Heaven's Vault (2019)

 
Heaven's Vault (2019), developed and published by Inkle Ltd. 

The empire has perished a long time ago. All that remains is a group of little moons, connected by rivers running through the Nebula, providing water, air and a way of commerce between the worlds. You step into the role of Aliya Elasra, an archaeologist and a hobbyist in a long-dead ancient language spoken in the empire. Her journey begins when she's summoned back to the prestigious university on Iox, located in a wealthy moon, also known as the centre of the many rivers of the Nebula.

Aliya's former teacher and head of the university, Myari, tasks her with translating a snippet of text from an ancient piece of jewellery. This artefact was sent by a roboticist who has gone missing. Myari hopes Aliya will use her ship to track him down, sending along a robot companion, Six. This sets Aliya on a quest into a bizarre world with a rich, forgotten history. Her search deepens unexpectedly, leading her toward a fabled, now-lost place called Heaven's Vault, rumoured to be the domain of a forgotten god.

Heaven's Vault is deeply focused on its narrative, but it's not without its challenges. The primary puzzle revolves around the language of the lost empire, deeply tied to exploration. As Aliya discovers various items and places throughout her journey, she also finds words and sentences, at times written on walls, at times on the things she picks up. Piece by piece, she gradually understands more of this lost history. Initially, she can translate simple words and phrases, but her vocabulary expands significantly as she uncovers more artefacts and locations.

 

While some words are translated automatically, the real brain-teaser comes with longer sentences. Here, you'll need to break down long strings of alien text into individual words by strategically moving words into their correct positions to decipher the full meaning. This challenging linguistic puzzle is central to the game's identity; this is a story about history after all. It might not appeal to everyone, but if you get a kick out of trying to break an alien language, it's incredibly rewarding.

That said, it's not necessary to translate all you find successfully. But the more you do, the more you understand the world around you. And, when you've finally finished the game, you can always begin a new game plus, in which you have an even larger vocabulary to use. 

Heaven's Vault isn't as linear a game as you'd expect. In fact, what you manage to find and translate can alter the journey you experience. You might encounter different people, see different places, and even skip some locations altogether. This again adds to the replay value. 

 

While the narrative and main linguistic puzzles are enjoyable, Heaven's Vault does have some design choices that leave room for improvement. One such area is the character movement. The game world is presented in 3D, but the characters themselves are 2D cutouts. While this stylistic choice is acceptable, the way Aliya and other characters move can be somewhat jarring. At times, they leave behind "trailing ghosts," visual markers indicating where they were when they performed an action or spoke. This was somewhat annoying at times.

Furthermore, the discussion system could be refined. As Aliya explores, she can prompt comments or questions, either to herself or to Six. This concept is sound, but the speech lines tend to jump to different places on the screen, making it a constant effort to track them. Following these conversations can become a chore, particularly since the game isn't fully voiced. I often found it easier to simply ignore much of the dialogue while navigating the game world.

Beyond the on-foot exploration, Aliya's journey involves travelling between the various moons of the Nebula. These celestial bodies are connected by winding rivers – pathways of flowing water and oxygen through space. Along these unique routes, Aliya pilots her ship, navigating toward her target locations. Sometimes these "roads" are straightforward, while at other times, they transform into complex mazes, dotted with wrecks and ruins waiting to be explored for additional fragments of information and history.

 

While this navigation system is conceptually interesting, it does suffer from becoming a tad tedious and lacking in actual challenge. There's no real way to fail in sailing, meaning there's no inherent danger or consequence. The primary challenge becomes the repetitive act of circling around during the hunt for lost sites. What's initially a fun idea quickly wears thin. Thankfully, a small blessing comes in the form of Six's ability to automatically sail to already known locations, saving players from some of the monotony.

Despite its design quirks, there's a lot to enjoy in Heaven's Vault. Personally, the language puzzles were perfectly aligned with my tastes. The narrative is compelling, and the setting as a whole is intriguing, drawing you deeper into its rich, forgotten history. Ultimately, whether the game clicks with you or not largely depends on your tolerance for its less-than-stellar design elements.

If you're willing to overlook some clunky movement and a somewhat cumbersome discussion system, Heaven's Vault offers a unique and satisfying experience. Especially for those who appreciate the idea of language as a puzzle and a story that is both deep and leaves room for some mysteries to be left unsolved. It's not necessarily a game I'd recommend at full price, but with a solid discount, it's not a bad choice. 

Heaven's Vault is available on consoles and for PC's from GOG and  Steam.