Snowball!
Snowball!
Game
Game2025
Havendock
Developer YYZ Studio
Breathe easy and thrive in this cozy colony sim. Build a haven for castaways, manage resources, live your best life on the ocean. Lead your humble settlement into a high-tech society. From the Steam store page
219 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 24, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
73
Fresh
128 positive · 47 negative
95% range 66–79%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 128 | 47 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 5 | 1 | 21 |
| Lemmy * | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 4 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
744 of 919 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
73% recommend · 127 yes, 47 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 174 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (1,559 of 1,968 positive).
Players find the early game engaging but the late game becomes tedious and grindy. [1][2][3] Many reviewers note the game feels unfinished, with missing content and rough edges. [4][5][6] Some players enjoy the relaxing and addictive gameplay loop despite its flaws. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
The game simply doesn't seem finished. Starts strong, early game has a really smooth gameplay loop that's very satisfying, but the further along you go the messier things get. By the time you're halfway through the game things start feeling less like rough edges and more like unfinished placeholders. For example, at one point you unlock a cave where you fight slimes for a very specific resource. This is the only …
- [1]
Fun game yes, worth close to a days worth of play, but quickly spirals into insanity and grueling grind by late game. Yes, of course I need to farm coffee to fund expeditions to cotton island to get cotton to make paper to create lanterns to prove my allegiance to the moon bunny people to unlock the magic earings to gain access to the equipment forge. It all makes sense! Its just bottleneck after bottleneck of …
- [7]
Got this game from a bundle, and wow what a gem! This thing, however buggy and unfinished in a lot of ways, is already the best game I've played in a long, long time. Took me a couple days of casual grinding to "beat it" but not quite 100%, and looking forward to the promised "New Game+" that isn't in yet. The thing about this game is it scratches a particular itch I find nearly ever game in this genre just fails to …
- [2]
Building a cozy little ocean settlement out of floating scraps and wrangling castaway NPCs is very relaxing during the early hours. Automating your production lines and expanding your platform feels rewarding until the late-game progression hits some deeply tedious and confusing bottlenecks. It has a lot of charming ideas for a base builder, but it definitely suffers from rough edges and lack of polish in its …
- [4]
As others have stated the game feels unfinished at the moment. Some Islands that are there and seemingly made are just empty. By that I mean that there is a big house with an inside all mapped out, but there is nothing there. I'm 18 hours in (re-started, so 2 attempts) and I have practically finished the game and all the achievements. I just have the final thing to build now. It's one of those games I wish there was …
Summarised from 34 of the 219 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Havendock sits at 73% positive across 175 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 219 · most liked firstThe game simply doesn't seem finished. Starts strong, early game has a really smooth gameplay loop that's very satisfying, but the further along you go the messier things get. By the time you're halfway through the game things start feeling less like rough edges and more like unfinished placeholders. For example, at one point you unlock a cave where you fight slimes for a very specific resource. This is the only instance of combat in the entire game, and the 'dungeon' consists of a single…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's not finished. It'd be one thing if it were still marked "early access," but it's not, and you can't actually complete the game right now because key elements are still unimplemented. The end game is launching a rocket, and one of the parts you need is marked "not in the game yet." Beyond not being able to finish the game, there are a number of things that are very visibly not done, like a couple of islands where you can't do anything at all, or items you can make that don't do anything.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game yes, worth close to a days worth of play, but quickly spirals into insanity and grueling grind by late game. Yes, of course I need to farm coffee to fund expeditions to cotton island to get cotton to make paper to create lanterns to prove my allegiance to the moon bunny people to unlock the magic earings to gain access to the equipment forge. It all makes sense! Its just bottleneck after bottleneck of obtuse requirments for the weirdest advancements. Early game logic and grind, super…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game because of multiplayer feature. My friends and I got it and played for a bit - it was actually fun. Back then, we noticed there were quite a few bugs, so we decided to wait until the game became more stable and promised to come back and play together.... BUT NOW!! to our surprise! it’s turned into a single-player game?? Why?? Really???
