my life to Lineage 2, I felt I was done with the MMO genre. I was burned out pretty badly. I became far too involved in the server I played on, and got mixed up in some very nasty political battles that went too far. During the past two years, I have tried a few other MMOs, but they all pale in comparison to what Lineage offered. So, you can imagine my surprise that a tiny little alpha MMO, Haven & Hearth, has completely hooked me once again.

The game itself it nothing fancy. It is a small 2D game where players literally have to learn to survive. Players must gather food, resources, build structures, and learn various trade skills. That alone sounds very mundane, and one of the reasons I ignored the game when it was first mentioned by a friend. However, I learned that there is more to it than that. The world has absolutely no restrictions. You can openly pvp, raid villages, track players, hunt, and get involved in politics. Most of all, it has a permadeath system, so choices need to be made wisely.

It is that last part that has my attention. The reason I loved Lineage 2, and Shadowbane for that matter, is they both contained fairly open worlds with few restrictions on player interaction. It is up to the players to decide what happens next, and the choices they make can deeply affect others. I find dynamic worlds such as these incredibly entertaining, because each day offers something new.

Thus, I am hooked on Haven & Hearth. The first two days were fairly dull as I gathered resources and worked towards a community village my friends had started. Things are starting to pick up though, as very advanced players with big weapons are starting to investigate our village and visit regularly to check our progress. I have no idea if they want to help us, or if they are waiting for us to establish a settlement and kill us all. That is what keeps it exciting though.

It is a very grind oriented game, but so far I do not mind it. It is fun to see the village coming together with newly built log cabins, boats, and carts. It is also fun to see each person doing their own task, but for the good of the whole group and still working together to survive.

One very interesting aspect of the game that I previously mentioned is it contains a permadeath system. I have long wondered how well this would work in an MMO, because personally I find it a very exciting concept. Permadeath completely changes how players interact with each other and the environment. I have already lost one character to wildlife, and I now find myself fearful of most creatures and keeping my distance. When players arrived bearing swords in our village, the rest of us kept our distance in fear.

That is simply something you do not get in the standard MMO. Instead, it is players acting like complete asses because they can, and there are no consequences or ability to defend oneself outside of an arena. Seriously, where is the fun in that?

The game is still in alpha stage and very rough around the edges, but I feel it has a great deal of potential with further development. I am excited to see where it goes, and I hope to write more about it as I continue to figure things out.