In this award-winning puzzle adventure game, play as the Traveler on a quest to reunite the Peoples of the Tower. Observe, listen, and decipher ancient languages in a fascinating universe inspired by the Myth of Babel.
I don’t know if this is a good community to post to, but it’s a cool game and i want to share it somewhere.
I think i heard about this game in a conlang group. I recently played the demo, and it was amazing. The game’s idea is pretty novel too. You decipher a logographic language based on context and clues, and you have to manually decipher the words meaning, too; so you could translate it wrong. in the “ME ME TOWER GO PRAISE” box, i’m not sure if the PRAISE hieroglyph is actually correct. I love linguistics, and to see a game made around it is awesome.
If anything I’d say Heaven’s Vault is the better of the two!
Sure, it’s way less polished and can be janky, but the language and the translation mechanics are so much deeper and more well-developed than anything in Chants of Sennaar.
The languages in Chants are tightly defined and very specific to what the game needed, so they’re not really usable outside of that context. But the language in HV is rich and complex, and you can actually learn to write new things in it.
Heaven’s Vault is a great game with a good story, interesting world building and beautiful music, the execution is a bit clunky though. The good news is it seems a new addition to this universe is in development!
They even made the announcement in their language 😂 and clunky games are always the best games anyway :), kingdom come, fnv, outer worlds, boneworks, and to a certain extent, the HL games.
If you are open to try a more adventure oriented spin on this, then try Tunic. Where the main game mechanic is translating the game’s manual by learning the language of the world.
I would argue that that’s the optional game mechanic.
The main game mechanic is that it’s a Zelda-like hack and slash (with some more souls-like bosses). The secondary game mechanic is its secret puzzle system and then finally if you get through all that, there’s still this language you can decipher to solve the very last puzzle.
I didn’t try to figure out the language in this game (not smart enough for that), but exploring, finding hidden areas, and secrets was so satisfying I need another game like this too. I love when puzzles are knowledge-gated rather than item- or progress-gated.
i knew what it was before clicking, and i have to say - as someone who thought that game would be perfect for me i was very disappointed
in the interest of not wanting to influence people’s opinions by being the only and negative comment i’ll spoiler my criticism, i still encourage folks to try it, and you can always refund it
spoiler
disappointed mostly by how janky it felt and how unintuitive a lot of the UI was. NPCs would speak too fast, give no time to pick the choice you want, in conversation other npcs approach you and start talking, my hand was held constantly, i got so many bugs and just, it felt like a pre-release build of a game i’d love if it was fixed, but no that was it- i don’t refund a lot of games but i came in expecting a great experience and the entire time i felt deep frustration
huh, that’s a shame. didn’t match my experience at all. my main gripe was with the traveling, but then i went back in a year later and saw that they added a skip button to it.
i did finally get my fix of archaeology and linguistics, but separately
Chants of Sennaar & Outer Wilds (best bloody game ever btw, one of those once in a generation marvels that make people beg for amnesia so they can experience it for the first time again. if you want to play it don’t look up anything about it you gotta trust me on that. unfortunately, the release was overshadowed by Outer Worlds that released very soon after and had the Obsidian RPG hype behind it 🙃)
if you feel like riving vicariously i highly recommend beccabytes’ playthrough, she made her own supercut. it’s rare to see someone so completely get it and still be very vocal about their thoughts.
also joseph anderson’s one of you want to see someone completely bork the entire thing.
ooooo, going to put that on as soon as i get home! there’s so few playthroughs of Outer Wilds it’s crazy
i also will experience hype2.0 when i get that art of outer wilds, making of, and interviews with devs book (and a model ship!!! gotta wait 6months for that though, danged preorders) god what i’d give to play that game again for the first time. so few things in this world make me want to scream at the top of my lungs MORE even when i know there’s nothing to be added to the story and it’s perfect as it is
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I need another game like this asap, it was so good.
