- Heaven's Vault Book 4 is out now! - 9 May 2026
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 further with the release of Book 3: The Flood, which picks up events after the end of the game. Now that second duology is complete, with the release of Book 4: The Rising Light. A new threat is looming for the Nebula, and the only hope is an legend so Ancient there is no record of it anywhere. With Iox and Elboreth both fallen, and Renaki - and Oroi - far from reach, who can Aliya trust to help her unravel the mystery of the Wanderer? We couldn't be more excited to be bringing the series to its conclusion. Thank you for sailing the rivers with us! The books are available now from the inkle bookstore, in eBook, dust-jacket and paperback editions, with discounted bundles for the full sets, or th…
- Cover reveal! - 16 April 2026
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. Here's the gorgeous new cover:The book ties up all the mysteries from Book 3 -- and a few from the original game that you might not have noticed were there. It's almost ready to ship -- but we want it to be as good as possible, so we're giving it a bit more time. There's a form to hear when it launches here.We've also got a couple of unannounced HV-related things in the planning stages; no promises, but we're hopeful this won't quite be the last we see of this world. But otherwise - thank you for sailing the Nebula with us. May the waters always carry you home.
- Book IV - sign up to hear when it launches - 28 December 2025
You can sign up to be notified when we launch.
- Inkle's amazing Heaven’s Vault used to be a Dr Who pitch, but the BBC left them on read, and I'm kind of thankful - 18 November 2025
80 Days and A Highland Song developers Inkle once pitched a Doctor Who game to the BBC, narrative director and writer Jon Ingold has revealed in a Bluesky post . While the BBC never responded to their overtures, the pitch became the basis for Inkle's very excellent and bodacious astral archaeology sim Heaven’s Vault . I consider this a cool thing to know, and so do our friends at Eurogamer. They’ve just published an interview with Ingold, which includes tantalising details of a forthcoming Heaven’s Vault reveal of some kind. Read more
- The developer of 80 Days was once invited to pitch a Doctor Who game, but never heard back from the BBC afterward: 'Technically, we're still waiting for a reply' - 18 November 2025
80 Days may still be the best-known game from narrative maestros Inkle Studios. But the developer's most ambitious game is probably Heaven's Vault , a sci-fi archaeological adventure about piecing together an ancient alien language... Read more.
- The Flood has Arrived! - 29 May 2025
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 the new Heaven's Vault novel, which is out now, in print and ebook form. If you're catching, there are also discounted bundles of the whole trilogy so far. May the waters always guide you home!
- Heaven's Vault - Book 3 - Launches 29th May! - 15 May 2025
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 May, but if you want to get your hands on it early, you can SIGN UP HERE to be notified. (We won't use these emails for anything but this launch.) Reminder, if you've yet to jump into the novels, you can catch up here.
- A fragment - 9 May 2025
- The Story Continues in "The Flood" - out soon! - 16 April 2025
Huge news! After several years absence, we're returning to the Nebula next month in Heaven's Vault: The Flood, an original novel that continues the story from where the game -- and Books 1 & 2 -- left off. The waters have risen. Elboreth is flooded, the Nightingale has been destroyed. But new rivers have opened new secrets, and something has been waiting a long time to be found... Based on our original notes for an unmade sequel game, and written by the same writer, the new book is the first half of a new duology that will delve deeper into both past and future of the world of Heaven's Vault. We can't wait to reveal new secrets -- and some very, very old ones... If you want to be notified when the book is ready, you can sign up using the following form: SIGN UP HERE The story will conclude in Book 4, due 2026. And if you've yet to jump into the novels, you can catch up here.
- Coming 2025... - 24 December 2024
- Heaven's Vault now supports Steam Cloud - 24 April 2024
Good news! We've added support for Steam Cloud, so your saves will now synchronise correctly between different devices. Enjoy!