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just kinda very hard and grindy without much payoff, I never really felt I achieved something (I had early excitement and then some excitement about under the water but it wore off quick)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unfortunately, Havendock didn't grow out of its Early Access roots and, in the end, feels like a strange mix of an incremental game and some sort of Forager. There's a lot of clunky aspects and issues that were there from the beginning, such as poor triggers and repeats for music, poorly laid out maps, and literally an island that "doesn't work" and has a "Experimental" sign written on it. Different things in the game have "Experimental" or "4th-wall-breaking jokes" written on it that just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I received this game through the Humble Monthly Choice. Having played it to the end, I would mainly recommend playing it if someone is interested in game design/development. There are many systems that work well, and good interplay between most of the systems. However, the overall scope of the game feels aimless. More specifically, it feels like prototypes of ideas layered on top of other prototypes of ideas. Barriers between zones mostly appear arbitrary in a way that would be off-putting…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I actually played ~5 more hours than listed here on Epic Games, so I got a really good sense of the game. This game could be awesome if it wasn't for how awful the UI is and how generally unintuitive the gameplay is. It could be this great cozy experience of gathering, building, and crafting. Instead, the experience is clunky and frustrating. Oh, you have castaways that can join your crew and do tasks? Great! Except that you can't assign them to the most basic tasks like farming or making coal…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Havendock is a standard city builder that is functional and generally fun for the kind of game it is but it has so many splinters that I can't really give it a thumbs up. The most interesting part of the game for me was just figuring out how things worked but being that the rest of the game didn’t have much going for it, I found myself playing long past the point of actually having fun. Most of the sound design isn’t great, turned off music and the awkward voice acting quite early. Performance…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Prime] *Havendock*, gentle town-building indie. > Havendock is a relaxing colony simulation and resource management game where you build a thriving settlement in the middle of the ocean. Starting from a small wooden platform, you’ll gather resources, expand your base, and attract new settlers to join you. Manage their needs, craft new technologies, and transform your floating raft into a bustling ocean town. > > Designed as a single-player experience, Havendock focuses on creativity,…
neutral · AI labelView post →As others have stated the game feels unfinished at the moment. Some Islands that are there and seemingly made are just empty. By that I mean that there is a big house with an inside all mapped out, but there is nothing there. I'm 18 hours in (re-started, so 2 attempts) and I have practically finished the game and all the achievements. I just have the final thing to build now. It's one of those games I wish there was a "Don't know" option for rating. I can't say that it really grabbed me as a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game to play online with my girlfriend when it first came out, and I waited a long time for it to develop, but now it seems I'm going to be disappointed. :(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game Review: Havendock ⭐ 7/10 Havendock is one of those games that stresses you out… but like, in a weirdly delightful way. The kind where you’re panicking, juggling ten things at once, and still saying, “Okay but wait, one more task— I’m having fun.” It’s addictive, no doubt about it. The only real struggle? I played it once a week on stream, and let me tell you… trying to remember what in the world I was doing after a whole week away felt like showing up to work with total amnesia. But when…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If Steam had a 'meh' rating, this game would get it. Pretty engaging gameplay loop despite being a little rough around the edges. Early game got me with the whole "just one more task!" thing, but I got bored pretty fast around mid game. Game is worth buying on a steep discount, otherwise I would skip it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Havendock, an island colony sim with complex production chains, citizen management and exploration, released on Steam..
neutral · AI labelView post →I played this game to 100% completion, and I can say with certainty that this is an entertaining but profoundly incomplete game. The game loop is addicting, going from scant resource gathering, to humble farming and growth, ending in running a society that runs on caffeine and bird poop. The criticism I levy against this game is due to the fact that I enjoyed it so exhaustively. The bottom line: Havendock is a junk-food burger. My main complaints about this game have to do with cohesion,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When I played the demo I thought "wow, the art and UI looks super unfinished, it's problaby a placeholder for when the game is fully released" Now the game is fully released and the character models and UI are still a pain to look at
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A interesting base builder with like 3 other games bolted to the side. This game feels like it was Kickstarted, and every time they reached a funding goal they added a new feature but didn't actually spend the time to integrate it into the game. So its become this jumble of good ideas that don't really interact or mesh with each other at all. On top of that as you get closer to the end of the game the performance just tanks making the game almost unplayable due to frame rate drop. Honestly…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly there are the bones of a good game here. I would liken this game to Raft if your raft were stationary (and no annoying shark). In fact, I think I enjoy this game more than Raft. That said, it's still a thumbs down. Something like 80% of the design choices are good, but then the Scuba Shack just randomly can injure your survivors even though no other "farm" type building has that problem. Early on I upgraded a building and the next level needed Rope. A pretty simple and necessary…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I keep finding game breaking bugs. like whole sections of the game is not playable. the only way to fix this is to delete your save and try again. Ill try playing this game again in a year from now. if you do not have the same bugs, you might enjoy this game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this for the soon™ multiplayer update, played it solo and yeah - it is a game. $5 or less
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Havendock, an island colony sim with complex production chains, citizen management and exploration, released on Steam..
