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Heaven's Vault
An archaeologist uncovers a lost history in an ancient space Nebula. Award-winning narrative adventure game with hieroglyphic language puzzles, from the creators of 80 DAYS.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-13.
What reviewers agree on
47 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“One of the more frustrating gaming experiences I've had in a long time. Heaven's Vault is, on paper, a very promising game; you decipher an ancient language while traversing a very nicely built world, picking up clues…”
“A beautiful game with an amazing soundtrack, which was on the backlog for far too long! First of it's kind for me to play and definitely not the last! Guiding Aliya on her journey to uncover what Heaven's Vault is…”
“I love the story and the way in which you piece together your understanding of the world. It is a bit slow though and the gameplay mechanics are simple, this doesn't bother me, in fact I find it kind of peaceful, but if…”
37 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“A beautiful game with an amazing soundtrack, which was on the backlog for far too long! First of it's kind for me to play and definitely not the last! Guiding Aliya on her journey to uncover what Heaven's Vault is…”
“I was recommended this game after finishing Chants of Sennaar, and I think it's an excellent companion game. I do think the controls are a bit janky at times, but the history of the Nebula and learning to understand and…”
“I love the story and the way in which you piece together your understanding of the world. It is a bit slow though and the gameplay mechanics are simple, this doesn't bother me, in fact I find it kind of peaceful, but if…”
19 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“One of the more frustrating gaming experiences I've had in a long time. Heaven's Vault is, on paper, a very promising game; you decipher an ancient language while traversing a very nicely built world, picking up clues…”
“This is not a thrill a minute type game, but for those who like historical mysteries and who may have always wished to be a science fiction archaeologist a la Captain Picard in several TNG episodes, this is a delight.…”
“A beautiful game with an amazing soundtrack, which was on the backlog for far too long! First of it's kind for me to play and definitely not the last! Guiding Aliya on her journey to uncover what Heaven's Vault is…”
10 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“Fascinating. The movement controls are a little jank, but the storytelling is fascinating and the language deciphering aspect is stellar. Very replayable.”
“I bounced off this game several years ago but returned after playing Seance at Blake Manor. I'm glad I stuck with it this time. It's a certain kind of storytelling only possible through gaming. HV does not seem designed…”
“I'm really enjoying this game so far. My only complaint is that it's oftentimes unclear that you're choosing to leave a place, and are unable to ever return. For example, my companion says that they don't like a place.…”
4 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“A beautiful game with an amazing soundtrack, which was on the backlog for far too long! First of it's kind for me to play and definitely not the last! Guiding Aliya on her journey to uncover what Heaven's Vault is…”
“Shocked I haven't reviewed this already. It's one of the best narrative games I've ever played in my life. The music is sublime, the archaeology and mysterious history aspects are brilliant, the way choices and dialog…”
24 of the 75 reviews raise this · 14 of them still recommend the game.
“It is just plainly not a good game. The main reason I picked up this game was because of the language puzzle, and as it turns out, it is a literal waste of time; you simply don't need to think to solve it, there are no…”
“Heaven's Vault is a painful game to write about. I'd "love to love it", and there is a lot to respect, but ultimately it is poorly designed to an extent that the actual experience of playing it was very rarely positive.…”
“Would have given it a meh if i could since i hate that if you miss a ruin while sailing you often can't return to it since it is contained in a story area where the sailing paths no longer go to or for other reasons. If…”
20 of the 75 reviews raise this · 12 of them still recommend the game.
“It is just plainly not a good game. The main reason I picked up this game was because of the language puzzle, and as it turns out, it is a literal waste of time; you simply don't need to think to solve it, there are no…”
“Heaven's Vault is a painful game to write about. I'd "love to love it", and there is a lot to respect, but ultimately it is poorly designed to an extent that the actual experience of playing it was very rarely positive.…”
“I was recommended this game after finishing Chants of Sennaar, and I think it's an excellent companion game. I do think the controls are a bit janky at times, but the history of the Nebula and learning to understand and…”
12 of the 75 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“It is just plainly not a good game. The main reason I picked up this game was because of the language puzzle, and as it turns out, it is a literal waste of time; you simply don't need to think to solve it, there are no…”
“Would have given it a meh if i could since i hate that if you miss a ruin while sailing you often can't return to it since it is contained in a story area where the sailing paths no longer go to or for other reasons. If…”
“I wanted to love the game great story and worldbuilding that sucked me in. But a combination of awful camera controls not letting you see important prompts and abrupt conversations causing misclicks in major story…”
5 of the 75 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“It is just plainly not a good game. The main reason I picked up this game was because of the language puzzle, and as it turns out, it is a literal waste of time; you simply don't need to think to solve it, there are no…”
“This game does a great job of making you feel like you're an archeologist, of the Indiana Jones variety. I loved slowly learning more about the world, and I loved all the characters I met. Our main character is…”
Counted across 75 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 83.7% positive rating · as of 2026-05-13
“Replayed it after a few years because of Chants of Sennaar, and the worldbuilding is still astonishing. Gameplay wise it's very easy p'n'c game, go there do this, go that way talk with that npc... The decisions won't affect the end game but helps building and deepening Aliya's…”
— a player, Steam review · 30 hrs played“I spent the first third of the game worried that I would break things, and then I freed myself to be somewhere between "chaotic neutral" and "chaotic good". It wasn't always obvious which decisions mattered and which didn't, and getting over that (mild) anxiety was the key. I…”
— a player, Steam review · 18 hrs played“As other reviews have noted, Heaven's Vault has fantastic worldbuilding coupled with absolutely abysmal gameplay. Everything from dialogue to walking to sailing to checking language puzzles is agonizingly slow and tedious, and even elements that should feel fun (like…”
— a player, Steam review · 3 hrs playedAchievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Heaven's Vault Book 4 is out now!
Today, the Heaven's Vault sequence reaches its end. What began as a game expanded into a duology of novels, The Loop and The Vault, which deepened and extended the game's world. Last year we went furt
Cover reveal!
It's Heaven's Vault's 7th birthday today!To celebrate we wanted to share a first look at the next HV-related release from us, which will be the fourth (and final) book in the novellisation sequence. H
Book IV - sign up to hear when it launches
You can sign up to be notified when we launch.
The Flood has Arrived!
Heaven's Vault has opened. The waters have risen. The flood is here. New moons mean new discoveries and new secrets. But while the Nebula is changing, so is Aliya herself... Go beyond the game with th
Heaven's Vault - Book 3 - Launches 29th May!
The third Heaven's Vault novel has a launch date: 29th May. Rejoin Aliya and Six as they explore the flooded Nebula. A place of old stories and new secrets... The book launches worldwide on the 29th M
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie |
| Player tags | Adventure · Narrative · Mystery · Female Protagonist · Sci-fi · Choices Matter · Point & Click · Interactive Fiction · Puzzle · Atmospheric · Exploration · Singleplayer (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Full controller support · Remote Play on TV · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 44 |
| Official site | http://www.inklestudios.com/heavensvault |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows 7 or later Processor: SSE2 instruction set support Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 / AMD Radeon HD 7850, 2+ Gb of vram DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 5 GB available space Additional Notes: Not recommended for Intel HD GPUs