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First, to your point, the endgame location.
Vague non-spoiler:
On the route to the endgame, you go to a halfway-point first. I can't remember the name but it doesn't matter -The location feels very obviously like you're nearing the endgame.
While you're there you can trigger a no-turning-back moment that leads to the endgame, but (if you pay attention) you can leave the location without triggering said endgame.
But if you really must know the name of the place you want to avoid...
...
It's a dumb reveal and you'll regret reading it...
...
The 'final endgame' location is Heaven's Vault, it's the name of the game and is established as your ultimate destination in the first scene of the game.
If someone is complaining that "The game's mechanics pressured me to go to Heaven's Vault and following the game's plot triggered the endgame which I somehow didn't expect" ... well, let's just say they're a few spanners short of a toolbox.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
But this is beside the point. The game doesn't "completely end", It has a branching narrative that is designed to be replayed. In your first playthrough you will not solve ANY of the mysteries hidden in the small but branching plot. It's also worth knowing that a single playthrough isn't that long, so the endgame may feel sudden if you think of it as a one-and-done job, but again this game is designed to be replayed and cannot possibly be 'beaten' on your first play.
Secondly, the language-translation gameplay loop only got truly interesting for me in "new game+", where you start again but your translation knowledge carries over from game to game. For me, reaching the end was necessary to step up the intensity in both translations & mystery solving.
So, accidentally stumbling on the endgame is no dealbreaker. I will say that this exact experience we're discussing happened to me. I didn't realise the 'midpoint location' led to the endgame so quickly so it was a surprise when it happened, but it didn't sour my experience.
My advice; wonder through the game with curiosity. Don't stress about this 'sudden endgame' detail; it will distract you from the beauty of the game's unique way of storytelling.
It has its flaws, but this game is one-of-a-kind and definitely worth buying.
I agrree a better job could have been done to telegraph it as "point of no return", but hardly matters in the grand scheme of things: newgame+ is when things really start clicking together
At the base of the giant statue there are a clean working hopperer and other 2. One of them is unreachable, the last one is just barely underground. If you "clean" this, it's a no return. If you avoid to clean it, to get away only one time, you cover the first hopperer, the working one, with a tablet and wait until Six freaks out and hoppers you to the ship. There you will have the conversation option to sail away.
About names, this game is fantastic. All the locations have different names, they also change during the game. They are based on what you think they are when you find out about them. And if you do more findings the names can change accordingly.
I second what Julian said, and would like to add some additional perspective.
Your post suggests that you plan to play the game only once, and aim to have a "complete" experience in that single playthrough. This is the same approach that I myself use for most games, but Heaven's Vault is more enjoyable if you _don't_ follow it.
In this game, your choices matter. Your decisions can radically alter certain plot points, and a single playthrough will only ever give you a partial understanding of the story - you'll be missing out on many interesting things that can only be learned from the paths you didn't take.
There is also a bit of meta-progression built into the game. The dictionary of words that you have discovered will carry over between playthroughs, so your understanding of the ancient script keeps growing. The game also gives you more complex sentences to decipher in subsequent playthroughs, these will not be available in the first playthrough but may include helpful information or important rare words. There's also a specific inscription at the end of the game that becomes longer with each playthrough, I think you need 4 playthroughs to uncover it fully.
In short, this is not a "one and done" type of game. It's a game worth playing 2-4 times so that you can view this fascinating world, its history, its characters, and its philosophy from different angles and understand it better.
My recommendation is to play the game first without spoilers, and especially without trying to maximize the amount of content you're getting - it will only create frustration and it ultimately won't work. Immerse yourself in the story (it's a good one) and go with the flow. In your first playthrough, the ending may indeed come abruptly and leave many questions open - but you can explore those in the next playthroughs, and trying to do it differently will probably create a less immersive and less enjoyable experience.