Heaven's Vault - Linear ABCs

Heaven's Vault is a game about deciphering dead languages through comparative linguistics, cultural context, and parsing sentences. I am in love.
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Fanfare for Space, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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[@lucas-the-og]

Jon was so deep into the whole ancient thing, he forgot about cyclones and thought we're doing Rome.

[@ZumbaMarx]

I'm genuinely torn between which aspect of Jon I like better. When Jon's funny, he's really funny. But logical, trained classicist Jon is just as wonderful to watch. This vid is absolute top-shelf MATN and I loved every second of it.

[@lighthawk2626]

Jon please make this a series. It's a beautiful game, but I feel like it isn't for everyone. Would love to see where this game's story is going but it just isn't a game for me. I'm not as enthusiastic about language as you are, I'd lose interest if I played this myself, but watching you play this is very enjoyable for me, please finish the game I'm sure it'll only be like one or two more videos until you've pieced together the language and at that point the story has to come to an end too

[@tomm5663]

Pretty please Jon. We won’t insult your perception for at least a week

[@MrRyumaru]

@@tomm5663 But we will laugh at the way he pronounced Cyclones, completely forgetting that it is an actual word and then creating a theory to support the way he pronounced it xD. Reminds me of when he played My Summer Car and thought alternators are what alternate the firing of pistons......he was *SO* sure he was right lol

[@tokiri485]

I don't think he will, he tends to do complete playthroughs of games with high replay value. This game seems pretty linear so once you know the story and what the words are it removes any reason for the viewers to go out and buy it

[@JimFosterVO]

@@tokiri485 Exactly. I think this taste is more than enough.

[@cacopoggers677]

Jon, we'd love this.

[@HailKosm]

Jon, its cyclones as in tropical storm or hurricane.

[@straycatking]

HailKosm every time he said see-clo-nays I died a little inside

[@cubedmax]

He read it like it was Greek oof...

[@Elmithian]

I am halfway through the video and now 100% sure I want to play this game myself before watching Jon do this.

[@thelasthunted88]

I need a series of this. It is too wonderful, and too beautiful, to be a one off. Hell, I'll watch a day long livestream, if that's what it takes to see this game through to the end.

[@arcticarcanum]

oh please do this as a series or as a livestream! Your enthusiasm and methodology is brilliant to watch, I loved this!

[@EVERSMAN42]

As an archaeologist I approve this message

[@BRUXXUS]

While you have catastrophic perception, I'm always delighted to see how Jon's logic works in stuff like this! So fascinating and unique. Really great. Not sure I'd play it myself, but watching Jon worth through this is really fun!

[@flynn659]

He put all his points into intelligence and didn't bother with anything else.

[@DanksterPaws]

2 years late however, Jon isn’t the type to search every crevice of every single scene/map to make sure he’s found all of the scripture. Which may be required to have a good understanding of the early game before multiple plot lines start to appear and you get thrown so much new words. He’s not much a notetaker I would think too, so if he makes any footnotes on his memory about a certain symbol he’d likely forget it soon. Also the game seems to require the patience in the offchance you need to completely rework your entire collection, or if not the audience to this game will enjoy reading all the lore and from the start you could already read so much history and I don’t know if Jon does that.

[@TheGrinningViking]

Jon's many blind eyes are everywhere, on everything, on everyone. They have been there for a long time. Uncountable aeons. (One of his eyes is on you right now.)

[@TheGrinningViking]

That's fair, I think they might be lost. 🥚 Someone should help him out! 🐣

[@elsasslotharingen7507]

Good to see you here again, random person with a cute and memorable profile picture

[@TheGrinningViking]

Elsass Lotharingen Thanks! I stole it ;)

[@MrMinerGuy142]

I think Lara Croft might be a bad archeologist because she's a raider, rather than an archeologist. Following that, what's your opinion on Indiana Jones, Jon?

[@TheGrinningViking]

He belongs in a museum! Seriously though, those were some really classic movies.

[@juliajs1752]

Thank you, Jon! I was desperate for a game to play during my vacation, and I love ancient languages and how they get rediscovered. This game is perfect.

[@samvente1261]

Jon please more of this in my eyeballs! it's really amazing and I love your perspective on these things, especially since I know so little history.

[@armchaircivilian3076]

OOh yes, more History Jon! :) Archaeology's loss is our gain; sorry Archaeology, but as much as i love you, we're keeping him :P

[@thomasesr]

Linear A, Linear B ABCs, I get it. Good one!

