Dig Deep

Unravelling the past in ace archaeology adventure, HEAVEN’S VAULT.

- Philippa Warr

Heaven’s Vault is exquisite. I’ve finished my first playthrough of the archaeological sci-fi adventure, so the main narrative mysteries like “What happened to roboticist Janniqi Renba?” and “What exactly is Heaven’s Vault?” are known. The reason I immediately headed into New Game Plus is that the real puzzle at the heart of Heaven’s Vault is translating the world’s Ancient hieroglyphics. That’s still unfolding and it’s absolutely stunning.

As archaeologist Aliya Elasra I’ve sailed the cosmic rivers of the Nebula in my wooden spaceboat. I’ve docked at distant moons, pottered around farms and markets, and chatted with a varied cast of characters, including many little exchangeswith my companion robot, Six. The story’s mysteries provide a structure to guide your explorations, but for me they were always secondary to the joy of collecting new text fragments and teasing out new meanings.

Finding text fragments happens in a number of ways. There are artifacts with carved inscriptions—weapons, oil burners, lintels, sculptures… There are fragments of books. There is graffiti. There are murals. Some are obvious thanks to the UI immediately marking them out on the screen as areas to interact with. Others only appear if you explore the nooks and crannies of an area.