Have you ever wished where you could play a farming sim, but as an elf? Or a mermaid? Have you ever thought that watering crops with a can took too much time, and it would be so much easier to send a rain cloud over the whole plot? Then you might want to take a look at Sun Haven, from Pixel Sprout Studios.

Your Magical Adventure Starts With… Lynn?

Sun Haven is a 2D farming sim RPG, replete with fantasy and magic you’d usually find at a DnD table. You can start your game as any of seven different races, each with their own perks to aid in combat or exploration. The customizability of your characters is wild, with a number of tails, wings, and hairstyles unique to your chosen race. It is only referred to a couple of times in game, so it doesn’t affect the RP angle of the game much.

One of those few times, however, is in the introductory section. Oddly, Sun Haven doesn’t start with the player’s perspective, but a romanceable NPC’s. Lynn is a blacksmith moving to Sun Haven to start her apprenticeship. Unfortunately for her, the train is pretty packed, and that’s how she ends up sitting across from you. Your character is moving from the Great City to take over the farm in Sun Haven, and that’s about all you know. In the middle of your conversation, a wave of darkness overtakes the train, and though you make it to town safely, it lingers over the station.

This darkness continues to haunt the northern edge of town throughout your playthrough, followed by whispers of a monster village ruled by demons – Withergate. It will take you time to build up to challenging that particular area, as your journey winds through the ethereal forest lands of Nel’Vari and the underwater depths of Brinestone. And, thankfully, you’re not on any sort of timer. 

A Completely Customizable Experience

Sun Haven starts you out with the regular tools of any farming sim – a set of rusty tools sold by the merchant Anne at a bargain. From there, however, the customizability of the game starts to make its mark, as you get to place your starting house wherever you like on the farmstead you’re given. You can even move it later if you don’t mind losing whatever upgrades you’ve invested into the building in the meantime. Have it by the river, nestled against the cliffs, or even overlooking the ocean.

You also aren’t limited to buying new tool upgrades from the blacksmith. There are a number of crafting tables available to you, from furniture tables to anvils to looms. You can make your own tools and armor right there on your farm, and sell as many of them as you like as well. Every table is able to draw on all chests on the same map, no matter how distant, so if you set up all your cooking tables outside you can box all your eggs and crops on the other side of the farm and cook on the cliffs overlooking the sea. There are a number of different sheds and workshops with different skins, however, so it might be convenient to bundle your crafting in one of those buildings.

 And while we’re talking customizability, there is an options menu in game to toggle certain features. There are seasonal pests that need different scarecrows to fend them off, seasonal bosses to beat that cause problems on the farm, and seasonal hazards to your crops to deal with outside of spring. If you don’t like having to deal with these issues, you can toggle them off to make the game easier, along with other visual effects. 

Two Farms For the Price of One!

Sun Haven has a wide variety of crops for you to raise, as expected of a farming sim. Some of them, however, are only unlockable as part of main questlines. And others are only available in different regions of the world, unless you build the right scarecrows. In addition to your farm in the human town, Sun Haven, you can start farms in Withergate and the elven village Nel’Vari. These farms are unaffected by the seasons, but their soil and weather conditions make them able to grow plants unique to their region. 

Nel’Vari, filled to the brim with mana, can grow fruits out of the elements themselves, or crystalized mana. Some of your plants will also attract curious animals that drop different items for you daily. Acorns bring squirrels, for example, who give you some of their nuts. It’s quite cute and gives a bit of a Disney princess vibe just being able to interact with them. There are also a number of magical animals for your Nal’Vari barn, including baby griffins and phoenixes. Rather than the typical produce, these animals drop crafting supplies and elemental runes.

Withergate’s endless night, on the other hand, is perfect for Halloween themed crops. Kraken kale and sucker pops are just some of the ghoulish and candy-themed items that grow here. The farm itself is much smaller than your other two farms, but your barn is kept on an underground level. Here, you can raise monsters like mimics, werewolves, and dragons. They also give you unusual crafting supplies rather than produce, but it’s definitely easier than having to forage for them.

Who Loses That Many Keys?

Sun Haven also has the expected mines, where you can dig up ores and gems for craft and profit. There is a mine cart for easy travel between the fifty levels, however each level is blocked by a gate. Either you need to search for the rusty key that unlocks the gate for the day, or you need to craft the appropriate key to permanently unlock that level. At every 10th level there is a rewards chest for you, and perhaps a bigger challenge where you need more than a key to get by.

