Shattered Haven

I haven't beaten the game, but I've liked what I've played. The core of the game play revolves around puzzle solving maps, achieving certain goals and escaping while avoiding a variety of enemies. But the mechanics in the maps are pretty varied and deeper than I would have expected from the screenshots. There's a fair number of tools to alter the environment, pattern watching, lever pulling and rule bending that gives a bit of a zelda meets deus-ex feel. The retro aesthetic and zombie themes could edge towards cliche for some, but in actual practice, the game seemed to make it feel interesting. Cut scenes were well voice acted, the music is good, and visuals are crisp enough to keep the puzzle elements the focus of the game. I also believe its the developer's first go at a completely DRM free game (without even a license check). Which is great. In all, if you're looking for a puzzle solving game with a wide variety of mechanics, Shattered Haven is definitely worth a look.

I love Shattered Haven. Like other Arcen releases, it may not be for everyone (especially if you can't get past the graphics), but for me its a very satisfying experience to finally get through a level with all bonus objectives complete. The level editor they included is pretty powerful too. If I'm not mistaken, one could basically create an entire new game from it.

arcen is a company that makes unique and mostly underrated games but I'm pretty sure shattered haven is their least known (and appreciated) title, which is sad because it's a really fun game that I'm sure a lot of people own because it's been bundled and sold for real cheap many times. it's a cool spin on the zombie genre (they're called grays here), you control a family of survivors, trying to make your way to, well, a haven, by going through many different areas (forest, swamp, snow, etc.) and completing basically unrelated levels by going through portals, some with more action, some with only puzzles, some mixing both. they're really cool, sometimes easy, sometimes frustrating but also satisfying when you figure them out. the graphics might be a turn-off for some but I like it, except everything's too tiny, the gameplay area doesn't even fill out the screen because there's a huge border around it for some reason. the controls can be tricky sometimes, partly because of the size of everything, but it never got me to rage-quit, which is saying something. the music's really good too. it's not a long game, unless you're going for perfect scores on all the levels (and there are nearly 100 of them), but it's really fun, definitely worth a playthrough (or more if you're into new game+ kinda things).

The game has two major problems: - Zombie theme is overused. It's hard to make anything even remotely original nowadays (They are called Grays but the concept is identical) - The game doesn't know what it wants to be. Puzzle game or survival horror? It tries to be both and it fails to do it properly. E.g. you can get extra points for not using your most powerful weapon. Whoa, am I fighting for my life here or solving an IQ test? It ruins the atmosphere severely. The rest is just average...