Critically acclaimed ‘Heaven’s Vault’up for store pre-order – new trailer (PS4/Switch)

Strictly Limited Games is delighted to announce that they will publish an exclusive limited edition release of the critically-acclaimed Heaven’s Vault for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 (PS4), in partnership with the award-winning developers at inkle. Praised for its narrative depth and gameplay around exploration and deciphering an ancient language, Heaven’s Vault is already a timeless classic. The boxed release now secures a permanent physical legacy for Heaven’s Vault and includes unique collectibles transcribed with never-before-seen Ancient text, well-aligned with the theme of archaeology in the game. Pre-orders will kick off on June 12th, at 12 AM CEST (midnight) only at Strictly Limited Games.

Nominated for the BAFTA, winner of the Independent Games Festival in the category “Best Narrative” and honored several times as one of the top 10 games of 2019 (The New Yorker, Mashable, GamesIndustry.biz), Heaven’s Vault is an adventure game unlike any other. Every choice counts, as the adaptive narrative reacts to your decisions and the game expands on every replay, unlocking deeper secrets.

About Heaven’s Vault:

Welcome to the Nebula: a strange network of moons linked by rivers in space, where ancient robots coexist with humans. Its ancient history has long been forgotten and only fragments remain, written in a lost hieroglyphic language. Join archaeologist Aliya Elasra and her robot sidekick Six on a trail of discoveries that will lead to the very edge of the world and to the ancient secret of Heaven’s Vault.

Ancient, the hieroglyphic language at the center of Heaven’s Vault, is a full language created for the game that consists of around 3,000 words. A language that an active fan community is continually discovering, discussing, and even expanding beyond the scope of the game. But it’s not only the language that makes Heaven’s Vault special. Progress through the game in any order you choose; the game’s fully adaptive narrative remembers every choice you make, every discovery, and every action you take, influencing what happens next. Meet a diverse cast of characters who remember everything you say, and whose attitudes toward you will change based on how you act. Who will you trust? What will you find? What will you risk? You will have to decide for yourself!

Features: 

  • Find artifacts and translate their hieroglyphic inscriptions to piece together the history of the world.
  • Make tough decisions and interact with a large cast of characters who remember everything you say.
  • Sail Aliya’s ship, the Nightingale, through an open world of fast-flowing space rivers and lost moons.
  • Freely explore a variety of locations, from ruined palaces to desert moons, market towns, and farming villages.
  • Marvel at the unique art style, blending beautiful hand-drawn 2D art with 3D environments.
  • Play it again  – Heaven’s Vault is highly replayable thanks to massively flexible choice-driven gameplay and translation puzzles that expand on every playthrough, revealing new secrets.

The two unique limited editions for Heaven’s Vault are available for pre-order exclusively via the Strictly Limited Games online shop

The Limited Edition is limited to 1,900 copies for Nintendo Switch and 900 for PS4, at a price of 29.99€, including a colorful game manual.

The Special Limited Edition is limited to 900 copies for Nintendo Switch and 400 for PS4, for 49.99€, including lots of additional collectibles: 

  • Special Limited Edition Box 
  • Colorful Game Manual 
  • Original Soundtrack with previously unreleased bonus tracks 
  • 10 Puzzle Cards
  • Timeline of the Nebula 
  • Archaeologist’s Notebook 
  • Bookmark
  • 4 transparent Stickers
Official logo
official logo

Heaven’s Vault to receive limited boxed release

Decipher an ancient language and sail the rivers of space in this award-winning narrative adventure

Stuttgart, Germany – 9 June 2022 Strictly Limited Games is delighted to announce that they will publish an exclusive limited edition release of the critically-acclaimed Heaven’s Vault for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 (PS4), in partnership with the award-winning developers at inkle. Praised for its narrative depth and gameplay around exploration and deciphering an ancient language, Heaven’s Vault is already a timeless classic. The boxed release now secures a permanent physical legacy for Heaven’s Vault and includes unique collectibles transcribed with never-before-seen Ancient text, well-aligned with the theme of archaeology in the game. Pre-orders will kick off on June 12th, at 12 AM CEST (midnight) only at Strictly Limited Games.

