Recent reviews by Douba

This game is a true masterpiece! Be an archaeologist. Be a linguist. Make choices with both short- and long-term consequences. Experience the adventure of uncovering the universe's mysteries through finding artifacts, being a detective, and discussing with your robot companion (whose true nature you will reveal). Take or avoid risks. Choose your path anew at every corner.

As a lone sailor in the Nebula, it falls to you to decipher ancient script, reveal lost sites and shape your relationships with your companion, your superior, and old friends. The intricate dialogue design makes the experience feel extraordinarily natural. Most of even the smallest conversation choices will result in unforgiving consequences. This, combined with the absence of a save game concept makes Heaven's Vault a nightmare for completionists, but it entices you to play it again. While the vast explorable world and strongly nonlinear gameplay will take a toll on your spare time, it never gets boring either.

The interface is simple, yet immersive. The graphics are a beautiful amalgamation of 3D surroundings with a well-working 2D water painting projection and hand-painted sprites that fit in nicely. There are some quirks, like missing/transparent feet, but these are forgivable and don't blemish the atmospheric character which the graphics radiate. Recorded high-quality, soothing background music gives the game its final touch.

Eventually, the thing that really stands out for me is the fictitional language that you will get to know better and better all through your playthrough. It really works! If you are a language nerd, this game is an absolute must! Better and way more intricate than "The Game of Robot ]|[".

While the idea is nice and a great amount of work must have went into the game mechanics, I refuse to give it another single minute of my life, because the interface is terrible. I truly have not seen any such not-thought-through, glitchy interface since the late nineties.

First thing off: Text generally does not fit on the screen, neither in the tutorial book. Text is partially unreadable because drawings are displayed on top of it instead of in the background, and because the dark-red font with a black outline does not really stand out against the book's center crease, over which the text is printed. I shortly tried the German translation and quickly switched back to English due to the large amount of mistakes. But the English is not much better.

Tutorial texts pop up at every step in the forging process in a huge font that covers most of the screen, including the center that you need to concentrate on. Although you are supposed to dismiss the text by pressing 'G', it rarely actually works, hindering your aim because the reticule is hidden behind the text. Also, while trying to get rid of the text, your ingot quickly loses heat so you have to re-heat it.

Oh yeah, "throwing" things into the furnace works only by running towards it with the ingot in your hand, so that when you open your hand in the right moment, the ingot's momentum will move it onwards. Otherwise, standing directly in front of the furnace, your hand will just let hte ingot fall down on the ledge. It gets somewhat easier though if you use the tongs even for the cold ingot.

However, grabbing something with the tongs is glitchy as well. Sometimes you will pick the ingot up once the tip of your tool touch it, sometimes you need to click. But beware: If you clicked before touching it in the right spot, it will grab it and immediately drop it again. All the while, it loses heat over time.

Sometimes, dropped items glitch through solid surfaces. Fortunately, I got my ingot back by crouching under the table with a torch (you cannot see much without a torch) and grabbing the ingot with the tongs.

The buying interface does not make sense either, but at this point, I just don't care anymore.