[@ModernWhoFan5B]

Anyone else actually sing along when he says "I've had my eye on for a while"?

[@ikxalenull7]

every time

[@Isildor]

I never figured that this stuff would be interesting to me... Jon, you truly make me excited for all things related to history o.o Lifestream? Series? It's amazing to see you in your element this much :o

[@markjones5008]

Definately bring this back for a live stream, please.

[@danielbishop1863]

5:54 Later dialogue in the game implies that "Six" is the sixth robot assigned to Aliya, the first five having been broken or lost (much to Myari's annoyance, as robots are a scare resource).

[@spuriusscapula6481]

42:40 To the place, I belong West virginia

[@mountainmolly2726]

I feel like this game was made for me. I must have it immediately. Thank you for showing it to us.

[@MW-pb2gf]

I remember seeing a linguist on Twitter mention this a while back. Thrilled to see it on the channel!

[@morsinkosi]

I would love to see this as a livestream or a series! This is great!

[@PyrotheFlareon]

Jon, this game seems very interesting and it gives you a chance to shine in, what is arguably, your natural element. Even if you aren't going to do a full series on this, a few livestreams would be awesome! You could give your opinion on what the translation is, then the chat could give a second opinion, then you could agree or disagree with them while explaining your reasoning. Interesting, fun, and educational all at the same time!

[@ss-rc4tp]

Yes Jon in history mode (:

[@garmtpug]

Very interesting and once you start getting the "feel" for the glyphs it beings to all fall into place! Love this!

[@KashouWannabe]

What a cool premise for a game. Mix this with Eastshade and I think that would be a game that I'd play and never touch anything else.

[@SnorriSnibble]

I'm about as far into the game as you are, but watching your video now makes me feel SO stupid, because I am mostly guessing about the symbols and I never looked at the single pieces of a word, only the words as a whole. Please do more parts of this, it's so incredibly interesting to listen to your explaining.

[@alexanderilthari9328]

This needs to become a series

[@sotnosen95]

Considering my love for all things language and etymology, and the fact that I got excited by proxy every time Jon got a word confirmed correct, I think it's safe to say this belongs on my Steam wishlist, especially with what Makrill0 said about it having replay value. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!

[@sharkofjoy]

I love it. I absolutely love it.

[@briidovulon]

Oh Jon! Oh Jon this game is even greater than you think!! After seeing your video I bought the game for myself and started playing it and oh Jon! On Maersi the pig planet where you found a silver statue in the mud I found a stone statue with a different inscription which simply said 'goddess of water' and the well inscription also was different! Mine was simply 'Holy water'. Now I understand why there is a new game plus mode! Oh Jon every single play through is just a little bit different and I love it! So it would be awesome to see this one again wether or not it'll be as a series or maybe a relaxing stream.

[@HonorableAssassins]

im guessing Sick-lone-ass Was just the word cyclone, jon. Like a storm. Given you then rode threw a storm. Cyclones.

[@MRFlackAttack1]

I feel after only watching a few of your videos that we have a lot of common interests. Subscribing now. Keep the videos coming.

[@PhoenixFires]

A sigh-clone is the name for storms' winds when the air is circling.

[@gljames24]

Emperors shall never die. The double circle you thought had to do with time. shall relates to an event in the future and never had a not future.

[@Refloni]

E m p e r o r s i r o n s h i n e w r o n g

[@thehyperdymond3067]

Please livestream this, it’s so awesome :D

[@EverThePragmatist]

Jon please do a series of this, it’s great.

[@michaelskillern8449]

I would love to see a series of this, Jon. Fascinating.

[@insanegamer23899]

Nathan Drake from Uncharted always seemed like a decent archeologist to me. I mean he seems genuinely interested in the writings on walls, and the history of the artifacts and lost cities he finds. Now if he could've only gotten people to stop shooting at him before the epilogue of Uncharted 4 he'd probably be even more famous than he clearly was based on the newspaper articles on the walls. I mean the man found the lost city of Shangrila in his 2nd game that is some impressive shit right there.

[@GlitchTheF0x]

As someone from a place regularly buffeted by cyclones, I die inside everytime Jon mispronounces or misinterprets the word. Here he is translating a fictional ancient language and he doesn't even understand English.

[@ivlivscaesar]

God Bless you Jon.

[@jonhillman871]

this game looks great. even when it is taking shortcuts by not animating some of the movement. the corner cutting is done in a way that is stylish and ethereal feeling. plus i like how it doesn't hold your hand but it doesn't block your progress either. fun stuff.

