Heaven's Vault Reviews

Heaven's Vault is ranked in the 63rd percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
88 / 100
Apr 16, 2019

Heaven's Vault communicates the beauty of assigning meaning to symbols, and thus the people who wrote them.

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Recommended
Apr 16, 2019

Inkle's follow-up to 80 Days is an archaeology adventure like no other.

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Apr 17, 2019

A fascinating, fantastical world let down by plodding pacing.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 18, 2019

Heaven's Vault features great characters, exciting places to discover, and a thrilling mystery to piece together

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6 / 10
Apr 16, 2019

An ambitious narrative adventure that mixes fun lore with fiddly mechanics.

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Unscored
Apr 16, 2019

For a game that revolves around the beauty of languages, it’s a disappointment that Heaven’s Vault can’t find the right words to express itself.

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Apr 16, 2019

Heaven's Vault may have one of the most well-realized video game worlds ever, with your curiosity and personality molding your story through the Nebula. Whether you're fascinated by history or just by a personal sense of duty, there's a lot to love about Heaven's Vault, even if the clunky movement and frustrating sailing sour the overall experience.

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TheSixthAxis
Steve C
Top Critic
8 / 10
Apr 16, 2019

Heaven's Vault is a fantastic narrative experience that offers a genuinely mature and intelligent take on science fiction and the interactions between technology and religion. Superbly realised characters, fascinating architecture, and a wonderfully detailed new language to decipher combine to make this a truly original and rewarding game. It's a shame that the sailing is so repetitive, but Heaven's Vault will reward fans of slower paced and meditative games.

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Unscored
Apr 16, 2019

The thing is, the problems are there. I don’t know if I can recommend this to someone who isn’t a word nerd. But at the same time, what Inkle have achieved in Heaven’s Vault is tremendous. I don’t know what to compare it to, because there isn’t anything.

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9.5 / 10.0
Apr 18, 2019

A totally unique odyssey that immediately envelops the player in a richly detailed universe ripe with intriguing lore and some of the finest storytelling on PS4, Heaven's Vault is an essential odyssey for all to embark upon.

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Wccftech
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Apr 16, 2019

Heaven's Vault is a puzzle game you haven't experienced before. From its engaging story to its engrossing fictional language and puzzles, this is a game that feels rewarding in a way that no other game has done before.

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5 / 10
Apr 16, 2019

Heaven's Vault will satisfy budding archaeologists and linguistic fanatics in fits and starts, but the overall experience that brings those mechanics together leaves a lot to be desired. Alongside technical frustrations and tedious movement between locations, this is hardly a game we can recommend with any sort of confidence.

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7 / 10
Feb 13, 2021

Heaven's Vault is a game deeply concerned with the past, how it affects the present, and whether or not it can predict the future. Its fantastic translation puzzles and intricate story are often overshadowed by its unfortunate need to constantly pause and load, sadly denying it the higher score that it otherwise deserves. Aside from these technological issues, Heaven's Vault is a world that's beautifully realised, with a mystery that you'll be thinking about long after the game is done.

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9 / 10.0
Nov 24, 2019

With Heaven's Vault Inkle offers us another amazingly packaged adventure, able to focus on very few playful elements, decorated with overflowing aesthetic and artistic qualities.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Apr 16, 2019

The core mechanic of decoding a language is fascinating, but it can't overcome all that surrounds it: a slow-paced narrative with dated gameplay.

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Apr 16, 2019

The game is ambitious for its translation mechanics and its big-picture look at the evolution of culture through the ages.

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7 / 10
May 7, 2019

A markedly different approach to adventure gaming; while it won't be for everyone, Heaven's Vault will undoubtedly attract a cult following.

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8 / 10.0
Feb 11, 2021

Heaven's Vault is a relaxing game with an interesting, immersive storyline and a beautiful world to explore. While it lacks some "side activities," it has plenty to offer with its unique puzzle system and tons of replay value.

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8 / 10.0
Jan 28, 2021

Learning lost, forgotten secrets of the past is a timeless and appealing premise that Heaven's Vault has run with to great effect. This is no Tomb Raider - this is a veritable rabbit hole of well-written dialogue and puzzling unlike any other. You might dig it.

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Impulsegamer
Belinda Morris
Top Critic
4 / 5.0
Apr 26, 2019

All in all, this game was quite fun to play and discover the secrets of the ancient language.  I enjoyed the freedom of choice and the flow-on effects of those choices.  This is a game for anyone who is interested in adventure games – it definitely would appeal to a wide-range of players.

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