On first glance it’s almost inscrutable - but it’s also tantalisingly simple.

You move on in time to survive - manage that four times and you’re done.

The Banished Vault review

But first: the density.

The Banished Vault key art in gothic black-and-white pencil style with a pointy city to the left and moon and bright sun to the right, with stars in the sky.

The Banished Vault is consciously designed as a kind of virtual board game.

That’s mere survival, though.

The density comes in all the many, many things you’ll need to do to actually achieve this.

Cover image for YouTube video

Fuel requires a Fuel Producer - of course!

  • which is a building you construct on planet surfaces.

It sounds torturous, and in many ways it is.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing several buildings of wooden block style placed on an 8x8 grid of a planet surface, with white-and-black UI around it.

Part of The Banished Vault’s genius is its ability to pit you against that old enemy of yourself.

I write notes for a living!

I definitely lost that final one.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing a ship encountering a hazard during navigation with a 93% chance of successfully overcoming it.

Again, a whiff of torture - how is this fun?!

It’s attention to detail and care, a game rising up to meet you where you meet it.

Much of this is summoned through a sumptuously tactile interface.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing a hallowed planet by a red and yellow sun that’s almost completely turned black by The Gloom

All of this, even still, is really only the surface-level of it.

And, heaven forbid I don’t mention it, there’s the manual.

It’s also not even the real wonder of The Banished Vault.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing the Vault ship and overlay of its storage and the Exiles on board

The Banished Vault accessibility options

Audio, music, and effects volume controls.

Difficulty tweaks and modifiers available, but only after completing a run.

I can’t remember another game that captured it.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing the hand-drawn art popup for running out of turns, with a sketch of a star sinking into a black hole at the centre of a solar system

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing the gothic black-and-white pencil style art popup notifying you before you leave the system for the final time.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing five red dice being rolled for a hazard encounter.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing a building hazard for constructing on a planet’s surface.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing the positioning of a large Scriptorum building on another large planet surface.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing the Exiles in hibernation and options for giving them skills or other upgrades paid for with Knowledge.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing a page from the manual explaining various mechanics like System Surveys, Restarting Systems, Exile Abilities, and Journey Configuration.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing a manual page with a large table for different ship costs and sketches of each of the ships below.

Screenshot from The Banished Vault showing a page from the in-game manual with hand-drawn images for Artifacts and other illustrations.