For starters - I didn't buy this game for the grafics. In this department there's nothing to write home about. It's a bit antiquated, but didn't give me eye cancer, so that's that. The game enginge ran smoothly on my computer, I encountered only minor bugs (like a npc leaning against a wall two meters away). The dialogs are mostly funny but try to convey the issues of the historic time and place here and there, which for me created some nice immersion. I was very pleased by the voice acting (I played in german can't say anything about the "bavarian english"), which was surprisingly good for a low-budget title. The quality of the different quests ranged from OK to quite original (personal favorite - the prussian Soldier in the privy). Most of the game consists of running around, talking to different people while using different strategies of interaction, looking for clues and playing a repetitive dice game. With experience points you gain levels, each level you can increase one attribute which makes the connected dice game easier (so if you really hate dice games, this game is probably not for you). There's some crafting which is linked with some quests. I did some save-scumming here and there to get the results I wanted, the longer I played the less I had to save-scum. All in all the rng semed fair to me. In spite of some minor flaws (for my taste the repetitive dice game could be shortened) I really loved the experience and hope for similar games in the future (minus the dice game). 5 stars from me.
Someone complained in another review about the slow pace of the game. I agree completely, he/she is quite right about that. BUT BUT BUT no problem mister/lady, that's easily countered. There's an easy fix for this problem (which worked for most of the other potentially tedious games I've played in the past years): Step 1: Download and install "Cheat Engine" (downloadable freely) or similar program Step 2: Open Heaven's Vault then open Cheat Engine Step 3: Open the "process list" (click on the monitor-symbol on the upper left side, can't miss it, it's literally glowing!) select Heaven's Vault and click "Open". Step 4: Click "Enable speedhack" (to the middle-right) Step 5: Change the pace of the game the way you like it For me 2x the speed was the sweet spot. For others 1.5 may be the best choice. You can also set the text speed in the game's menu at the lowest value. As consequence the movement is much faster while you're still being able to read at comfortable speed. About the game itself: I found the worldbuilding in this game to be excellent. The grafics are quite different from the norm, which made it really enticing for me. Basically it's a walking sim (or floating sim) intertwined with a really enjoyable language-game. The main appeal besides the language-game is discovering bit by bit the buried and forgotten past of the game's world. Much of the information is mediated via dialogue. The different characters are portrayed in convincing manner, the personalities seem vivid and the different motives and manners are plausible. For me the main character (a passionate archeologist) was easy to identify with since there are multiple choices when to go where and how to interact with the different characters - possibly changing the course of the relationships. So all in all - Great concept, great game. I loved it and haven't played something this enjoyable in quite a while!
