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In Safe Haven, you awake to find yourself in a completely unfamiliar world, surrounded by unfamiliar people who insist they know everything about you. You’ve been ripped from your life on Earth to face a new life as Aer, the spiritually chosen ascendant to the throne of a bewildering empire on a distant planet.

In this narrative adventure game, you will discover the intertwined secrets of the people of Lumiir as they grapple with struggles for power and political control. Unravel their unethical history of experimentation on spirits, body snatching, and universal teleportation. Make choices to align with or against the various factions seeking control and choose the role you’ll play in your reality.

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On a speedrun?

Click this link for a condensed, 10-minute version of the wiki.

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Safe Haven prioritizes strong storytelling over complicated mechanics. It uses philosophical and psychological dilemmas to drive action while incorporating useful collectibles, lore, faction alliances, and intel to reward and motivate the player as they progress.

Estimated play time: 5**-**10 hours of core gameplay (with additional lore and exploration to reward us completionist folk)
- Satisfying to replay with multiple endings and faction alignments
Audience: Teens and adults (due to dark themes, political struggles, ethical dilemmas, occasional violence, and horror)
Platform: Fit for multiple platforms, including Steam and PlayStation
Play style: Single player in first-person perspective, open areas
Genre: Narrative adventure with light RPG and stealth elements

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Influences on Narrative and Design

I’ve always loved games that present meaningful and realistic choices, allowing players to follow a narrative path that feels both intentional and personal. Oxenfree (2016) and What Remains of Edith Finch (2017) both served as inspiration for this narrative approach.

The empire of Lumiir, with its otherworldly technology, has only recently recovered from a destructive event known as the Atrocity. While most of the damaged structures have been repaired, the environment shows elements of dystopian regrowth. Propaganda and graffiti litter the empire, reflecting the ongoing political and societal turmoil. Design inspirations for this environment come from meaning-laden worlds in games like Bioshock (2007) and Stray (2022).

Follow this link to see examples:

Visual Design Mood Board

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Game Pillars

Power of Knowledge: You must master the web of truths to know your destiny

Chaotic Universe: You are faced with the chaotic and uncontrollable nature of reality

Personal Agency: The only meaningful choices you can make are those you make for yourself

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Core Game Loop

Enter the primary quest area
Freely explore the area (unless in battle or stealth)
1. Uncover lore, items, disguise upgrades, and optional extras
2. As desired, visit a mirror to upgrade or change your disguise, or visit a shop to gain items based on experience/alliance progress
3. Find more side quest hooks and complete side quests as desired
Complete primary quest in the area, gaining reward(s) and a new primary quest
Exit the area to head toward the new quest (or return to a previously visited area to explore more)

Quests and side quests may involve:

Use of collected/earned items
Light battle (such as shooting arrows to defeat Soundless)
Stealth and use of collected disguises

Players’ alliance scores are adjusted at each narrative trigger, causing NPCs to react accordingly. Players won’t feel “punished” for any alliance score until far into the game. They will see the results of their choices but still have multiple options available. The game saves their choices by level so they can always restart from an earlier save.