Heaven's Vault Reviews
The tinny whisperings of a song leaking from headphones. Faces inching towards the window; those around me noticing structures that tour books have detailed and now seen for the first time. The silent transfer from ship to tarmac. All this and the world at my fingerprints. I’m describing the coach trip taken from England to Paris in late 2019; how one game made this multi-hour coach trip with all of its stops and traffic that more bearable. This game was 80 Days, a mobile text-based role player where you take on the role of Passepartout; managing resources, helping your master and navigating the world.
Heaven’s Vault is one of a kind. It’s one of the most intriguing and captivating narrative-driven video games that I’ve ever had the chance to play. The beauty of Heaven’s Vault is the fact that there isn’t a right or wrong way to play it. Most often than not, you can reach the same place through different means and by interacting with people in distinct ways. The fact that the narrative adapts seamlessly to your choices makes the whole experience feel so much more dynamic. Despite its shortcomings, I’m pretty sure that Heaven’s Vault will be one of those games which I’ll forever remember. It isn’t perfect, but it sure as hell is one of the best gaming experiences that I’ve ever had. If you don’t mind reading, I wholeheartedly recommend to any fans of narrative-driven adventure games.
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.
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.
Heaven’s Vault is one of those extraordinary adventure games that will likely become more legendary in time. Much like the ancient Empire that players must uncover in the game, Heaven’s Vault is rife with intricate details where players are likely to notice something new each time they revisit the immense nebula. While not all of its gameplay ideas are effective, and Aliya as a protagonist can take a while to become likable, the adventure as a whole is staggeringly epic, one that makes you feel like a providential participant in a dynamically evolving narrative.
Regardless of how I feel about the game's overall funky mechanics and technical quirks at times, Heaven's Vault deserves credit for putting effort into building a bit of a different world that you'll need to endeavor to explore and understand...
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.
While issues with the dialogue and a less than stellar space flight mechanic hold the game back from being truly great, there is enough good here to make it well worth your time. The relationship between Aliyah and Six is realistic and fun to see where it goes, and the environments and world building featured are top notch. If any of this caught your attention that may be a sign that you should be heading out to do some archaeology amongst the stardust.
Heaven’s Vault is an engaging journey in many ways. It is not just the exploration of a galaxy, but also the stories of people and Aliya herself. The performance on the Switch makes the version not the most suitable, but even so, it is an indispensable title for anyone interested in games with a strong narrative load.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
It’s a completely unique kind of game, mixing deep character development, intergalactic sailing (literally), mystery solving, and even ancient civilization linguistics. To top it off, it looks gorgeous, sounds decent enough, and runs surprisingly well on the Switch.
Quibbles aside, I did greatly enjoy Heaven’s Vault. All of its major design choices are artistically brilliant without sacrificing the more visceral thrills of its gameplay, something which many other “games as art” titles have an unfortunate tendency to do. It’s a bit on the longer side – especially if you play through it twice, which is encouraged by the developers – but it’s well worth it, especially if you play it cuddled up on the couch during what remains of winter.
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
Exploring the lost ruins of ancient civiliyation is not as much fun as it should be.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Heaven’s Vault is a flawed experience, with the flaws jumping out early and persisting until the end of the story. But there’s way too many other things bundled into this package to simply ignore them on that premise alone. I wasn’t expecting to like Heaven’s Vault as much as I did, but it’s honestly one of the more enjoyable games I’ve had the pleasure of going through so far this year.
A markedly different approach to adventure gaming; while it won't be for everyone, Heaven's Vault will undoubtedly attract a cult following.
Heaven's Vault is an unusual game about exploring ruins of ancient civilizations and learning their language. It's easily described as an 'archaeologist-linguist simulator', which has interesting plot, many nice dialogs and tons of moons to visit. Get ready for great and memorable adventure!
Review in Russian | Read full review
Heaven's Vault is a different game than most, and that alone makes it worth celebrating. It comes with many a wart, and it never really gels together the way a more conventional game would, but I had a great go with this moon-hopping, language-studying archaeology adventure.
However, Heaven's Vault is not about deciphering inscriptions for the sake of it, as with each successful translation you'll be one step closer to discovering a long-forgotten history that's about to repeat itself. Not to mention that you'll meet a myriad of characters that will change their attitude depending on how you interact with them.
My final score for Heaven's Vault is a 9 out of 10, and I'm only taking off the point for some small issues like the slow movement and the minor issue I have with map navigation. Other than that, I adore this game. Inkle studios has really impressed me with this release and I look forward to exploring more of their games in the future.
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.