[@benjaminmiddaugh2729]

I think this is going to become a favorite. It's the type of game I would make if I had thought of it, but I didn't so I'm glad someone else did.

[@kendallchaos]

33:13 Anyone else yelling at their screen that Jon already knows the word for goddess

[@brianholmes1812]

In the final year of my undergad in archaeology and classics, we had a class on archaeology in the media. And this game was touted as an A+ example. Also I love the point of overlap between hieroglyphics and phonetic writing, its fascinating. In early Cuneiform tablets from mesopotamia, we start with little drawings of items and tallies. Writing seems to often start as an administrative tool. We get the point where it crosses from pictogram to writing when we get to "return". In the admin records, obviously you'd want to note when something is being returned to somebody. But how do you draw rerurn? Well, if you speak ancient sumerian, you realise the word for return is pronounced the same as the word for reed. So you draw a reed to indicate something is returned, and suddenly the symbol isnt a pictogram, but a sound attached to a word. Its so fascinating to look at the very small step in logic that led to such an enormous leap in the history of the world

[@nolynste1926]

Matn; mentions only Toumb raider for game archaeology Me, an uncharted fan; hey, wait a minute

[@leafruns7672]

While noteworthy, I don't recall Nathan Drake being any better than Laura for historical sites.

[@nolynste1926]

@@leafruns7672 true

[@ananonynoussauce7616]

To be fair, drake is technically a thief not an archeologist.

[@nolynste1926]

@@ananonynoussauce7616 true, but, let's be honest, so are Lara and Indie in more than a few ways. Indie is better though.

[@DaWombatGaming]

I'm not saying Jon wrong, but I find it surprising that he didn't recognize the word 'cyclones' as the synonym for tornadoes and hurricanes and the like.

[@rateeightx]

42:40 To The Place I Belong, West Virginia, Mountain Mama, Take Me Home, Country Roads.

[@asbestosfish_]

_that robot looks like it has a human soul inside of it, and if that isn’t a major plot point it should be._

[@trashpandapaladin8989]

Has Unirob written a song for "I've had my eye on this a while"? Also, word order in language can be nuts. Learning Korean was insanely difficult as an English native because they keep the verb at the end.

[@CToast]

Latin also has the verb at the end and so does what I know of Japanese. I found it quite comforting to see a verb and know I had reached the end of a thought.

[@briidovulon]

So after playing the game for a while and coming back to this I must say it is a nice deduction of you that it must be holy because of brooch but later in the game you also get this like silver cooking pans with engravings reading 'rest now for tomorrow you work' (and yes I know all the words no question marks) so unless someone can explain the connection between going to sleep because you have work tomorrow and a cooking utensil you should take the item context always with a grain of salt. Still would love a live stream of the game though

[@GamerTime_2002]

Man we are lucky that they're calligraphers had consistent handwriting throughout the entire game

[@mortalmonster1048]

Fuck, games like this really show how smart Jon can be

[@tach5884]

Well, you did better than I expected.

[@Doktor_Calamari]

I wonder if the single circle is a representation of a head. The four little "apostrophes" going into the head might be knowledge, and the light symbol with the head happiness--I think "smile" was one possibility. The double circle could still indicate time, as a small "head" or person growing into a larger one, child into adult.

[@comyuse9103]

well, that was interesting, and i am glad that managed to figure out a symbol or two before jon!

[@TheRealWangTang]

SIK-LO-NEZ AHSDJAKSKDHAGHDS

[@kabobawsome]

Ding Dong, the owl is here.

[@metetural9140]

Jon must have a lot of eyes.

[@CommissarMitch]

Please continue this game. I would love to see it to the end.

[@seandavis7218]

This looks absolutely amazing

[@trifsith]

"No5 is alive!" No6 on the other hand, just stole somebody's soul.

[@keaganwyatt6790]

This is fascinating, please play more

[@averagegamingplayer]

This game is so cool.

[@kevint1929]

I would love more. This is just the game you shine in; MATN showing the logical and critical thinking skills that pop out in between his jokes and memes. I really would like to see this, especially given your knowledge of linguistics.

[@madmusial]

Can this please be a series?

[@orana03]

More please Jon, live stream or series please.

[@NavidIsANoob]

Absolutely love this new Jon who loves history. Good stuff!

[@MW-pb2gf]

“New” Jon? Man, he studied Classics at Oxford. He’s always been a history buff, and it’s always showed up in his history-themed videos.

