I usualy don't write about games I haven't finished but I think I played enough of Signalis to where I have qualified myself and i do have opinions.
Signalis has some things to say but the plot and themes feel like they're trying a bit too hard to be vague and shadowy when, at the core of what Signalis is trying to do, is pretty touching. Using motifs of industrialization, automation, and authoritarianism seen from a gritty German aesthetic is quite interesting; using these to tackle a love story is a good idea. Unfortunately, the power a story like that should pack is lost a bit in a haze of ambiguity and I'm left a bit confused and disinterested by the end.
While the thematic elements round out to be a solid attempt at what they were going for from a design perspective the systems in place are a bit of a mess. The culprit here is the inventory system. It's completely unnecessary and poorly implemented. Signalis, like most fruits that fell from the Team Silent tree, has a key fetish; the things are falling out of your pockets. The issue is that the game wants you to engage in combat, going by the abundance of resources for combat such as health and ammunition. With all of these resources on top of the absurd amount of keys, you end up being more frustrated by the commute back to the big red inventory box. This also disincentivizes combat. This endless running around really does suck the tension out of the whole experience. By the end, I had no respect for the enemies or the threat they were meant to pose. Unfortunately, the only thing that did produce even a little tension was the absolutely incredible opening fifteen minutes, which was really good and got me to the seven-hour mark by the power of it alone.
There is something to be said about the audio and visual design which, for the most part, is really good. I think the anime-esque character design is a very questionable choice that, again, serves to zap the experience of seriousness and tension. This is mostly made up for by the awesome environmental design and fairly neat enemy design.
The audio is crisp and generally effective. Some of the industrial clangings can really drone on and become irritating after you get into the habit of just running around enemies rather than just engaging them. Silent Hill 2, for which comparison is inevitable, does this better because silence and variety in sound are much more thoroughly explored while Signalis can be a bit loud at times. However, this can be a plus if you interpret this aspect as more of a play on how repressive the environment is as you're always being watched by some sort of camera which was a cool touch.
Overall, I couldn't really bring myself to see the end. I had pretty much pieced together what happens but couldn't be bothered to sit through the combat, exploration, or key tomfoolery. I did end up googling the ending and I was mostly right.
Can't recommend but I am excited to see what these talented folks have cooking next.
Signalis has some things to say but the plot and themes feel like they're trying a bit too hard to be vague and shadowy when, at the core of what Signalis is trying to do, is pretty touching. Using motifs of industrialization, automation, and authoritarianism seen from a gritty German aesthetic is quite interesting; using these to tackle a love story is a good idea. Unfortunately, the power a story like that should pack is lost a bit in a haze of ambiguity and I'm left a bit confused and disinterested by the end.
While the thematic elements round out to be a solid attempt at what they were going for from a design perspective the systems in place are a bit of a mess. The culprit here is the inventory system. It's completely unnecessary and poorly implemented. Signalis, like most fruits that fell from the Team Silent tree, has a key fetish; the things are falling out of your pockets. The issue is that the game wants you to engage in combat, going by the abundance of resources for combat such as health and ammunition. With all of these resources on top of the absurd amount of keys, you end up being more frustrated by the commute back to the big red inventory box. This also disincentivizes combat. This endless running around really does suck the tension out of the whole experience. By the end, I had no respect for the enemies or the threat they were meant to pose. Unfortunately, the only thing that did produce even a little tension was the absolutely incredible opening fifteen minutes, which was really good and got me to the seven-hour mark by the power of it alone.
There is something to be said about the audio and visual design which, for the most part, is really good. I think the anime-esque character design is a very questionable choice that, again, serves to zap the experience of seriousness and tension. This is mostly made up for by the awesome environmental design and fairly neat enemy design.
The audio is crisp and generally effective. Some of the industrial clangings can really drone on and become irritating after you get into the habit of just running around enemies rather than just engaging them. Silent Hill 2, for which comparison is inevitable, does this better because silence and variety in sound are much more thoroughly explored while Signalis can be a bit loud at times. However, this can be a plus if you interpret this aspect as more of a play on how repressive the environment is as you're always being watched by some sort of camera which was a cool touch.