Nominated for the BAFTA, winner of the Independent Games Festival in the category “Best Narrative” and honored several times as one of the top 10 games of 2019 (The New Yorker, Mashable, GamesIndustry.biz), Heaven’s Vault is an adventure game unlike any other. Every choice counts, as the adaptive narrative reacts to your decisions and the game expands on every replay, unlocking deeper secrets.

A picture depicting the critical acclaim the game received.

About Heaven’s Vault:

Welcome to the Nebula: a strange network of moons linked by rivers in space, where ancient robots coexist with humans. Its ancient history has long been forgotten and only fragments remain, written in a lost hieroglyphic language. Join archaeologist Aliya Elasra and her robot sidekick Six on a trail of discoveries that will lead to the very edge of the world and to the ancient secret of Heaven’s Vault.

A screenshot showing a fast flowing river with a rock in the middle and shoreline on the right.

Ancient, the hieroglyphic language at the center of Heaven’s Vault, is a full language created for the game that consists of around 3,000 words. A language that an active fan community is continually discovering, discussing, and even expanding beyond the scope of the game. But it’s not only the language that makes Heaven’s Vault special. Progress through the game in any order you choose; the game’s fully adaptive narrative remembers every choice you make, every discovery, and every action you take, influencing what happens next. Meet a diverse cast of characters who remember everything you say, and whose attitudes toward you will change based on how you act. Who will you trust? What will you find? What will you risk? You will have to decide for yourself!

Features: 

  • Find artifacts and translate their hieroglyphic inscriptions to piece together the history of the world.
  • Make tough decisions and interact with a large cast of characters who remember everything you say.
  • Sail Aliya’s ship, the Nightingale, through an open world of fast-flowing space rivers and lost moons.
  • Freely explore a variety of locations, from ruined palaces to desert moons, market towns, and farming villages.
  • Marvel at the unique art style, blending beautiful hand-drawn 2D art with 3D environments.
  • Play it again  – Heaven’s Vault is highly replayable thanks to massively flexible choice-driven gameplay and translation puzzles that expand on every playthrough, revealing new secrets.
A screenshot showing a Brass Ceremonial Goblet and three words, allowing the player to choose which they feel is best inscribed onto drinking implement.

The two unique limited editions for Heaven’s Vault are available for pre-order exclusively via the Strictly Limited Games online shop

The Limited Edition is limited to 1,900 copies for Nintendo Switch and 900 for PS4, at a price of 29.99€, including a colorful game manual.

HeavensVault_Packshot_combined.png

The Special Limited Edition is limited to 900 copies for Nintendo Switch and 400 for PS4, for 49.99€, including lots of additional collectibles: 

  • Special Limited Edition Box 
  • Colorful Game Manual 
  • Original Soundtrack with previously unreleased bonus tracks 
  • 10 Puzzle Cards
  • Timeline of the Nebula 
  • Archaeologist’s Notebook 
  • Bookmark
  • 4 transparent Stickers
Special limited edition contents.

Both editions can also be purchased as an exclusive bundle with the two official Heaven’s Vault novels by Jon Ingold, inkle’s narrative director. Only 100 of these bundles will be available for Nintendo Switch and PS4 respectively.

Resident Evil 4 Remake

Resident Evil 4 will always have a special place in my heart. It wasn’t my first Resident Evil game, It wasn’t even my first with Leon. It was however the first I enjoyed enough to complete. So seeing this trailer made me quite happy. So please enjoy the first of what I hope is many trailers as we wait for this release. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Source of Madness PS5 (Review)

As always with these things,a huge shout out to the ladies and gentlemen at Thundeful Publishing and Thundeful group as well as everyone working with them to hook me up with a copy of this one. It is always greatly appreciated.

Did you ever want to play a game that would basically tell you how the story, the basics on how to play then just let you go? No I don’t mean any of the souls games, I mean one that is easy to just pick up and play without someone screaming “git good” when you get frustrated.

Enter Source of Madness, a side scrolling rouge lite where you WILL die,and that’s ok. You will start out with a bit of lore, escaping to a sort of keep after picking a character and setting out into the Loam Lands. In true Lovecraft style you will collect blood to level up. Each run ends when you die. Any money you make and items you find are gone, but the blood you make can then be used to unlock new skills or items.

