SPOILERS AHEAD:
Just replayed the game, been a year since I first played it. Completed the "true" ending of the game (artifact), watched a bunch of youtube explanations of the endings, and I have to say, this game is SAAAAAAAD. Like really, really sad (in a good way).
The endings are super quick and too the point, I expected a lot more extravagance, but I guess that's not it's style. I do wish the two most important characters had more to say to each other after, you know, Elster fights her way through fucking HELL ON EARTH (but it's not earth it's Leng and Rotfront and technically Vineta) to reach her soulmate. I guess an "I love you" makes it harder to carry out the promise (which I'm convinced the promise is to never leave each other alone) and we know they love each other through notes in the game and the one cutscene, but common man give us more of a payoff. That is my only real complaint about the game.
The fake ending is genius. Everyone who played the game knew that wasn't the end because it is the biggest cliffhanger of all time.
It's storytelling is amazing. It doesn't overstay it's welcome (unless you try to get all the endings). Getting the endings is a bit tedious, I recommend just playing through the game once and looking up the endings to be honest. Unless you really love strategizing it's mechanics.
It gives you enough details to understand what is going on without knowing everything in a way that makes it very mysterious. I love it when a game feels mysterious, even after the credits roll and you watch 2 hours of explanations about it. I completed the game like "huh???" and after watching videos I feel like I could have figured out the juicy details myself. All the clues are there.
Love the idea of these cyborgs who have the power of synchronicity/resonance. How the world/combat perfectly reflects this principle. Love the glitchy effects associated with it.
Combat is tuned to perfection (for this style/genre).
Something I also really want to praise is it's puzzles. They're not very difficult in retrospect, but god damn, are they structured, deliberate, well thought out, and interesting. The whole game is so stylish and beautiful. Great sound design and music. It's truly an art piece all to it's own.
Just replayed the game, been a year since I first played it. Completed the "true" ending of the game (artifact), watched a bunch of youtube explanations of the endings, and I have to say, this game is SAAAAAAAD. Like really, really sad (in a good way).
The endings are super quick and too the point, I expected a lot more extravagance, but I guess that's not it's style. I do wish the two most important characters had more to say to each other after, you know, Elster fights her way through fucking HELL ON EARTH (but it's not earth it's Leng and Rotfront and technically Vineta) to reach her soulmate. I guess an "I love you" makes it harder to carry out the promise (which I'm convinced the promise is to never leave each other alone) and we know they love each other through notes in the game and the one cutscene, but common man give us more of a payoff. That is my only real complaint about the game.
The fake ending is genius. Everyone who played the game knew that wasn't the end because it is the biggest cliffhanger of all time.
It's storytelling is amazing. It doesn't overstay it's welcome (unless you try to get all the endings). Getting the endings is a bit tedious, I recommend just playing through the game once and looking up the endings to be honest. Unless you really love strategizing it's mechanics.
It gives you enough details to understand what is going on without knowing everything in a way that makes it very mysterious. I love it when a game feels mysterious, even after the credits roll and you watch 2 hours of explanations about it. I completed the game like "huh???" and after watching videos I feel like I could have figured out the juicy details myself. All the clues are there.
Love the idea of these cyborgs who have the power of synchronicity/resonance. How the world/combat perfectly reflects this principle. Love the glitchy effects associated with it.
Combat is tuned to perfection (for this style/genre).
Something I also really want to praise is it's puzzles. They're not very difficult in retrospect, but god damn, are they structured, deliberate, well thought out, and interesting. The whole game is so stylish and beautiful. Great sound design and music. It's truly an art piece all to it's own.
A beautiful game with striking visuals, mixed perspectives, great directing, excellent sound design, and a bit challenging to top it off.
And while it certainly passes the Vibe Check and is the exact type of graphics that appeals to me, a gamer, I just couldn’t click with it in the end—literally. It’s a great game and one I recommend, but your mileage will vary WILDLY on the story, how it’s presented, and what it ultimately leads up to.
I simply didn’t understand what the hell was going on nor why I should care, period. I barely even know the name of who I’m playing until an NPC finally said it. The mix of German and Chinese for a sort of… I suppose aesthetic choice also doesn’t help, as there are key moments in cutscenes that aren’t in English. Yes, to my ignorant semi-monolingual brain it LOOKS cool, but I’d’ve rather understood what was literally being said over pure aesthetics. My feelings eventually pivoted to it being too pretentious.
And to that end, what cutscenes there were made no sense to the average player, not unless you were a YouTube video game lore analyzer like VatiVidya whose actual livelihood depends on it. They chose the FromSoft method of story telling, but forgot that it was a story-centric survival horror game and not a gameplay-centric action RPG. Even Silent Hill gives you some fucked up idea of what’s going on some times.