Overall, I couldn't really bring myself to see the end. I had pretty much pieced together what happens but couldn't be bothered to sit through the combat, exploration, or key tomfoolery. I did end up googling the ending and I was mostly right.
Can't recommend but I am excited to see what these talented folks have cooking next.
We're all Replikas, after all. In the end, what's one drop to an ocean? When I die, they'll just make another.
The horror genre is home to some of gaming's best stories and storytelling... sometimes. The genre is known for some brilliant works that confront us with all sorts of anxieties stemming to our human existence: the fear of death, of the other, of the unknown, of losing one's memory, or the integrity of one's body and mind, to name a few. Games like Silent Hill 2 are called classics because of how masterfully they pull the player into this turmoil of emotions felt by its characters, tying that to the horror seen on-screen. Yes, the guy with the triangular hat is scary, but he is also a manifestation of something far more dire -- and more real -- than a man with a big knife and dirty clothes.
Alas, the genre is often found diluted by other influences that detract a bit from the horror. Games that focus too much on the combat and/or and the shooting, or in the momentaneous scares instead of the overall experience, or in being youtube-bait with loud noises and hideous, incongruent visuals. Again, quality will vary among all of these, it's not that they're necessarily bad, but it's only every few years that we get one of those horror gems that trap us in an unrelenting atmosphere of dread, yet make us reach for more with each second.
Signalis is such a gem.
ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! 39486 60170 24326 01064
Coming out of absolutely nowhere, the game was developed by rose-engine, a duo of game developers living in Germany. It takes place in a distant future, in a part of the galaxy ruled by a dystopian regime, and where Replikas, androids whose different models aid humans in their tasks, exist in large numbers. You take on the role of one such Replika named Elster, who awakens alone in her ship and heads to the S-23 Sierpinski mining facility in search of her partner, Ariane.
To go any deeper into the setting would be to spoil it, as part of the beauty of the game is how it uses character diaries and environmental storytelling to slowly unveil what happened to the people of this world. More than that, there's a dream-like quality to the game's sequences that gradually evolves into a horrifying nightmare, the world around Elster making ever less sense as she stoically pushes forward on her mission, and that is better experienced than read about. All I can say is that, while some accuse the game of being too vague, beneath the nightmarish visions and seeming discontinuities, there's a complete and heartfelt story being told that the more attentive players will be able to piece together.
It's like everything was taken apart and put back together by someone who doesn't understand how any of it works.
Gameplay takes place in a top-down fashion and borrows a lot from retro horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, down to the puzzles and inventory management (and optionally, tank controls). Signalis toys with its players through its mechanics, offering them a variety of guns but little ammo to shoot from them, plenty of healing items you can't fit in your low inventory space, and an aiming system that forces you to wait for a good shot as enemies slowly enclose you. True to its survival horror nature, it's a game that punishes those who try to approach it as an action game, hoarding every item and recklessly engaging enemies, in a way that's beautiful to witness.
It's easy to take a superficial look at Signalis and say it's a copy of classic games, but that's not remotely true. For instance, rather than confusing cheap visuals for retro, the game presents itself in an impressive, carefully put together artstyle that meshes low-fi assets and low-precision geometry with more modern tech, such as dynamic lighting and a variety of custom shader effects, in a way that feels striking and original. Looking further than just visuals, though, Signalis's influences go far beyond just those two games I mentioned -- in fact, it goes far beyond just games, and almost warrants a bibliography. There's touches of Ghost in the Shell, Alien and Evangelion; there's references to biblical works as well as Lovecraft stories such as The Whisperer in Darkness, and The King In Yellow is more than an influence, it's a motif that makes frequent appearances throughout the story.
And all of it comes together to form an authentic, enticing whole, with the wealth of themes developed over the course of the experience being remarkable for a game with under ten hours of runtime. Propelled by its ideas of Replikas and Bioresonance, as well as its surreal hellscapes, Signalis paints a harrowing picture of existence in this distant, dystopian age where reality has stopped making sense, tipping its brush in themes of love and loss; of humanity, guilt and insanity; of memory, oblivion and identity. What makes you, you, and how much of it would you have to lose to stop being you? How much does the trauma we suffer change us? How far would you go for someone who is dear to you, and when does that love go too far?
