History VideoGame / HeavensVault

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The prologue shows Aliya and Six climbing up a mountain to a statue and a boarded-up house. Nothing much is explained about it other than that it happens a few weeks after the start. [[spoiler:Then you get to the end game and understand: the place in the prologue is Renba's Observatory]]. However, [[spoiler:due to choices made during the game, some of the scene can change, like, say, Six being replaced by the Empress, or missing altogether if you sold him]].

* PricelessPaperweight: Various items you find over the course of the story appear as decor in your ship, but Aliya seems to have interesting ideas on how to store them. The Crown of the Empire, which Aliya describes as the greatest find of her life, can be found unceremoniously hanging on the back of a chair, and the iolite crystal from Maersi spends the rest of the game plunked in a coffee pot once you're done with it.

* SpaceIsAnOcean: Almost literally as you're traveling between locations by sailing on rivers that snake through space, complete with currents, rapids and calms. Space travel is referred to in distinctly nautical terms. [[spoiler:This doesn't seem to apply to the titular Heaven's Vault, however, which seems to have came to the Nebula in some kind of [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL drive]], presumably some kind of Jump Drive, given that the word "Vault" is being used as a verb.]]

* SpaceIsAnOcean: Almost literally as you're traveling between locations by sailing on rivers that snake through space, complete with currents, rapids and calms. Space travel is referred to in distinctly nautical terms. [[spoiler:This doesn't seem to apply to the titular Heaven's Vault, however, which seems to have came to the Nebula in some kind of [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL drive]], presumably some kind of Jump Drive, given that the work Vault is being used as a verb.]]

* SpaceIsAnOcean: Almost literally as you're traveling between locations by sailing on rivers that snake through space, complete with currents, rapids and calms. Space travel is referred to in distinctly nautical terms. [[spoiler:This doesn't seem to apply to the titular Heaven's Vault, however, which seems to have came to the Nebula in some kind of [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL drive]].]]

* SpaceIsAnOcean: Almost literally as you're traveling between locations by sailing on rivers that snake through space, complete with currents, rapids and calms. Space travel is referred to in distinctly nautical terms.

* WakingUpElsewhere: A minor example. While [[TimedMission exploring planets where Aliya can't survive long due to poor atmospheric/environmental conditions]], if you hang around until the health/stamina bar bottoms out Six will hopper Aliya back to the ship upon her collapse. After a brief rest period in the hammock, she comes to and is back to business.

* RobotWar: Part of the Nebula's extensive backstory involves a large-scale robot rebellion.

* {{Reincarnation}}: Since Loopers already believe that the universe is basically a BrokenRecord of itself, believing in reincarnation is a fairly natural conclusion. Professor Myari is repeatedly stated to believe that she's a reincarnated empress, but no proof is ever presented neither for her claims nor the existence of reincarnation on the whole.

* IllGirl: Aliya suffers from a hereditary birth defect called Shearlung that severely restricts her ability to breathe and makes her cough up fluid on occasion. It's so bad that climbing even average slopes, or working in even slightly thinner-than-average atmosphere, is life-threatening to her. Worse, the disease appears to be progressive, and it's implied that thirty-something Aliya won't live to see her 40th birthday.

** Structuring a newly discovered text fragment is often the trickiest part in translating Ancient, especially once longer and longer fragments start showing up. Thankfully, with every wrong attempt on your part, the game removes incorrect words from the available roster to keep you from translating in circles.

** On the other hand, if you [[spoiler: [[VideoGameCaringPotential elect to go back for the two of them and take them to Renaki]]]], they'll gratefully admit they were wrong about you. Given the way [[spoiler: Renba]] treated them, it's not surprising they'd feel no love for his presumable ally. However, seeing how you [[spoiler:normally can't return to dig sites at all after you left, knowing that going back to them]] is possible in the first place is a serious case of GuideDangIt.

* NeverForgottenSkill: [[spoiler:Six]] is quite an efficient sailor, despite having no memory of ever controlling a ship before.

* ObviousBeta: The game shipped with wonky camera controls, a broken nav system and a plethora of bugs, the latter ranging from irritating but inconsequential (scenes with characters talking that weren't even there) to [[GameBreakingBug game-breaking]] (entire story arcs being impossible to complete). To the devs' credit, most of these issues were quickly addressed in the weeks following the release.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Six does this every time Aliya takes a route it can't follow. You only have a few minutes to act and explore unobserved before the damn thing suddenly appears behind you and continues to pester you.

* SpaceIsAnOcean: Almost literally as you're traveling between locations by sailing on rivers that snake through space, complete with currents, rapids and calms.

* TriggerPhrase: [[spoiler:Speaking to robots in Ancient allows one to access lower functions directly and ask them questions about the world as it once was, but with a caveat that they can only respond in Ancient.]] Even Aliya's knowledge of the language isn't terribly useful here, as she's only familiar with ''written'' Ancient. [[spoiler: Her knowledge of Elborethian patois is more helpful.]]

