Grey Haven

About

Grey Haven is a single player role playing game. It was developed by NINEHECTARE and was released on May 18, 2023. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Grey Haven is a game where you explore Nightmare and build a village with the girls you saved. Explore the Nightmare with the help of the witch, help the girls and gather resources to build your haven.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

78%

Audience ScoreBased on 78 reviews

story4 positive mentions

grinding8 negative mentions

Engaging and solid combat mechanics that satisfy the action RPG and roguelite fans, with a variety of weapons and playstyles to try out.
Charming and well-designed characters with distinct personalities, and appealing, high-quality 2D artwork combined with cute 3D models.
The game uniquely combines dungeon crawling with farming, building, crafting, and life-sim elements, offering a calm and immersive gameplay experience with yuri romance elements.

Numerous bugs, crashes, and game-breaking technical issues including save corruption and controller/input problems severely impact playability and user experience.
Poor optimization causing performance drops especially on Steam Deck and limited graphics options; controls can feel clunky and unintuitive with awkward camera angles and no customization.
Weak and underdeveloped storytelling and dialogue plagued by bad machine translations and lack of polish; the yuri romance content is sparse, brief, and sometimes disappointing.

story
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
76%
10%
The story offers a mix of emotional depth, with a young girl confronting her fears and discovering her past, featuring well-developed side characters and a smooth, engaging pace. However, it suffers from clunky, possibly machine-translated dialogue and a lack of significant overarching plot, with some players finding it simplistic or reminiscent of fanfiction. Overall, it is perceived as short, casual, and story-driven but may lack lasting incentive beyond the main narrative.
- “Story is where this game surprised me the most.”
- “The journey of a girl with no memories diving into nightmares to reclaim them hits surprisingly hard and gives the story a strong emotional core.”
- “Story wise, it has really nice story and plot, every side character has its own backstory which is a really good concept as a bonding event.”
- “As for the story, it is the usual nonsense that fails to capture my interest.”
- “After that it's all bad fanfic level personal stories about the characters focusing purely on their backstory without an overarching storyline or personal investment.”
- “10+ hours in and still only 35% of the story.”
gameplay
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
53%
11%
The gameplay offers a mix of combat and building mechanics typical of action RPGs, featuring smooth, addictive combat with some strategic elements like weapon variety and trap use. While many find the gameplay fun and engaging, others criticize clunky controls, bugs, lack of polish in animations and sound, and limited depth in certain systems. Overall, it delivers a solid but sometimes flawed experience that appeals to fans of the genre despite some technical issues.
- “The core gameplay loop is fun and addictive; it vaguely reminds me of what I remember of playing Diablo III, minus the randomized gear and b.f.”
- “Basic gameplay: the gameplay of this game is divided into two parts: combat and building. Combat involves following the storyline and exploring different nightmare dungeons, using various weapons to defeat demons and rescue your amnesiac friend. In combat, similar to most ARPGs, you control your character to move around, seize opportunities to deal damage and stagger enemies, and use appropriate weapons against different foes.”
- “I played Grey Haven without expecting much from it, but it turned out to be a surprisingly fun hack-and-slash game with solid game mechanics, an entertaining plot, and a mix of cutesy 3D graphics with gorgeous 2D character portraits and fanservicey CGs.”
- “It serves no real purpose beyond giving some stat bonuses and it can be actually detrimental to gameplay.”
- “But gameplay during dungeon, I don't know why couldn't change weapons or use any items at all or items missing.”
- “There are so many bugs, glitches, sentences that don't really connect to one another, controls that are stiff as hell despite the game recommending that you use a controller, and just super boring gameplay.”
graphics
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The graphics feature charming, high-quality Japanese-style character illustrations paired with cute, dark monster designs, creating a distinct and appealing aesthetic reminiscent of Vita or Wii U era visuals. While animations are generally smooth with minor hiccups, some special attack visuals feel brief and underwhelming. Overall, the art style, including both 3D graphics and 2D portraits, is a standout aspect, balancing cutesy elements with mature fanservice.
- “The artwork, while often a bit stock in style, is nice to look at, and the character designs are superb.”
- “The art style is fantastic, the illustrations are charming, and I didn’t run into any bugs throughout my playthrough.”
- “I played Grey Haven without expecting much from it, but it turned out to be a surprisingly fun hack-and-slash game with solid game mechanics, an entertaining plot, and a mix of cutesy 3D graphics with gorgeous 2D character portraits and fanservicey CGs.”
- “At the end of the day, the graphics are something you would see on a Vita or a Wii U back in the day.”
- “Special attacks and abilities feel underwhelming in visuals, lasting only a split second.”