And in those days, people will seek death, and they will not find it.
If you're a fan of survival horror games, Signalis should be at the top of your list for 2022 -- in fact, if you're in that group, I would recommend playing on Survival difficulty outright, as it makes the game's stakes even higher. Even if you aren't a fan of the genre, though, if you can put up with a few scares, the storytelling, visuals and overall experience contained within it are hard to miss. Signalis is a beautiful game that will make you uneasy at every turn – then have you wishing for more when it's over.
The horror genre is home to some of gaming's best stories and storytelling... sometimes. The genre is known for some brilliant works that confront us with all sorts of anxieties stemming to our human existence: the fear of death, of the other, of the unknown, of losing one's memory, or the integrity of one's body and mind, to name a few. Games like Silent Hill 2 are called classics because of how masterfully they pull the player into this turmoil of emotions felt by its characters, tying that to the horror seen on-screen. Yes, the guy with the triangular hat is scary, but he is also a manifestation of something far more dire -- and more real -- than a man with a big knife and dirty clothes.
Alas, the genre is often found diluted by other influences that detract a bit from the horror. Games that focus too much on the combat and/or and the shooting, or in the momentaneous scares instead of the overall experience, or in being youtube-bait with loud noises and hideous, incongruent visuals. Again, quality will vary among all of these, it's not that they're necessarily bad, but it's only every few years that we get one of those horror gems that trap us in an unrelenting atmosphere of dread, yet make us reach for more with each second.
Signalis is such a gem.
ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! 39486 60170 24326 01064
Coming out of absolutely nowhere, the game was developed by rose-engine, a duo of game developers living in Germany. It takes place in a distant future, in a part of the galaxy ruled by a dystopian regime, and where Replikas, androids whose different models aid humans in their tasks, exist in large numbers. You take on the role of one such Replika named Elster, who awakens alone in her ship and heads to the S-23 Sierpinski mining facility in search of her partner, Ariane.
To go any deeper into the setting would be to spoil it, as part of the beauty of the game is how it uses character diaries and environmental storytelling to slowly unveil what happened to the people of this world. More than that, there's a dream-like quality to the game's sequences that gradually evolves into a horrifying nightmare, the world around Elster making ever less sense as she stoically pushes forward on her mission, and that is better experienced than read about. All I can say is that, while some accuse the game of being too vague, beneath the nightmarish visions and seeming discontinuities, there's a complete and heartfelt story being told that the more attentive players will be able to piece together.
It's like everything was taken apart and put back together by someone who doesn't understand how any of it works.
Gameplay takes place in a top-down fashion and borrows a lot from retro horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, down to the puzzles and inventory management (and optionally, tank controls). Signalis toys with its players through its mechanics, offering them a variety of guns but little ammo to shoot from them, plenty of healing items you can't fit in your low inventory space, and an aiming system that forces you to wait for a good shot as enemies slowly enclose you. True to its survival horror nature, it's a game that punishes those who try to approach it as an action game, hoarding every item and recklessly engaging enemies, in a way that's beautiful to witness.
It's easy to take a superficial look at Signalis and say it's a copy of classic games, but that's not remotely true. For instance, rather than confusing cheap visuals for retro, the game presents itself in an impressive, carefully put together artstyle that meshes low-fi assets and low-precision geometry with more modern tech, such as dynamic lighting and a variety of custom shader effects, in a way that feels striking and original. Looking further than just visuals, though, Signalis's influences go far beyond just those two games I mentioned -- in fact, it goes far beyond just games, and almost warrants a bibliography. There's touches of Ghost in the Shell, Alien and Evangelion; there's references to biblical works as well as Lovecraft stories such as The Whisperer in Darkness, and The King In Yellow is more than an influence, it's a motif that makes frequent appearances throughout the story.
And all of it comes together to form an authentic, enticing whole, with the wealth of themes developed over the course of the experience being remarkable for a game with under ten hours of runtime. Propelled by its ideas of Replikas and Bioresonance, as well as its surreal hellscapes, Signalis paints a harrowing picture of existence in this distant, dystopian age where reality has stopped making sense, tipping its brush in themes of love and loss; of humanity, guilt and insanity; of memory, oblivion and identity. What makes you, you, and how much of it would you have to lose to stop being you? How much does the trauma we suffer change us? How far would you go for someone who is dear to you, and when does that love go too far?