neutral · AI labelView post →Building a cozy little ocean settlement out of floating scraps and wrangling castaway NPCs is very relaxing during the early hours. Automating your production lines and expanding your platform feels rewarding until the late-game progression hits some deeply tedious and confusing bottlenecks. It has a lot of charming ideas for a base builder, but it definitely suffers from rough edges and lack of polish in its mechanics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got this game from a bundle, and wow what a gem! This thing, however buggy and unfinished in a lot of ways, is already the best game I've played in a long, long time. Took me a couple days of casual grinding to "beat it" but not quite 100%, and looking forward to the promised "New Game+" that isn't in yet. The thing about this game is it scratches a particular itch I find nearly ever game in this genre just fails to do: this game gives me a reasonably tangible objective, does NOT require…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel like there's a lot of potential here, and maybe the game really does get amazing later on, but I cannot get past the god awful UI. It looks like it was designed by an uninspired teenager for a compsci class last minute. Awful font, difficult to navigate and displeasing to the eyes. I wish I could get past it to enjoy the management mechanics
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Havendock is a sideways thumb kind of game. It does the colony sim thing decently well but doesn't really excel at anything and has a fair bit of jank. I'm leaning towards not recommend for a couple reasons. * The layout of where you can place docks is extremely arbitrary. I'm not sure if it's fixed or randomly generated, but there were several spots in my settlement where I could cut down on travel times substantially if I was just allowed to place a bridge somewhere other than where the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is fun for a bit but gets boring quick. There really isn't that much to do and it seems unfinished. The areas the dev selected to give you the ability to place down docks seems weird and random. I want the game to be more than it is, cause it's not really fun. If you get it on a good discount then I think it's worth a few bucks to play for a while.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →not bad, just rather directionless. I think the systems here are good, but I don't like how oddly restricted you are with building platforms, it's not like a challenge or issue, just the way it establishes you can build them anywhere, but some places are just too... far? I guess? So then you have steel bridges meant to let you build on deeper water, but those are restricted to set tiles. So then the question is what can I do with these spaces? Pretty much everything you need to do. Is there a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a fun 2 full days of play in order to complete and perfect. I agree with some of the other reviews that there are some parts that seem unfinished and it's easy to get lost and have no assistance on how to proceed. Luckily others have posted most of the answers online so I was able to finish the game. I still enjoyed the game and was never fully annoyed by anyhting. The grind was just enough to still be enjoyable. The game also kept my interest till the end and I didn't feel bored…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Note: This game was included in the June 2025 Humble Choice. This game just isn't for me. I think I gave it a fair chance, but in the end I am bouncing off of it for a variety of reasons: - ugly and confusing UI, no clear way to look up recipe items in-game - tedious NPC survivors with zero personality - the seagulls are more helpful! The traits feel meaningless. - boring, vending machine NPC traders - messy and convoluted expansion and tech tree, that ultimately is not even interesting -…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Took me a second to get a system up and running - and yes, maaaaybe I spent to much time doing the same thing over and over, but hey nobody died on my watch! I liked it! I kinda wish I'd known what I was doing at the start. But luckily you can fix building mistakes easy enough. And in case you are as silly and blind as me: Yes, the big thing at the end game, is the END and no, clicking it, will not insta end it, but make you work for it. I didn't dare click it, bc I still had stuff to do...…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solid game, plenty to do, just not fun to do it. Somehow misses something. Feels soulless. It is grindy, usually my kinda jam but this is too slow and everything seems to be designed to sink time. The pacing is way too slow.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ocean building sim Havendock just got a big 1.0 update, adding a new island and more. It's also 25% off on Steam now 📣 Details: www.thecozygamers.com/news/ocean-t... #cozygaming #cozygames #indiegames #indiegamedev
neutral · AI labelView post →It’s interesting and occupies you for a while but it then loses direction/ momentum. Unlocking each stage doesn’t feel progressive. I don’t feel a reason to return to play
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Havendock, an island colony sim with complex production chains, citizen management and exploration, released on Steam..
neutral · AI labelView post →Kiddos have been playing Space Engine on my account, but otherwise this is what I've been playing lately. 
