Linguistic adventure Heaven’s Vault spills its secrets on April 16

Heaven’s Vault, the upcoming archaeological adventure from Inkle Studios is set to launch April 16 on PC and PS4. The game casts you as Aliya Elasra, an archaeologist exploring the ruins of a lost alien civilization and trying to decipher its language.

Decipher an entire hieroglyphic language in a puzzle mechanic with a unique narrative twist: every inscription you find has a meaning, and the translations you choose feed back into story, changing Aliya’s ideas about what she’s found. But be warned – you won’t ever be sure if your translations are correct.

If you’re familiar with Inkle’s 80 Days, it should be no surprise that Heaven’s Vault approaches its lost civilization with a good deal more respect than most games would. Far from the likes of Nathan Drake or Lara Croft, Aliya’s idea of archaeology is less about firing guns and trampling over important cultural artifacts, and more about — well, actual archaeology.

Inkle also boasts that the game will have “a diverse cast of characters [who] will react to everything you say, and change their approach depending on how you treat them.” The idea idea that the narrative will adapt when we inevitably mistranslate a phrase or offend an NPC has our interest piqued, especially given the studio’s excellent previous work.