And in those days, people will seek death, and they will not find it.
If you're a fan of survival horror games, Signalis should be at the top of your list for 2022 -- in fact, if you're in that group, I would recommend playing on Survival difficulty outright, as it makes the game's stakes even higher. Even if you aren't a fan of the genre, though, if you can put up with a few scares, the storytelling, visuals and overall experience contained within it are hard to miss. Signalis is a beautiful game that will make you uneasy at every turn – then have you wishing for more when it's over.
I'm relatively new to this genre, but I liked this one a lot.
The aesthetic alone SLAPS, german + japanese + some analog horror + some Lovecraftian concepts = really good idea and very well executed.
The game's visuals are really pleasant to see even though they are doing that PS1/DS thing. Specifically, the lighting system of the game is really good and adds a LOT to the atmosphere.
The gameplay loop is basically getting a key and opening X thing to get another key or something like that, and the loop continues, until the end. Although I don't think this is bad per se - I had some fun - this is pretty much the only thing you'll be doing throughout the entire game. Good thing it's only 10ish hours or so.
You'll also solve some puzzles and do some killing.
The puzzles are nice, most of them are relatively hard (especially if you're not experienced, like me) but most of the time, you'll be able to choose between solving it solo, or using some help that the game itself provides to you through documents and such. It's optional. No handholding if you don't want.
The killing on the other hand fucking sucks ass. Your character is slow and clunky compared to every enemy, and although it is probably intentional, it's STILL considerably frustrating. On top of that, the enemies REVIVE (yes.) so you have to burn them with a super scarce item if you don't want to have to deal with them again. This ended up being an interesting mechanic since you need to decide where to use said item, usually in places where you go all the time (hallways to saverooms, recurrent puzzles, etc)
The story is confusing, I'll have to watch some YT videos to understand it completely, but it's nice to read about the world of the game through diaries or documents.
The final thing that I want to add, is that, again, I am new to this genre. Taking this into consideration, I was not afraid, but wary, apprehensive ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Since you're always low on ammo, health items, and shit, you're afraid of using anything you have, cuz you don't know what comes next. I finished the game without using the nitro or the grenade thing ONCE.
I had some conflicting thoughts, cuz even though I WAS having fun, I was also feeling something that I should not feel while playing a videogame, at least to my notions.
If it was indeed intentional, congratulations to the devs.
The ending could be better, the final area is good but it definitely lacked some final boss or a final section.
I'm not even sure if the game only has one ending. I probably skipped something, but them's the breaks
The aesthetic alone SLAPS, german + japanese + some analog horror + some Lovecraftian concepts = really good idea and very well executed.
The game's visuals are really pleasant to see even though they are doing that PS1/DS thing. Specifically, the lighting system of the game is really good and adds a LOT to the atmosphere.
The gameplay loop is basically getting a key and opening X thing to get another key or something like that, and the loop continues, until the end. Although I don't think this is bad per se - I had some fun - this is pretty much the only thing you'll be doing throughout the entire game. Good thing it's only 10ish hours or so.
You'll also solve some puzzles and do some killing.
The puzzles are nice, most of them are relatively hard (especially if you're not experienced, like me) but most of the time, you'll be able to choose between solving it solo, or using some help that the game itself provides to you through documents and such. It's optional. No handholding if you don't want.
The killing on the other hand fucking sucks ass. Your character is slow and clunky compared to every enemy, and although it is probably intentional, it's STILL considerably frustrating. On top of that, the enemies REVIVE (yes.) so you have to burn them with a super scarce item if you don't want to have to deal with them again. This ended up being an interesting mechanic since you need to decide where to use said item, usually in places where you go all the time (hallways to saverooms, recurrent puzzles, etc)
The story is confusing, I'll have to watch some YT videos to understand it completely, but it's nice to read about the world of the game through diaries or documents.
The final thing that I want to add, is that, again, I am new to this genre. Taking this into consideration, I was not afraid, but wary, apprehensive ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Since you're always low on ammo, health items, and shit, you're afraid of using anything you have, cuz you don't know what comes next. I finished the game without using the nitro or the grenade thing ONCE.