With your character dead you will pick from a group of new randomly generated characters and set of once again into the procedurally generated world for the next run.

The combat in game is a lot like the graphics, simplistic yet effective. The visuals are the perfect mix of spooky and creepy while not being so dark things are hard to see which is an issue I think to many games try to do. It’s the creatures here that take center stage. You never know if something with far to many arms is going to come out of that rustic building and kill you or if a blog of tentacles is going to come sliding down the next hill.

The combat itself is simply a matter of dashing around and attacking with the appropriate buttons, usually one of the trigger buttons. This sounds easy but it is far from. The timing of it means a lot and messing that up can mean losing a nice chunk of health you can’t really afford to lose.

The game takes some time to get used to,with each run teaching you a little more and helping you get a little further into the game itself and it’s mechanics. I’ve probably got about a dozen hours in and lost about as many characters and I am still figuring things out,and that to me makes this beautiful game worth playing. This one is a great 8/10 and at it’s price point is a must play for fans of rouge lites or side scrollers. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Elite Dangerous Profile Transfers from Console to PC Coming This September

As many of you may know I was a huge fan of Elite Dangerous, I was part of the last Distant Worlds 2 Expedition and completed it making it all the way to Beagle Point. After the release of Odyssey on PC was a disaster, it was revealed it would never come to console. ( I play on PS4) That announcement and the announcement that console support was essentially abandoned completely I lost any desire to play the game along with many others.

There may be new life and hope for many, as it was recently announced that console players this September would be able to transfer their files to the PC version of the game. This will allow them to enjoy the new content as well as Odyssey without having to restart. This to me is far too little too late however as many will have already done this. Check their site for more info.

ICONIC LEGEND OF MANA ALLIES ELAZUL ANDLADY BLACKPEARL ARRIVES IN ECHOES OF MANA

SQUARE ENIX®’s newly released mobile action RPG, Echoes of Mana, which has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times since its launch, has released new content including the scenario event “Searching for Lost Luster” featuring the ally, Elazul, from the beloved Legend of Mana game. Players can also get a chance to obtain the popular Lady Blackpearl from Legend of Mana through the “Searching for Lost Luster Harvest” summons.
 
Details regarding the new content include:

  • New Scenario Event “Searching for Lost Luster” – Available now until June 30, players can clear the event quests to collect event points (EP and High-Level EP) that can be traded for grand rewards at the EP Trader. Additionally, players can receive 3★ Ally Elazul (Young Jumi Knight Ver.) from “Legend of Mana” and 3★ memory gem “Show of Faith.”
  • Chapter 6: In a Patchworked World Main Quest Now Available – The adventure continues with a journey through the most peculiar echo yet with the release of Chapter 6’s story. Players will continue their search for the Mana Sword and explore a new echo, only to be guided by the unfamiliar voices of two young girls. When wandering deeper into this mysterious place, players will encounter Elazul from Legend of Mana and Keldric from Dawn of Mana.

  • “Searching for Lost Luster Harvest” Summons – Now through June 30, this summons features the 4★ ally Lady Blackpearl (Jumi’s Finest Ver.) from Legend of Mana, 4★ ally Hawkeye (Pride of Thieves Ver.) from Trials of Mana, and 4★ memory gem “Chasing the Light.”

Echoes of Mana is a free-to-play action RPG designed for mobile devices. The title features an original story that weaves together both new and beloved Mana series characters alike. Players will be able to enjoy the action gameplay they love from the series and battle with friends through a multiplayer mode.

Echoes of Mana is available now for free on iOS and Android devices via the App Store and Google Play. Text is supported in English, German, French, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean. For more information, visit EchoesOfMana.com.

The Devil’s Whispers, By Lucas Hault

First and foremost, I don’t do a lot of book reviews but TkPublishing asked me to take a look at this one and as a gothic horror book, it seemed like something I would enjoy. Plus we all know how much a love an up and comer in anything. So huge shout out to both of them for hooking me up with this.

We start out like many books, with our main man Gerard Woodward being summoned to an old castle. Our new British friend wasted no time getting settled into his room and doing what the average person would do, second-guessing his life decisions.

The life decision at this point is not listening to his wife and coming to this castle that he is now clearly locked into. Things aren’t exactly normal back home in London where he left his wife, I will however leave that for you to figure out as it is quite interesting.