Simply put, 10 hours is what it took for me to beat it, but it would take another 10+ just to figure out what’s going on—and that’s not taking into account the multiple endings, which was visually great but who the hell is that and why did any of it happen?! I swear I’m not that dumb, please make it make sense!
To sum up, it’s a visually incredible, creepy, challenging indie horror game worth your time. And while I personally love vague storytelling, it was far too opaque for my taste—almost like the famous novel Roadside Picnic, with cool ideas but no central thread to latch onto.
I still recommend it, I enjoyed a great deal of it, but was let down by the Who, What, and Why.
And while it certainly passes the Vibe Check and is the exact type of graphics that appeals to me, a gamer, I just couldn’t click with it in the end—literally. It’s a great game and one I recommend, but your mileage will vary WILDLY on the story, how it’s presented, and what it ultimately leads up to.
I simply didn’t understand what the hell was going on nor why I should care, period. I barely even know the name of who I’m playing until an NPC finally said it. The mix of German and Chinese for a sort of… I suppose aesthetic choice also doesn’t help, as there are key moments in cutscenes that aren’t in English. Yes, to my ignorant semi-monolingual brain it LOOKS cool, but I’d’ve rather understood what was literally being said over pure aesthetics. My feelings eventually pivoted to it being too pretentious.
And to that end, what cutscenes there were made no sense to the average player, not unless you were a YouTube video game lore analyzer like VatiVidya whose actual livelihood depends on it. They chose the FromSoft method of story telling, but forgot that it was a story-centric survival horror game and not a gameplay-centric action RPG. Even Silent Hill gives you some fucked up idea of what’s going on some times.
Simply put, 10 hours is what it took for me to beat it, but it would take another 10+ just to figure out what’s going on—and that’s not taking into account the multiple endings, which was visually great but who the hell is that and why did any of it happen?! I swear I’m not that dumb, please make it make sense!
To sum up, it’s a visually incredible, creepy, challenging indie horror game worth your time. And while I personally love vague storytelling, it was far too opaque for my taste—almost like the famous novel Roadside Picnic, with cool ideas but no central thread to latch onto.
I still recommend it, I enjoyed a great deal of it, but was let down by the Who, What, and Why.
Really unique. At first the way the game presents its story feels kind of inscrutable, but it starts to come together once you run through the game again. The gameplay is pretty standard, the inventory limit is sometimes frustrating, but I never found I ran into a dead end, which is a good thing for such a puzzle-heavy kind of game. I like how it decides your ending, also. Do you remember our promise?
EEK its so good, robots and lesbians
SIGNALIS starts by following an android named Elster searching industrial sites for a lost human companion. Along the way, reality proves unreliable as identity, physics and recollection fracture. The world depicted is a totalitarian interplanetary regime which ruthlessly exploits human and synthetic beings. Elster served alongside a human companion called Ariane onboard a doomed spacecraft called the Penrose which seemingly became lost to deep space. Much remains enigmatic regarding promises made between the two amidst shared trauma and the true nature of the psychic force called "bioresonance”. But tender bonds endure despite inexorable forces eroding the integrity of their bodies and memories.
SIGNALIS is a also a love letter to classic survival horror titles Silent Hill and Resident Evil, on a surface level. But it goes beyond cheaply referencing them in crafting its own unique world and narrative, which has been the subject of much subsequent discussion in the form of video essays and discussions online. The true nature of the story is intentionally ambiguous on some levels, and so those looking for a cut-and-dry linear tale which puts all its cards on the table might be frustrated. But for those who derive satisfaction in delving into the symbolism, decoding strange puzzles, and considering questions about personal identity, what's real and unreal--you may well enjoy SIGNALIS's enigmatic, intricately crafted story. Though it's not necessary to do so in order to enjoy the haunting atmosphere, soundtrack, and familiar, retro style survival horror gameplay.
I've been thinking about this game for a long time since finishing it, and since it's simple enough to finish it in well under ten hours, I even played through it again (which is rare for me!). So for these reasons, I can happily recommend SIGNALIS.
SIGNALIS is a also a love letter to classic survival horror titles Silent Hill and Resident Evil, on a surface level. But it goes beyond cheaply referencing them in crafting its own unique world and narrative, which has been the subject of much subsequent discussion in the form of video essays and discussions online. The true nature of the story is intentionally ambiguous on some levels, and so those looking for a cut-and-dry linear tale which puts all its cards on the table might be frustrated. But for those who derive satisfaction in delving into the symbolism, decoding strange puzzles, and considering questions about personal identity, what's real and unreal--you may well enjoy SIGNALIS's enigmatic, intricately crafted story. Though it's not necessary to do so in order to enjoy the haunting atmosphere, soundtrack, and familiar, retro style survival horror gameplay.
I've been thinking about this game for a long time since finishing it, and since it's simple enough to finish it in well under ten hours, I even played through it again (which is rare for me!). So for these reasons, I can happily recommend SIGNALIS.