I had some conflicting thoughts, cuz even though I WAS having fun, I was also feeling something that I should not feel while playing a videogame, at least to my notions.
If it was indeed intentional, congratulations to the devs.
The ending could be better, the final area is good but it definitely lacked some final boss or a final section.
I'm not even sure if the game only has one ending. I probably skipped something, but them's the breaks
This review contains spoilers
just let me stay by your side
Really good game that has amazing atmosphere but also has some minor annoyances that show up a lot throughout. Inventory management was good overall, but I feel like the flashlight should be just built in and can be toggled with a button, rather than needing to be equipped and used in the inventory every time. I also thought the hitboxes on interactable objects and doors could be sometimes too sensitive and sometimes not sensitive enough, leading to a few cheap hits from enemies just because a door wouldn't open when I'm mashing the button to open it.
que indie incrivel, um presente de coração pra quem gosta de jogos de terror antigos igual Silent Hill e Resident Evil
Puzzles incriveis, achei todo puzzle que envolve a frequencia de radio algo foda pra caralho, foi o primeiro jogo que eu fiz anotações em caderno e no celular pra facilitar os puzzles, achei legal essa experiencia k
o terror é algo bem feito aqui tambem, acho que podiam ter mais boss fights, mas a dificuldade que é voce ser encurralado pelos monstros é algo mto aterrorizante, ainda mais pela escassez de munição no jogo, toda bala conta
no final das contas, é um jogo não necessário, mas OBRIGATÓRIO a qualquer fã de jogos de terror, especialmente a quem ama silent hill, já que o estilo, a trilha sonora e etc lembram BASTANTE o Silent
9/10
Puzzles incriveis, achei todo puzzle que envolve a frequencia de radio algo foda pra caralho, foi o primeiro jogo que eu fiz anotações em caderno e no celular pra facilitar os puzzles, achei legal essa experiencia k
o terror é algo bem feito aqui tambem, acho que podiam ter mais boss fights, mas a dificuldade que é voce ser encurralado pelos monstros é algo mto aterrorizante, ainda mais pela escassez de munição no jogo, toda bala conta
no final das contas, é um jogo não necessário, mas OBRIGATÓRIO a qualquer fã de jogos de terror, especialmente a quem ama silent hill, já que o estilo, a trilha sonora e etc lembram BASTANTE o Silent
9/10
I had some interest in this game when I heard about it, but I didn't know anything and I never delved any further, but then I heard someone say it was a lot like and took inspiration from Silent Hill which is my favorite horror series and, at the time, Silent Hill 2 being in my top 5, I instantly picked it up on Switch. I didn't even know it was top down. It's rare I finish a game in less than a week because I'm very slow and take breaks often but I got every ending in 4 days. The first ending I got was Memory, and it broke my heart in a way I can't describe. I was Elster, I sacrificed everything for her, she was the only reason, and she's not there anymore, she's not who I was searching for. Ich bin wieder ich, aber du bist nicht mehr du. Perhaps, this is hell. I never even got to know what the promise was, what was so important that I would dive through hell just to see her once more? The Promise ending. They took my shattered heart and made me dig my nails in and rip it apart. There isn't much to say about the Leave ending I mean it's what you'd expect. The Lily ending is an interesting one, obviously meant to mirror Silent Hill 2's Rebirth ending, it's the most cryptic out of the bunch, blurring the line between symbolism and reality, it exists in this state of liminality which is very prevalent in this game, and something that many people don't get about the Silent Hill series, always on the edge of something, always teetering on the line of reality. I honestly don't have anything bad to say about the game, it took what I love about Silent Hill, specifically 2, and make it exponentially more personal to me, as a lesbian. You don't see something like this very often, a story so delicately crafted and so unassuming about a love between women in a survival horror game, it means the world to me and it's why I am so able to put myself in there. I love the use of classical music, though I'm very disappointed that none of the tracks that use classical music are a part of the soundtrack on Spotify. I honestly have zero complaints about this game, I've seen people say they didn't like the Nowhere section but that was actually one of my favorite parts, it reflected how demented everything has become not only through the environments, but by throwing you into rooms with upwards of 5 enemies, which in a survival horror game is a significant amount, some of the enemies are even previous bosses and those Kolibri that disrupt all your senses and are meant to disorient you as much as possible. Another thing it takes from Silent Hill is how it uses horror. There aren't really that many jump scares, the horror comes in the form of dread and panic. You never know what's beyond that door, you never know when you're going to healing, or ammo, you never know if you'll be able to return, and all that is exemplified in the last section of the game, Rotfront, when the meat starts blocking you off in real time. This game is everything I could want in a survival horror game, the retro future aesthetic, the almost cosmic horror, the love story, the heartbreak. I haven't mentioned it yet but this game has so much intrigue. There are so many unanswered question and things left vague and up for interpretation it's like everyone has their own version of events and reasons why everything is happening and that is absolutely perfect for a game like this. The experience is so easily ruined when everything is explained to you and I'm so glad they treat you with respect and let you figure everything out on your own. This game has made a significant impact on me.