Which reminds me. There are some unique barriers in Sun Haven that go by the name of Snaccoons. These big furry Totoro-like Snorlax-acting fuzzballs like to plop down in inconvenient areas each season and won’t move unless you bring them their favorite snacks. Unlike other seasonal inconveniences, there’s no way to toggle them off, but you do get a cute plush for feeding them.

The Nel’Vari and Withergate mines are somewhat different from Sun Haven’s mine. Each time you visit them there is only one floor, the size of which is determined either by the quality of key or ticket you use to access them. There aren’t really ores in these mines, but other alchemical crafting ingredients and shop currency. 

Experience Pays Off

I should also mention the fishing, as what farming sim is complete without it? As is the pattern you might have noticed, there are fish unique to the different regions as well as each season. Meaning, there’s a wide variety of fish to catch, and a lot of cool and crazy designs. To catch them, all you got to do is either reel them in, or throw a bubble at them.

Sun Haven’s fishing minigame is all about timing, as you’re trying to hit the sweet catch spot. The game also has a leveling system that makes the minigame significantly easier over time. 

Every in-game action grants different kinds of experience that levels different categories. These categories, in turn, have ability trees to invest points in. In mining, you can give yourself the ability to get double ores occasionally, or blast out a forcefield that damages the rocks around you. With farming, you can increase chances for double crops or get a spell that shakes the earth and tills a number of tiles around you. In fishing, you can increase the win-zone of the minigame or get a bubble that automagically catches the fish as it passes over them. Things like that.

You Are What You Eat

Yes, there are a number of spells you can learn as you get into the higher levels. All have uses on the farm and battlefield, as you have to fight through wilderness to reach new regions. This makes managing your health and mana imperative to your progression.

Unlike other games, your health and mana aren’t tied to your levels. Instead, they’re tied to your diet. There are more than a hundred different recipes, and each meal or raw ingredient can replenish your health or mana. Many even increase your base stats, including your magic attack, physical attack, and defense scores. There’s a limit, however, as each meal delivers diminishing returns. This encourages you to seek variety in your cooking, seeking out new ways of combining ingredients.

Cook and eat well, and your character becomes an overpowered munchkin the likes a light novel would be proud of. By the end of the main questline, you’re fighting dragons and eldritch abominations like a true hero. 

Beautiful and Diverse

Sun Haven is a beautifully made pixel world. You can really tell that each element has been made with real love and care. Each region has their own cohesive theme that Pixel Sprout Studios has breathed so much life into. Over time it’s all too easy to get sucked into the world. I particularly love how Halloweeny Withergate is, while still keeping a believable downtown city vibe. 

There’s a ton of DLC for Sun Haven, but it’s all purely aesthetic. If you love a particular romanceable NPC, or want a certain design aesthetic for your farm, Pixel Sprout Studios is sure to have a DLC pack that meets your desires. They seem to thrive on graphic design, and we all get to benefit from that passion.

The music is also a major point of pride for the developer, as it should be. The soundtrack is integrated well into each area of the game, shaping the feel and emotions around different locations or interactions. The bright chimes of Nel’Vari and the jazzy tunes of Withergate all fit together within the overall world without disrupting your concentration, and honestly? I could literally listen to the soundtrack all day.

The tracks that stand out for me have sweeping violins or lilting flutes, but that might just be because I love Jun and Vaan’s tracks. Every romanceable character has their own theme that they gift you at a certain number of hearts. They tell you a lot about where a character comes from and what their real personality is like. It’s definitely worth investing in a few record players for your farm, and just another layer of creativity that makes Sun Haven a standout game for me. 

Overall

I genuinely love this game. Sun Haven has even eked out Stardew Valley as my go-to farm sim. The only thing that keeps me from giving it a full 5/5 stars are a few graphical glitches that occasionally pop up on the weeds or the NPC art, but there’s nothing that makes it a worse experience.

There’s no true end to Sun Haven, as you can play as many years as you like. However, your story brings together corners of the world that had been separated for centuries, ushering in a bright new dawn. Plus, there’s always room for more adventure as Pixel Sprout Studios continues to add content with no added price point. If you enjoy an in-depth fantasy or farming experience I would definitely recommend giving Sun Haven a go!

Sun Haven is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. It’s on sale on Steam for $14.99 at the time of publication, and retails for $29.99 on Switch.