Heaven's Vault

Heaven's Vault is an open-world adventure game for AND, PS4, etc., resembling a graphic novel. The British independent inkle Ltd studio, responsible for the game, has worked on 80 Days, a steampunk text adventure, and the Sorcery! series. Their next work takes us to the original world of science fiction, strongly inspired by the culture and art of the Islamic world. The universe offers a similar mix of advanced technology and Middle Eastern culture, just like the cult Homeworld and Dune series.

The game itself draws inspiration from various literary works, film productions and historical sources. According to the authors' declarations, the greatest inspirations were the works of writers Raymond Chandler and Gene Wolfe, graphic novels by Möebius and Hergé, as well as the adventures of the protagonists of the Stargate series and Indiana Jones.

Plot

The action Heaven's Vault takes place in the Nebula - a mysterious corner of space, where a series of moons are connected by a network of bizarre rivers. Streams of water and air connect distant worlds, where small population groups lead their lives. Despite having access to advanced technology such as intelligent robots and holographic displays, the inhabitants of the Nebula know surprisingly little about their peculiar home. The circumstances of the creation of an interstellar structure are also a mystery.

The truth about the origins of the Nebula can be hidden in the ancient ruins scattered here and there, researched by the main character of the game - Aliya "El" Elasra. A fearless archaeologist, together with her worker's assistant named Six, searches the remains of ancient civilizations in the hope of finding the truth about the past. The news carries that somewhere among the oldest worlds of the Nebula there is an answer to all questions - finding this answer becomes the goal of the duo.

Mechanics

From a gameplay point of view, Heaven's Vault doesn't deviate too much from the standards of other adventure games, at the same time enriching it with its own ideas and solutions. The essence of the game is the exploration of further worlds of the Nebula as well as their ruins and other remains. The key mechanic for discovering ancient secrets is the decryption of texts written in long-forgotten languages. Knowledge of ancient words and expressions enables us to understand useful tips and gain valuable information.

Although the heroine's specialty is the analysis of ancient artifacts, it would be a mistake to say that the time spent with Heaven's Vault consists only of traversing deserted, dusty chambers. In addition to exploration, the second important element of the game is interacting with numerous NPCs that we have the opportunity to meet during the journey. It is worth noting that both conversations and decisions have a clear impact on the game world - the inhabitants of the Nebula remember our words and deeds, and even base their attitude towards us on them.

Technical aspects

Heaven's Vault's unique visual setting is one of the most important elements of this production. The idea was to create a graphic style, which makes the game look as similar as possible to the illustrations found on the graphic novel cards. The developers achieved this goal by placing hand-drawn 2D characters in 3D styled environments. The game runs on the popular Unity engine. Just like in 80 Days and Sorcery! series, inkle Ltd decided to use their markup language called ink.

Last updated on 18 December 2020