It's time to go home.
It's time to go home.
We learn of greater things beyond our grasp as we live life. Mechanations and systems that see us no more than statistics in a dataset or cogs in a machine.
And yet, life is so precious to us measly humans. In this vast expanse that when seen makes us feel insignificant, why do we still hold on to life?
What beauty I find in Signalis is its ability to convey themes of cosmic scales without falling into tropes set by that stupid racist writer, like tentacle monsters and such. The enemies in Signalis are designed so well that you can recognize some part of them, and yet you cannot discern any real detail, and that to me was truly haunting and kept me on edge. This game really does still innovate with things like these even if it takes a lot of its ideas from Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Fatal Frame.
The genuine emotion each cutscene I witnessed brought to me was just incredible. I cried a lot by the end of the game, piecing what I knew and trying to interpret what was happening on my screen, trying to find this greater plot in such a vague game that gives you the plot in small details. What those emotions were felt by the end weren't through the overall plot, albeit it is still very thought provoking, but rather the simple sight I was shown, and left for me to interpret.
I told a long time friend a bit after I beat the game on how I felt about Signalis. He originally recommended it to me, and so I really wanted him to know. We both gushed over the impact of the game on us and just how incredible it was. By the end of it all, with all these massive systems that don't care about us, we could still find meaning and connect with one another over a little cool indie game.
Even when faced with dread and despair of overwhelming scale, the monotonous loops of life that we live through, we still have each other, and that will forever be precious to me, no matter how trivial it is in the grand scheme of things.
Remember our promise.
And yet, life is so precious to us measly humans. In this vast expanse that when seen makes us feel insignificant, why do we still hold on to life?
What beauty I find in Signalis is its ability to convey themes of cosmic scales without falling into tropes set by that stupid racist writer, like tentacle monsters and such. The enemies in Signalis are designed so well that you can recognize some part of them, and yet you cannot discern any real detail, and that to me was truly haunting and kept me on edge. This game really does still innovate with things like these even if it takes a lot of its ideas from Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Fatal Frame.
The genuine emotion each cutscene I witnessed brought to me was just incredible. I cried a lot by the end of the game, piecing what I knew and trying to interpret what was happening on my screen, trying to find this greater plot in such a vague game that gives you the plot in small details. What those emotions were felt by the end weren't through the overall plot, albeit it is still very thought provoking, but rather the simple sight I was shown, and left for me to interpret.
I told a long time friend a bit after I beat the game on how I felt about Signalis. He originally recommended it to me, and so I really wanted him to know. We both gushed over the impact of the game on us and just how incredible it was. By the end of it all, with all these massive systems that don't care about us, we could still find meaning and connect with one another over a little cool indie game.
Even when faced with dread and despair of overwhelming scale, the monotonous loops of life that we live through, we still have each other, and that will forever be precious to me, no matter how trivial it is in the grand scheme of things.
Remember our promise.
