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.

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]

More information Publication, Score ...

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	Recommended[9]
Game Informer	8/10[10]
GameSpot	6/10[11]
PC Gamer (US)	88/100[12]
PC World	[13]

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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]

Laurence Chapman composed the soundtrack for the game. Chapman recruited Brookspeare Music for recording the strings. He also added subtle synth pads as a reminder that Heaven's Vault is a science fiction game.^[14] Richard Brooker from Brookspeare Music also mixed the soundtrack.^[15]