neutral · AI labelView post →A pretty entertaining, but ill-explained game at the moment. It feels an awful like it's still in development. There are quest items that aren't explained that you need for the main quest, but you can kind of assume that they're meant for it. There's entire islands that you can physically reach, but you can't do anything with. One of which you can literally take your boat and sail on the sand, but never interact with the things on the island that you would think would have something interesting…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cute game and I like the mechanic of connecting to islands and pre-builts. Simply put, the game is buggy and some of the mechanics, such as the nets don't work correctly. And. of course, even as buggy as it is, there is a paid DLC out before a bugbash. This tells you the trajectory of the games development. Other thoughts: The tech advancement needs balancing and resource management is really unintuitive. Crafters are overcomplicated, especially when the base really starts to build. There is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is why you need to read at least something about game design before making your own games. This game is a pure kitchen sink, without idea or purpose. Everything at once and nothing in the end. Random assets, random ideas, random icons and all glued on quite a sloppy production. And don't make me start talking about awful item lists. Yes, it is made with love, but this love is blind and sometimes cruel.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Idea is here, gameplay is here but it is way too sloppy/unpolished to a degree that kills the joy element for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8h and the game is almost over. Probably I would need like ~3 more hours to fully finish it, but it would feel more like a grind than doing something more, something new. Upgrading stations = better stats in the "spreadsheet", it's hard to see the effect. In most cases, you need to create another station, as upgrading the existing one won't help much. In the game where space is limited that's not a good thing, at least not for me. Progression is either too fast or there is too little content…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Reminds me of Minecraft meets Raft with their own original content mixed. The options are much like Minecraft mode options before you start game-play like, Peaceful, Standard, and Hard with other more specific options. Game-play is casual you don't feel rushed or bogged down. Menus and controls are pretty easy. There are some options within the menus I have a hard time finding without clicking the notification for it. Such as the details of traits or equipped items for settlers. Or a detailed…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A year after the release and still looks like an unfinished game, but the game is still getting updates often so is possible that one day I'll change this review.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is fun for awhile. A little feel of Raft turned into a kind of settlement builder. Game is fun yes but until I reached underwater part. I was excited when i was tasked to build a submarine! Thought it would be something new to do. But in fact, you just walk underwater like you walk on the surface? Unlimited breathing for everyone? That just doesn't make sense at all. It seems it was just thrown there for whatever reason. I run a smelter underwater. Like yeah right. All the stuff you build…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i LOVE this game. but the only thing I wish is an option when i click on the tools or something to stop rotating and zooming in. It makes me dissy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Horrible on Steam Deck, and is marked as Playable!... Crawling quality at 21 fps. I play action games 90+ fps no sweat. It's the first game of this kind of performance I've installed on Deck.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent game, lots of things to build/craft. Gets a little bit crowded and hard to navigate through all the buildings but good overall
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a chill to play game, nothing too crazy. Yes, it has some jank, yes sometimes it doesn't make a whole lotta' sense. The graphics are fine for what it is, the music is fine, and once you get through enough of it, it's just a relaxed colony sim with a couple levels of play involved--growing and supporting your city, then diving under it, and then exploring the islands around you. I can see how it puts some people off, but there are absolutely worse ways to spend your time than this.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it" - Bruce Lee.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's going to be weird of me to say, but I would have liked the game WAY more without settlers. I hate micro-managing these kind of things.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesn't feel like a finished game, has some potential but I'll check back in a year maybe
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really good Humble Choice this month so not much to give away. Really curious about that Nobody Wants to Die game. Never heard of it till today and seems like a neat first person narrative adventure. Biped and Havendock look cool but not my thing. So they're up for grabs. #Blutoid
neutral · AI labelView post →I was intrigued by the concept, but then I noticed that many of the assets and gameplay mechanics look identical to [Havendock](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2020710/Havendock/), a unique and enjoyable game, but one that has been stuck in EA and hasn't seen updates in a year. Havendock is developed by [YYZ](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=YYZ), while Stormbridge is being developed by [YYZ studio](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=YYZ%20Studio). Seems…
positive · AI labelView post →I cannot recommend this game in good faith. It's not that the game is bad or isn't fun, it is fun. But the performance just drops to powerpoint slide show and it's very inconsistent. I've tried everything I can think of, but the game just runs at single digit frame rates after a while of playing and it leaves it simply unplayable. Clearly others have no problems at all, but I am not one of them, I cannot get this game to run decently even with lowest settings. It tends to start off fine, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A week of tutorial writing I'd been putting off, plus four free games tested on the Deck. Kia ora Everyone! This week disappeared into tutorials. Updating the old ones, writing a couple of new ones, and quietly avoiding the video versions that are meant to go with them. The footage is recorded, I just have to sit down and edit it, and I keep finding other things to do first. Four games tested along the way. [Clash: Artifacts of…
neutral · AI labelView post →wow I reaaaaaally appreciate this game! it's not another building game, its something really different. Oyu cannot just pause, you have to run this dock! There are several things to do, aaaall the time. Its not getting boring, even more complex when played for longer time. I really like the gameplay and the third-party-perspective. Thanks to the developers and looking forward to some good updates! :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is fairly easy to learn if you played other city builders and it's addicting to complete all the researches to unlock new things
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A pretty fun and charming game with a unique style and a good amount of humor. There’s even a whip in the inventory that makes settlers work faster. The game rarely felt too repetitive, and some parts can actually be quite difficult, especially when trying to get certain resources and automate production efficiently. It was interesting discovering new islands. Still not sure if it’s actually possible to reach that huge distant island though. The progression feels steady because new mechanics…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Decent game it just needs polish. It should still be in early access imo buy it when its on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fab game and plays great on steam deck with xbox controller. Can we have more animals in future updates. Loving it. A+
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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