Heaven's Vault

• Title — Heaven's Vault • Developer — Inkle • Publisher — Inkle • Designer — Jon Ingold, Joseph Humfrey • Programmer — Joseph Humfrey • Artist — Laura Dilloway • Writer — Jon Ingold • Composer — Laurence Chapman • Engine — Unity • Platforms — Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch • Released — PlayStation 4, WindowsApril 16, 2019Nintendo SwitchJanuary 28, 2021 • Genre — Adventure game • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot. In Heaven's Vault, the player takes the role of an archaeologist called Aliya Elasra who has a robotic companion called Six. 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. The player has to decipher and learn the hieroglyphic language of the Ancients, a lost civilization. This involves finding and collecting inscriptions from ancient artifacts, sites and ruins and translating and discussing texts with other characters. 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. 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.

Following the release of 80 Days, Inkle had met with potential media partners for a collaboration for their next game. One of these was BBC who suggested several possible intellectual properties that Inkle could work on. This included Doctor Who, and over eight months they developed a prototype called The Daedelus Effect where the player could explore the TARDIS and play a mini game similar to Super Hexagon to simulate traveling in the TARDIS. This required updating their internal game engine support having 2D characters moving about a 3D environment. Though they did not hear back on this prototype from the BBC, Inkle decided to use the effort as a basis for a new game, resulting in Heaven's Vault.

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. Richard Brooker from Brookspeare Music also mixed the soundtrack.

In 2021, Inkle published two tie-in novels for the game, Heaven's Vault - I. The Loop and Heaven's Vault - II. The Vault. A third tie-in novel, Heaven's Vault - III. The Flood was published in 2025 and the fourth, The Rising Light, completing the story, has been announced for 2026. Written by Jon Ingold, Heaven's Vault 's writer, the books also follow the story of Aliya and Six, but feature a different plot to the game.

• Year — Award — Category — Result — Ref • 2019 — The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards — Best Role-Playing Game • 2019 Golden Joystick Awards — PC Game of the Year • 2020 — Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards — Best Writing in a Video Game • New York Game Awards — Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game • NAVGTR Awards — Game, Special Class • MCV/Develop Awards — Gameplay Innovation of the Year • Narrative Innovation of the Year • Independent Games Festival Awards — Excellence in Narrative • 16th British Academy Games Awards — British Game