[@NavidIsANoob]

@@MW-pb2gf I legit had no idea lmao. I like it tho.

[@spacejunky1]

For some reason when he said take me home my mind went to country roads

[@justinwortham]

I official love this concept for a game.

[@rateeightx]

As Somebody Who Loves Languages And Civilisations, This Game Look Brilliant!

[@NotaDutchGuy]

This is awesome! Can we have more of it?! :D

[@user-hi4sm3ig5j]

I forgot the name of this game despite vividly remembering and enjoying this video until it showed up as an answer on University Challenge of all things. Hilariously it was a bonus question answer in between the Mass Effect and Halo Franchises which probably had budgets many thousands of times higher than this tiny indie game's.

[@Rateus_Johanson]

Does Jon know solar wind is genuinely a thing? This game seemed lovely and was (as ever) very well presented.

[@Joensen83]

Hi Jon, Claire and Tabby. First of all, I love your stuff. Great commentary and great fun. Bought sooo many game that you have showcase over the years ^^ But on to a totally unrelated question. I missed your live stream over the weekend of imperator. I was wondering if you are going to upload those videos from that live session?

[@lostpupper2632]

If i remember the specifics correctly, Jon (and the other streamers/uploaders) are currently not allowed to set them as public until the game is released by Paradox. i hope this helped (and that i remember correctly lol)

[@Joensen83]

@@lostpupper2632 ahh i see. Thank you for the reply

[@lostpupper2632]

@@Joensen83 You are very welcome :D

[@billyhyde1415]

I've never played this, and I'm fascinated by it. If you keep going, maybe look at the word 'Emperor' - I think the symbols that make it up mean "Man Give Law", and the one for holy means "Give Law".

[@billyhyde1415]

Or maybe "Speak Law".

[@dansmart3182]

I paused this video half way through and bought the game.

[@09thism]

Lego Indiana Jones??? That was my video game exposure too archaeology too!!!

[@Kryptnyt]

Huang the smooth talker going straight to the topic of Annal

[@indianamatt7033]

This would make a great series or stream.

[@anuragshah6243]

Please please pleaseee make this into a series

[@Triviata84]

I would absolutely like to see more of this, either as a livestream or a follow-up video.

[@gafasd]

that fade-effects make me feel drunk.

[@chriscalvin5083]

good video part 2 please

[@samael2607]

Jon looks at a two symbol word and talks about the right and middle characters!

[@danny5274]

please do more of this!!!!

[@katejones8705]

A language puzzle game?? Going to buy it now. Reminds me of Obra Dinn with it's methodology.

[@ilmevavi1112]

Do a full series please.

[@casswedson2892]

this remids me of that time when started learning japanase

[@wu1ming9shi]

Remember the only reason we were even capable of understanding egytion hieroglyphics is because some greeks decided to put a text in each of the three main languages which was greek egyptian and some other language I can't come up with. aka the Rosetta stone. There's no such thing for linear A.

[@mjsteward8747]

How much of the game would you do in a livestream? Like another 45 minutes or a couple of hours?

[@ZumbaMarx]

MJ Steward When Jon livestreams, it's between 3 and 5 hours.

[@mjsteward8747]

PjotrSpot sweet thanks

[@No-wj4nu]

It's going to be painful when we meet aliens since we have no basis to figure out each other's languages

[@SimWolfHero]

*I've had my eye on for a while now*

[@ss-rc4tp]

Series please

[@BattleUnit3]

Jon is God. Most of those translation i messed up. From the beginning i though the it meant friend beloved as something you give to someone you love.

[@vicentetemes5793]

42:40 Apparently the Holy Empire was the birthplace of John Denver.

[@cahdenhopson2274]

Please continue to play this

[@tinchosabala]

A-alright, Jon, maybe, juuuuuust maybe, you are going a bit too far about the Minoans and Linear A.....maaaaaaaybeeeeee..... Anyways, you seem pretty good at this, and your love for history makes me inclined to think that you do something related to those things. And a game in which you are uncovering History is an incredible concept.

[@koganusan]

never!!!

[@EuphemiaRem]

john: possibly a bull-man? scientists still aren't sure

[@SnorriSnibble]

But does this game change a lot based on how "good" someone plays or what kind of dialogue options they choose? Because when I found the chest there was no compass in it at all and the cloth robe also had a whole different description on it...

[@zerozero5031]

Where the heck did you find the dang golden telescope.. I'm playing through, and got everything you got up to this point, but I've never seen that telescope!