Heaven's Vault's high-points soar. These moments largely revolve around the quiet wonder involved in piecing together the past of the Nebula, in finding some old item or deciphering some piece of text, gaining some understanding of how things were. As someone who is not into archaeology this game is very good at letting you into that world and letting you understand the appeal, and much of the game is chasing these moments of revelation, however large or small. The translation mechanic is kind of perfect in this context for how it lets you see through Aliya's eyes, lets you directly engage with both seeking understanding whilst also still having a curtain of mystery shrouding things, doubt surrounding the discoveries you make.
I loved both how the game felt like it gave me a large amount of agency with the decisions I wanted to make, these decisions that have very tangible effects on the world you're in and people you encounter, and also with how nonlinear the game is at points. Both this, and the potential for different possible translations to warp your perspective on the past, give you the feeling that the experience you're having is a fairly unique one from what other players might be going through. In addition to all of this the lore of the game, and some of the implications of occurrences late into it, is fascinating, and I love the art-style used for the characters and how it emphasises this feeling of transience, that you too shall become a piece of the past.
Despite all of this there are various mechanical issues with the game for me that are almost certainly going to prevent me from engaging with New Game+ (as interesting as the game manages to make that concept). Chiefly, the sailing sections that are initially beautiful soon become tedious and very repetitive later in the game as they grow in length whilst you hunt new sites to explore. I was also very frustrated with the two characters you can trade items to for information who will only do one or two things for you per visit before you have to leave the moon and then return to initiate another exchange; at its worst the game can devolve into a bunch of busywork, and these trade sequences are a particularly grating example of this.
All the other flaws are much more minor things that still nudged me out of the experience periodically; there's some awkward sequencing with dialogue that will crop up sometimes either as a bug or due to the game struggling a bit with its nonlinear nature, some of the dialogue in any individual conversation can end up coming to you in a non-sensical sequence depending on choices you make of what to say, the controls and display both become pretty unpleasant during particularly long translations, action indicators disappearing when you're talking with Six makes it hard to ever actually walk-and-talk at the same time in case you miss something you can do. I could probably continue this list for a little bit longer of things that just make the experience feel unpolished.
I never thought I would get so invested in a game about archaeology though, and there are some wonderous moments when the game hits its stride so I will still remember the game largely-fondly even if I can't imagine ever returning to it.
I loved both how the game felt like it gave me a large amount of agency with the decisions I wanted to make, these decisions that have very tangible effects on the world you're in and people you encounter, and also with how nonlinear the game is at points. Both this, and the potential for different possible translations to warp your perspective on the past, give you the feeling that the experience you're having is a fairly unique one from what other players might be going through. In addition to all of this the lore of the game, and some of the implications of occurrences late into it, is fascinating, and I love the art-style used for the characters and how it emphasises this feeling of transience, that you too shall become a piece of the past.
Despite all of this there are various mechanical issues with the game for me that are almost certainly going to prevent me from engaging with New Game+ (as interesting as the game manages to make that concept). Chiefly, the sailing sections that are initially beautiful soon become tedious and very repetitive later in the game as they grow in length whilst you hunt new sites to explore. I was also very frustrated with the two characters you can trade items to for information who will only do one or two things for you per visit before you have to leave the moon and then return to initiate another exchange; at its worst the game can devolve into a bunch of busywork, and these trade sequences are a particularly grating example of this.
All the other flaws are much more minor things that still nudged me out of the experience periodically; there's some awkward sequencing with dialogue that will crop up sometimes either as a bug or due to the game struggling a bit with its nonlinear nature, some of the dialogue in any individual conversation can end up coming to you in a non-sensical sequence depending on choices you make of what to say, the controls and display both become pretty unpleasant during particularly long translations, action indicators disappearing when you're talking with Six makes it hard to ever actually walk-and-talk at the same time in case you miss something you can do. I could probably continue this list for a little bit longer of things that just make the experience feel unpolished.
I never thought I would get so invested in a game about archaeology though, and there are some wonderous moments when the game hits its stride so I will still remember the game largely-fondly even if I can't imagine ever returning to it.