Heaven’s Vault

Genre: Graphic Adventure

Players: 1

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Review:

Heaven’s Vault is a Graphic Adventure first released on PC and PlayStation 4 in 2019 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2021. This game puts players in the role of an archaeologist traveling between moons suspended in a nebula in search of answers to an ancient mystery that has led to the disappearance of a colleague.

The presentation of this game is somewhat unique, with simple 3D environments and characters represented by sparsely-animated hand-drawn 2D images, often with their feet faded out to be invisible for some inexplicable reason. It’s an odd look that doesn’t do much for the game, and it’s made even worse by graphical issues the game has frequently, such as the visuals hitching up briefly or stuttering, along with objects in the environment seeming to disappear outright if viewed from the wrong angle. At the very least I can say the solid vocal narration of the game’s protagonist and the subtle acoustic soundtrack do a good job to accentuate the mysteries at the heart of the game, and the writing really gives this strange location a feeling of culture and history, but the sub-par visuals frequently drop me out of the immersion the game is trying to build.

The game attempts something interesting with the gameplay too, having players trying to decipher an ancient language by comparing different artifacts of that lost culture. It’s a great idea, but so much of it proves to be guesswork that I didn’t feel clever when I hit on a correct answer so much as lucky. Players are also given the ability to pilot their craft through the slipstream currents that allow them to pass from one moon to another, but this element of the gameplay is slow-paced, controls poorly, and is ultimately largely pointless – on occasion you can simply give your robotic comrade the option to autopilot you to your destination, and this is generally far preferable.

I will at least say that the fascinating story and characters, the interesting world, and the strong feeling that your choices have consequences do a lot for this game, though it is frustrating that the game often makes it difficult to select those choices as the button prompts for these change as you move and look around, and sometimes multiple options can flicker back and forth at the slightest provocation. It’s also not always clear what your selections will lead to, especially as most of them are simply a choice between making an unspecified statement or asking an unspecified question.

In the end, players wanting a game with an interesting sci-fi story with a strong archaeological element to it will find a lot to like in Heaven’s Gate, but this game definitely has a lot of rough edges that get in the way of what it’s trying to accomplish here. I can’t help but feel that this would be a much better game if it addressed the graphics and performance issues, ditched the pointless piloting sequences, and spent more time developing its core gameplay to focus on translating a dead language and solving an archaeological mystery. Still, what’s here is decent and worth a look even if it’s flawed.

tl;dr – Heaven’s Vault is a Graphic Adventure that has players trying to decipher a dead language to solve an archaeological mystery in a futuristic setting. The setting, story, and characters here are great, and the language interpretation mechanic is at least compelling in theory, but deciphering the dead language requires too much guesswork, and the game is bogged down by graphical issues, performance issues, and inane and time-consuming travel sequences. It’s still worth a look if you’re enticed by this game’s themes, but its flaws do hamper the experience.

Grade: C+

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