You might be interested in Heaven’s Vault then :)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/774201/Heavens_Vault/
If anything I’d say Heaven’s Vault is the better of the two!
Sure, it’s way less polished and can be janky, but the language and the translation mechanics are so much deeper and more well-developed than anything in Chants of Sennaar.
The languages in Chants are tightly defined and very specific to what the game needed, so they’re not really usable outside of that context. But the language in HV is rich and complex, and you can actually learn to write new things in it.
Heaven’s Vault is a great game with a good story, interesting world building and beautiful music, the execution is a bit clunky though. The good news is it seems a new addition to this universe is in development!
They even made the announcement in their language 😂 and clunky games are always the best games anyway :), kingdom come, fnv, outer worlds, boneworks, and to a certain extent, the HL games.
That’s awesome! I wonder if I could still translate that?
Someone actually translated it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/774201/eventcomments/600765687030406998?snr=1_5_9_#c600765687030426645
Sure, but I wonder if I could translate it…
Free dlc
If you are open to try a more adventure oriented spin on this, then try Tunic. Where the main game mechanic is translating the game’s manual by learning the language of the world.
I loved the gameplay and puzzles for the most part (and the adorable main char) but I don’t have enough brain juice to figure out the language D:
I would argue that that’s the optional game mechanic.
The main game mechanic is that it’s a Zelda-like hack and slash (with some more souls-like bosses). The secondary game mechanic is its secret puzzle system and then finally if you get through all that, there’s still this language you can decipher to solve the very last puzzle.
I didn’t try to figure out the language in this game (not smart enough for that), but exploring, finding hidden areas, and secrets was so satisfying I need another game like this too. I love when puzzles are knowledge-gated rather than item- or progress-gated.
If you’re looking for that dopamine hit for finding hidden paths/areas, then check out pretty much any From Software game.
I got you, fam. It’s not exactly the same - more narrative focused, and slower paced - but it will scratch that same itch.
i knew what it was before clicking, and i have to say - as someone who thought that game would be perfect for me i was very disappointed
in the interest of not wanting to influence people’s opinions by being the only and negative comment i’ll spoiler my criticism, i still encourage folks to try it, and you can always refund it
spoiler
disappointed mostly by how janky it felt and how unintuitive a lot of the UI was. NPCs would speak too fast, give no time to pick the choice you want, in conversation other npcs approach you and start talking, my hand was held constantly, i got so many bugs and just, it felt like a pre-release build of a game i’d love if it was fixed, but no that was it- i don’t refund a lot of games but i came in expecting a great experience and the entire time i felt deep frustration
huh, that’s a shame. didn’t match my experience at all. my main gripe was with the traveling, but then i went back in a year later and saw that they added a skip button to it.
i’m glad you enjoyed it!
i did finally get my fix of archaeology and linguistics, but separately
Chants of Sennaar & Outer Wilds (best bloody game ever btw, one of those once in a generation marvels that make people beg for amnesia so they can experience it for the first time again. if you want to play it don’t look up anything about it you gotta trust me on that. unfortunately, the release was overshadowed by Outer Worlds that released very soon after and had the Obsidian RPG hype behind it 🙃)
outer wilds outer wilds outer wilds outer wilds
outer wilds outer wilds outer wilds outer wilds!!
if you feel like riving vicariously i highly recommend beccabytes’ playthrough, she made her own supercut. it’s rare to see someone so completely get it and still be very vocal about their thoughts.
also joseph anderson’s one of you want to see someone completely bork the entire thing.
ooooo, going to put that on as soon as i get home! there’s so few playthroughs of Outer Wilds it’s crazy
i also will experience hype2.0 when i get that art of outer wilds, making of, and interviews with devs book (and a model ship!!! gotta wait 6months for that though, danged preorders) god what i’d give to play that game again for the first time. so few things in this world make me want to scream at the top of my lungs MORE even when i know there’s nothing to be added to the story and it’s perfect as it is