Heaven's Vault

Heaven's Vault is an archaeological science-fiction adventure game released by Inkle for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on April 16, 2019, and for Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2021.

Heaven's Vault
Developer(s)Inkle
Publisher(s)Inkle
Designer(s)Jon Ingold, Joseph Humfrey
Programmer(s)Joseph Humfrey
Artist(s)Laura Dilloway
Writer(s)Jon Ingold
Composer(s)Laurence Chapman
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
ReleasePlayStation 4, Windows
  • WW: April 16, 2019
Nintendo Switch
  • WW: January 28, 2021
Genre(s)Adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

In Heaven's Vault, the player takes the role of an archaeologist called Aliya Elasra who has a robotic companion called Six.[1] The game follows the course of their adventure as they 'sail' between the moons of the Nebula searching for a missing roboticist called Janniqi Renba.[2]

The player has to decipher and learn the hieroglyphic language of the Ancients, a lost civilization.[3] This involves finding and collecting inscriptions from ancient artifacts, sites and ruins and translating and discussing texts with other characters.[4]

The developers say that over a thousand words written in Ancient, the game's fictional language, can be found and say that its pictorial glyphs are inspired by Ancient Egyptian and Chinese writing systems.[5]

The player can choose their own route through the story and around the Nebula as it employs a non-linear approach to narrative storytelling, allowing the player to make choices that impact the plot.[6]

Reception

On its release, Heaven's Vault was met with "generally favourable" reviews from critics for Microsoft Windows, with an aggregate score of 76/100, and "mixed or average reviews" with an aggregate score of 71/100 for PlayStation 4 on Metacritic.[7][8]

Accolades
YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2019 The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards Best Role-Playing Game Nominated [14]
2019 Golden Joystick Awards PC Game of the Year Nominated [15]
2020 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards Best Writing in a Video Game Nominated [16]
New York Game Awards Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game Nominated [17]
NAVGTR Awards Game, Special Class Nominated [18]
MCV/Develop Awards Gameplay Innovation of the Year Nominated [19]
Narrative Innovation of the Year Nominated
Independent Games Festival Awards Excellence in Narrative Won [20]
16th British Academy Games Awards British Game Nominated [21]

References
  1. Hoon Chan, Khee (April 16, 2019). "Heaven's Vault review: an archaeology video game actually about archaeology". Polygon. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  2. Warr, Phillipa (April 16, 2019). "HEAVEN'S VAULT REVIEW". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  3. O'Connor, James (April 16, 2019). "Heaven's Vault Review - Come Sail Away". Gamespot. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  4. Bell, Alice (April 16, 2019). "Wot I Think: Heaven's Vault". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  5. "'80 Days devs Inkle have opened Heaven's Vault' – Rock Paper Shotgun". Rock Paper Shotgun. 6 April 2019.
  6. Donlan, Christian (April 16, 2019). "Heaven's Vault review - a rich web of possibility". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  7. "Heaven's Vault for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  8. "Heaven's Vault for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  9. Donlan, Christian (2019-04-16). "Heaven's Vault review - a rich web of possibility". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  10. Favis, Elise (2019-04-18). "Heaven's Vault Review – Unearthing Ancient Mysteries". Game Informer. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  11. O'Connor, James (2019-04-16). "Heaven's Vault Review - Come Sail Away". GameSpot. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  12. Warr, Philippa (2019-04-16). "Heaven's Vault review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  13. Dingman, Hayden (2019-04-17). "Heaven's Vault review: In search of lost time". PC World. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  14. "2019 Winners". The Independent Game Developers' Association. 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  15. "Golden Joystick Awards 2019". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 2019-09-28. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  16. "Writers' Guild Of Great Britain Awards Shortlist Announced". Broadway World. 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  17. Sheehan, Gavin (2020-01-02). "The New York Game Awards Announces 2020 Nominees". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  18. "2019 Nominees". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  19. Wallace, Chris (2020-02-14). "It's your last chance to vote for the MCV/DEVELOP Awards winners 2020". MCV/Develop. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  20. "A SHORT HIKE WINS THE SEUMAS MCNALLY GRAND PRIZE AT THE 22nd ANNUAL INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL AWARDS". GlobeNewswire. 2020-03-18. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  21. Stuart, Keith (2020-03-03). "Death Stranding and Control dominate Bafta games awards nominations". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
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