Heaven’s Vault made Rock Paper Shotgun’s best PC games of 2019 so it’s grand to hear Inkle are jumping off to something new already. In the archaeological science fiction game, you learn the ins and outs of a fictional language. Katharine says “the meanings and interpretations of this strange, mysterious dialect occupied my thoughts day and night.” Alice B and Brendy both kept physical notebooks to track their theories and discoveries about different words. This particular set of seven words is in English, fortunately for me. It still comes across as a mystery to solve. Inkle seem to be conveying notes about the plot and setting of a new game, not exactly how it will work. Whether it will be a giant language puzzle like Heaven’s Vault, I can’t tell. Some folks on Twitter have of course begun speculating in the replies to Inkle’s tweet about the connection between the words. More than one person goes with “SABUFHR,” from the first letter of each word though Inkle have replied saying they didn’t go with an acrostic. Others have suggested classic swords and/or sorcery tales in Britain like Robin Hood and King Arthur. I admit that Arthurian legends were my own first reaction when I saw “Britain” and “swords” on the list though “forest” does certainly make a case for Robin of Locksley. For now, any guesses about Inkle’s next game are speculation. Perhaps the next words they give us about the project will come in the form of sentences that tell us a thing or two about the game. In the meantime, you can find Heaven’s Vault on Steam for £20/€ 22/$25.