- Heaven's Vault is 5 today! - 16 April 2024
FIVE YEARS ago today, we released Heaven's Vault, which was designed to be our follow-up to our previous narrative game, 80 Days. The game started from a core idea: SPACE ARCHAEOLOGY, that we felt we hadn't seen before; and translation as a mechanic, which we had seen in the 1980s Infocom game Infidel, and in two late 90s indie IF games, The Gostak and The Edifice. The translation prototype was the first thing we built. We went through about nine iterations which were all dire - too easy, too random, too arbitrary - until we found one with enough internal logic to be compelling. We talked about that process at EGX just before release. For the story, we wanted an adventure with no fail states, no back-tracking, little inventory management, and characters with memories who cared what you did - and when - and how. We talked about our dialogue design ethos at Adventure X a year before relea…
- Heaven's Vault e-books out now - 30 November 2023
Two years ago we turned the story of Heaven's Vault into a two-part novel, that reimagines the story and world of the game from the ground up. It's now available in ebook format directly from us. The novels are a mixture of a retelling and reimagining of the game's story, going both deeper and wider, digging into Aliya's past as well as the history of the Nebula. And there's lots of Ancient in them too. May the waters guide you home!
- Read the first chapter of Heaven's Vault for free! - 17 May 2022
Last year, we turned the story of Heaven's Vault into a two-part novel. But apparently books don't have to be on paper but can be electronic as well. Who knew?!? Thanks to this amazing discovery, we're now able to put up the first chapter of Book 1 as an ePub, so you can join Aliya on her journey into the Nebula right now. The books are a mixture of a retelling and reimagining of the game's story, going both deeper and wider, and there's lots of Ancient in them too.
- Get 15% off the Heaven's Vault novels this week! - 30 March 2022
It's Solstice Day in the Nebula so all this week Heaven's Vault is on sale, and you can get 15% off the two-part Heaven's Vault novelisation as well: just enter the code NEBULA at the checkout. The secrets of the Nebula await!
- Like Wordle? Like Ancient? We have something fun for you... - 20 February 2022
If you've been playing the hit word game Wordle you don't need us to tell you how it works, but this twist on the formula - designed and built by a member of the Heaven's Vault community - is a whole other level of challenge. This is Vaultle. Can you guess the Ancient word - using only real (known) Ancient words? Incorrect glyphs are grey, correct-but-in-the-wrong-place glyphs are yellow, and correct guesses are green. Just as with the original Wordle game, Vaultle has daily challenges, and you can share your results. Oh, and it's completely free. Good luck! And remember, if you need more ways to brush up on your Ancient, don't forget that the two-volume novelisation of Heaven's Vault is still available.
- A new inkle game is coming! - 10 February 2022
We just announced our next released: called A Highland Song, it's the story of teenager Moira McKinnon who lives on the edge of the Scottish Highlands and has decided to run away. A mix of branching narrative, 2.5D side-scroller, survival and rhythm elements, it also features the music of two of Scotlands leading folk bands. You can check out the trailer here: and wishlist it here!
- Get 10% off the Heaven's Vault novels this week! - 14 January 2022
For one week only, Empress Enkei herself is granting a 10% discount on the two-part Heaven's Vault novelisation. Just enter the code ENKEI at the checkout. This includes the new linen-bound, dust-jacket hardbacks! The secrets of the Nebula await! (Offer ends on the 20th Jan.)
- Heaven's Vault books are "transcendent"! - 16 December 2021
Books don't come with review pages, but over on the inkle discord people have been receiving, reading and reacting to their copies of the Heaven's Vault book. Here's what they said. - "Gorgeous and glorious and transcendent!" - "The dialogues! The musings! So many wondrous thoughts." - "I was looking forward to a pleasant retread... instead I got my mind blown at every turn..." Also, they've been translating... Order your copy now for arrival in January, at !
- Heaven's Vault is now a two volume novel - 18 November 2021
Heaven's Vault is a puzzle game about translating a fictional, ancient language, but it's also a rich narrative game. If you want to spend more time in its world, with its story and characters but without the puzzles (or space-sailing), then good news: Heaven's Vault is now available as a two volume novel from Jon Ingold, the original game's narrative director. Read more