* UnsuccessfulPetAdoption: The gecko you buy on Renaki runs away almost immediately (before you even give it a name, if you take too long!). It eventually pops up again on your ship, and if you ask how it got there, Six implies that their fear of it getting inside their internal workings came true and it hitched a ride aboard. From that point on it appears in various places on your ship as a decoration.

* WretchedHive: Pretty much every settled world that isn't Iox is one, but Elboreth is easily the worst of the lot.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: How Aliya's previous RobotBuddy Five left her service, which she has little qualms about telling Six to its holographic face. Her accounts of how exactly it happened are a bit unclear about whether it was part of an emergency manoeuvre in space, or simply the most convenient way to get rid of yet another robot she didn't want. Unsurprisingly, Six isn't particularly thrilled to learn of this.

* WretchedHive: Pretty much every settled world that isn't Iox is one, but Elboreth is easily the worst of the lot.
* WifeHusbandry: The bar in the Elboreth slums is run by a shady guy called Timor. He basically raised Aliya before she was taken away to Iox, yet he constantly and unsubtly attempts to convince her to marry him, ostensibly for her own good. [[NoJustNoReaction She's as creeped out by this as any sane person would probably be]].

* MadeOfExplodium: [[spoiler:Renba's ship, apparently.]] The fact that the thing blew up at all, and with such power to boot, baffles not only Aliya to no end. Six hypothesizes the use of some exotic, unsuited fuel as the cause.

* CrapsackWorld: The Nebula is not exactly a nice place to live. Everyone lives under the yoke of the [[TheEmpire Ioxian Empire]], with all the anti-colonialist sentiments that entails. Only a handful of places are somewhat well off while the rest are {{Wretched Hive}}s rife with poverty, famine and crime. On Elboreth, slavery is commonly practiced, and a human life seems to be worth less than dirt. Worse, the Rivers - the stellar pathways that interconnect the colonies - haven been weakening for centuries, and since few worlds are self-sufficient, most of mankind in the Nebula is already circling the drain.

* MultipleEndings: Downplayed. The game gives you multiple options how to wrap up its story, but since it ends immediately afterwards, what you choose has no actual effect aside from unlocking a different achievement. That said, most individual story arcs have several possible outcomes, many of which lead to different achievements. [[GuideDangIt Good luck witnessing them all (or at least the best ones) without a guide, though]].

* MultipleEndings: Downplayed. The game gives you multiple options how to wrap up its story, but since it ends immediately afterwards, what you choose has no actual effect aside from unlocking a different achievement.

* CelShading: The game's entire visual style is based solely on this technique.

* FantasticRacism: If you were born on Iox, the Ioxian Empire's throne world, don't expect a warm welcome on any of the colonial moons like Elboreth. "Ioxian" is considered a slur in these parts, and the people waste no time blaming Ioxians for every bad thing they can think of. Aliya is not excempt despite being an Elborethian herself - merely relocating to Iox, even if it wasn't your own choice, is grounds enough for discrimination. On the flipside, most high-ranking Ioxians consider Elborethians barely better than the dirt under their feet, so at least the discrimination is mutual.

** On the other hand, if you [[spoiler: [[VideoGameCaringPotential elect to go back for the two of them and take them to Renaki]]]], they'll gratefully admit they were wrong about you. Given the way [[spoiler: Renba]] treated them, it's not surprising they'd feel no love for his presumable ally.

* FantasticRacism: If you were born on Iox, the Ioxian Empire's throne world, don't expect a warm welcome on any of the colonial moons like Elboreth. "Ioxian" is considered a slur in these parts, and the people waste no time blaming Ioxians for every bad thing they can think of. Aliya is not excempt despite being an Elborethian herself - merely relocating to Iox, even if it wasn't your own choice, is grounds enough for discrimination.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Six has been assigned to support Aliya in her task of tracking down Renba, but that doesn't mean it's actually on her side. Its primary user is Professor Mynbari, and whatever order she gave takes precedence over what Aliya wants. This frequently results in Six ratting Aliya out without a care in the world. It doesn't do it out of any form of malice, but if you want to do something you don't want Mynbari to know, don't do it while Six is around to witness it.

* TheManBehindTheMan: Every robot has a "primary user" whose orders override anything another master wants from them. Six' primary is Professor Mynbari, much to Aliya's chagrin, and it's implied that Mynbari herself answers to an even higher power.

* {{Reincarnation}}: Since Loopers already believe that the universe is basically a BrokenRecord of itself, believing in reincarnation is a fairly natural conclusion. Professor Mynbari is repeatedly stated to believe that she's a reincarnated empress, but no proof is ever presented neither for her claims nor the existence of reincarnation on the whole.