Obviously, as you guys know I don’t like to spoil too much about the story of these things and that will be more true here than normal so I will talk more about the style of writing here. If you remember those old classic horror books written in the time period style of old letters and journal writings. This is a lot like that, and it is extremely well done. You can read this and feel the picture Hault paints with his pen.

All that being said there is a sort of mystery to the whole thing, and that mystery is would it be better to classify this book as an homage to Dracula or more of a retelling. I don’t mean this as an insult, I feel like it is very well done in fact. The story doesn’t revolve around a simple vampire and it isn’t as simple as silly name changes in a quick cash grab. There was time and effort and love put into this novel and I truly think fans of the classic monster tails by the likes of Bram Stoker and Mary Shelly will find a lot to like here.

If you are interested in checking out The Devil’s Whispers, and I recommend you do, you can pick up a copy here.

Thor: Love and Thunder trailer 2

So here we have a pretty damn good look at Thor 4 and honestly, for me, I’m liking Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher as my favorite part. I forgot how intense he could be and I like how eerie he comes off. Besides him, I can’t help feeling like I’m watching the trailer for yet another MCU movie. Either way, I’m sure it’ll be a decent movie. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated

Are ya ready kids? Bikini Bottom has been invaded by an army of robots (that totally didn’t come from the Chum Bucket, which is mysteriously locked down.) It’s up to our favorite yellow fry cook and his friends to save the undersea town from the machines that are wreaking havoc.

First, I just got to say I’m currently 31 years old and I still love Spongebob. This game stole my life for a couple weeks. Ultimately, the game is a solid platformer from a bygone era (PS2). Each character offers a different playstyle with different abilities; Sandy was my favorite and Patrick made me want to scream. The game is pretty simple, complete puzzles and get Golden Spatulas to open the next area. While this is the Rehydrated edition, you can tell this is still an old game with some old game problems- the NPCs are stiff, everyone constantly repeats their limited dialogue over and over again, and some of the more ambitious parts are frustrating to get through. Not all the voice actors returned which can be jarring to older fans. In the end, it’s a solid game, better for younger kids but not bad for grown-ups who want a little childhood nostalgia. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

“Are you happy, Stephen?” is the question haunting the master of the mystic arts after the Snap. People have died because of his actions in allowing Thanos to succeed for the greater good, and lives are in disarray. Christine has moved on, Wong is the new Sorcerer Supreme and he can’t help but feel the guilt leading to Thanos’s defeat. During Christine’s wedding, Strange and Wong rush to face to face a demonic entity chasing after a teenage girl, America Chavez. America, born with an alarming gift allowing her to openly travel between the Multiverse is on the run from a demonic force wanting her powers. Strange turns to the most powerful magic user on the planet for aid, an Avenger, only to find himself face to face against the broken, vengeful Scarlet Witch that will do anything to get her children back, even if that means destroying the Multiverse to do so. Can the former Sorcerer Supreme stop the fallen Avenger?

Holy Crap, this movie is a trip. I loved it but I also love Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch; this is totally a Marvel nerd movie. There’s a lot going on but I never found it hard to follow. There is a lot of ambiguity and plenty of room to speculate which I appreciated. The movie has a shit ton of disturbing, frightening scenes and a hell of a lot of fan service for fans of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn without skipping on being a badass superhero flick. Elizabeth Olsen absolutely steals the show as Scarlet Witch, becoming a tragic villain after the fallout from Wandavision . Honestly, the whole cast was damn good and a lot of the cameos, 2 of which I got giddy for, I hope make a return in the MCU. The visuals were insanely epic and beautiful and frightening. With all the good, I am going to say again, that this movie is going to be a cluster if you aren’t up to date on the MCU or have a foreknowledge of the comics; this is NOT a movie to shut your brain off to. In the end, Dr. Strange 2 was a damn good time and a superior sequel I recommend checking out. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law reveal trailer

Oh dear…besides Ms. Marvel, I’d heard nightmare stories on the development here. I think comic She-Hulk kicks ass; this iteration made me cringe. She-Hulk herself looks really off and the CGI isn’t really convincing. I’m glad to see Tim Roth back as Abomination but that’s kind of the best I got here. May the gaming gods bring you glory.