Invoke Elemental Spirits In Haven

November 6, 2018 by cassn

The mystical forest has been home and haven to beasts, spirits, and forgotten gods for thousands of years. While the Haven Guardian slumbers, a nearby human village has grown into a city, hungry to control the powers of the forest. Can the forest creatures discover enough potent lore to defend their ancient home from the oppressive city? Or will the city use this lore to power their machines and turn the forest against itself? The battle for Haven begins!

Haven is a two-player game in which opposing players battle for control of the forest as either the city, utilizing 'stone lore' and using machines to rule the forest, or the forest utilizing 'leaf lore' and forest spirits to protect itself from attack.

Players send seekers to search for lore, which is controlled by ancient spirits called elementals. This lore can then be used to battle for dominance of shrines. These shrines exist in havens around the forest, and a player who controls a majority of shines in one area can claim that location as their haven.

Once a lore becomes depleted, or an elemental leaves the forest, the Haven Guardian awakens from slumber and declares the player with the most points to be the winner!

On their turn, a player goes through five phases: perform two actions (add a seeker, remove a seeker, or play a Lore Power), draw two cards, resolve lore tokes, make an offering and end turn. There are also a number of advanced variants within the rulebook, so the game has good replayability.

Haven is a really interesting two-player game with some stunningly gorgeous artwork by Ryan Laukat (The Ancient World). Originally, the game had been discussed as a Kickstarter release, however, it's currently popping up in local game stores in the US. Let's hope it appears in the European market soon, as this is a game I would love to add to my collection.

What is your favourite two-player game? Tell us in the comments!