- “The artwork, while often a bit stock in style, is nice to look at, but lacks originality.”
grinding
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
89%
The grinding aspect, particularly farming and house-building, is seen as clunky and slow by some, with unclear feedback on bonuses, making it feel somewhat tacked on. However, others appreciate these elements for adding variety and find the crafting useful and not overly grindy. Overall, while farming and building provide a distinct facet, there is a desire for more engaging endgame content beyond these mechanics.
- “The farming and furniture system seems tacked on with how clunky it is; the former feels too slow, and the latter apparently offers bonuses yet does not provide good feedback to the player on how exactly.”
- “I don't see much of an incentive to play after the story, so hopefully in the future they'll add more endgame content beyond grinding for a nice house and side quests.”
- “The farming activity is similarly bad.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
Character development is highlighted by superb and distinctly Japanese-inspired character designs that are visually appealing and diverse. While the artwork is praised, some users feel that writing and plot decisions, including endings, detract from overall character engagement. Despite these issues, the charming character illustrations and inclusion of varied relationship elements add depth and appeal.
- “The character designs are superb and visually striking.”
- “The character designs are distinctly Japanese, resulting in charming and full illustrations.”
- “The game features beautifully detailed character designs that enhance the overall experience.”
- “Eleven hours wasted on mediocre combat, poorly-translated writing, and a boring gameplay loop, all of which I was willing to put up with on account of the character designs being so good, but this stupid decision with the endings has ruined my goodwill towards this game.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
60%
The music in the game is generally described as generic and background-like, often lacking impact during gameplay, particularly in action sequences. However, some players appreciate its calming and pleasant nature, finding it fitting to the environment and story. Overall, while the soundtrack is competent, it could benefit from being more dynamic and memorable.
- “Story makes sense as far as video games go and the music is wonderful.”
- “The music and environment were calming to listen to and look at, and the character models were simply adorable.”
- “Music and sound design is neither good nor bad, but both often feel like they disappear into the background, and I feel both could stand to be a bit more bombastic and in your face.”
- “Gameplay is kinda okay, but there is a lack of music and sound effects during fights, and some animations feel clunky. I hope they improve it.”
- “Music feels generic; I only noticed one proper action-themed track, which was as forgettable as the rest of the score.”
- “The music and environment were calming to listen to and look at.”
optimization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, resulting in inconsistent and often low frame rates, particularly in later areas. While it runs smoothly in early sections, performance drops sharply, making the experience unplayable for some users.
- “Grey Haven ran at a smooth 60 FPS on the Steam Deck in the tutorial, but the performance dropped drastically upon reaching the Grey Garden, hitting as low as 15-20 FPS.”
- “Some optimizations would be nice too.”
- “It's so horribly optimized to the point where it's unplayable at a consistent frame rate.”
- “Grey Haven ran at a smooth 60 fps on the Steam Deck in the tutorial, but the performance dropped drastically upon reaching the Grey Garden, hitting as low as 15-20 fps.”
- “Jokes aside, there are significant optimization issues to be addressed.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game currently suffers from numerous bugs, glitches, and stiff controls, leading to a generally unstable and frustrating experience. However, as it is still in early access, some issues may be addressed, and the customer service is responsive, albeit with a language barrier.
- “There are so many bugs, glitches, sentences that don't really connect to one another, controls that are stiff as hell despite the game recommending that you use a controller, and just super boring gameplay.”
- “It's a buggy mess.”
- “This game is buggy currently in early access, but the customer service is good (it's kinda Korean though).”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's story, centered on a girl with no memories confronting nightmares, delivers a powerful emotional impact that resonates deeply and lingers long after gameplay ends.
- “The journey of a girl with no memories diving into nightmares to reclaim them hits surprisingly hard and gives the story a strong emotional core.”
- “The emotional touches stick with you even after you’re done playing.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is primarily goofy and lighthearted, with funny dialogue that adds to its charm. However, some scandalous imagery may limit its broader appeal for certain audiences.
- “It is more goofy than titillating, almost making this game the perfect title for a funny YouTube channel to make a video on, if they can figure out how to get around the more scandalous images.”
- “The dialogue is pretty funny.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Replayability is negatively impacted due to issues with corrupted save files, making it difficult or impossible for some players to continue or restart the game.
- “Only had a short run as I had two corrupted save files, which made this build unreplayable.”