This review contains spoilers
i really wanted to like this game more than i did.
borrowing from staples of the survival horror genre, signalis combines resident evil's inventory management system with the atmosphere of silent hill (in particular i was reminded of silent hill 3, owing to both games portraying a lone female protagonist, as well as sharing some choices in enemy design). whether or not signalis actually innovates on these concepts is... another matter entirely.
we'll get to that. i have something much more pressing to talk about first.
which would be the story.
the story feels... vague. you'd miss most of it if you weren't stopping to read every note and document strewn about the game's vast levels, which is fine, but even with poring over every single piece, the plot feels half-baked. i arguably got the best ending of them all, (of which there are four, including a secret ending) and it still felt like there was so much missing.
you play as an android named elster, who is trying to find her partner. that's as much as you have to go on initially, and you never really get much more. for a game so lauded for it's story and characters, it insists on telling you the bare facts without showing why you should care about the characters and their relationship. as a player, you have to want to find ariane because elster wants to. there was little else to compel me, and i wanted to be compelled. i wanted to get invested in the tragedy of these characters :c their little dance scene was cute, at least
there's also a plot detail (arguably a twist?) that happens very close to the end that i don't think is convincingly written or explained. it just happens, as so much of the game does. much of the story is also just left open to interpretation which is fine, and admittedly elster and ariane are just part of a larger plot with many moving pieces. but nothing about the characters felt distinctive enough for me to even wonder much about the wider themes at play, especially since those thematic elements felt more than a little derivative. even the gestalt/replika terminology used is nothing new.
the gameplay i can't fault it for; it's fun, satisfying, and the puzzles are mostly great (i did kinda feel sad that the tarot card puzzle just... gave you the answer). the weapons felt good and i liked having the ability to burn away the corpses of particularly annoying enemies, preventing them from reanimating. the flare gun added an interesting twist to the gameplay as it could be swapped between firing flares and grenades, making inventory management more complex and layered from swapping in and out more types of ammunition.
while it borrows much from its predecessors, signalis' major gameplay innovation lies in its radio-tuning mechanic, which is equal parts fun and clunky. i liked the story significance it has - one small concession i will allow for the writing in this game - and it leads to some interesting puzzle solutions and enemy design. it just, unfortunately, has to contend with some jank in its execution (why quick tuning is not the default operating mode, i have no idea). i wish the game relied on it a little more, though.
the visuals and aesthetics of signalis were what initially drew me in, and i think remain its strongest asset, with well-realised, intentionally low-poly models evoking a nostalgia that seems key to the post-apocalyptic setting. the facilities you explore are largely empty, populated only by a few survivors - several of whom are already fatally injured when you encounter them - and the deteriorating androids that roam the halls, now mindless husks of their former selves. an eclectic mix of cultural inspiration also suffuses the game's atmosphere - a lot of cutscene text is in german, many of the characters have distinctly asian names and the world is saturated in soviet propaganda posters and imagery. i think you could easily make an argument for the intentionality of signalis and all of its idiosyncrasies as an art piece, particularly given that it has such strong aesthetic sense.
while signalis is a fun experience on a surface level, though, i cannot help but feel a little disappointed by so much of the discussion around the game centring on aspects that i personally found to be underwhelming and uninspired.
also i was promised space lesbians and they didn't even kiss
borrowing from staples of the survival horror genre, signalis combines resident evil's inventory management system with the atmosphere of silent hill (in particular i was reminded of silent hill 3, owing to both games portraying a lone female protagonist, as well as sharing some choices in enemy design). whether or not signalis actually innovates on these concepts is... another matter entirely.
we'll get to that. i have something much more pressing to talk about first.
which would be the story.
the story feels... vague. you'd miss most of it if you weren't stopping to read every note and document strewn about the game's vast levels, which is fine, but even with poring over every single piece, the plot feels half-baked. i arguably got the best ending of them all, (of which there are four, including a secret ending) and it still felt like there was so much missing.
you play as an android named elster, who is trying to find her partner. that's as much as you have to go on initially, and you never really get much more. for a game so lauded for it's story and characters, it insists on telling you the bare facts without showing why you should care about the characters and their relationship. as a player, you have to want to find ariane because elster wants to. there was little else to compel me, and i wanted to be compelled. i wanted to get invested in the tragedy of these characters :c their little dance scene was cute, at least
there's also a plot detail (arguably a twist?) that happens very close to the end that i don't think is convincingly written or explained. it just happens, as so much of the game does. much of the story is also just left open to interpretation which is fine, and admittedly elster and ariane are just part of a larger plot with many moving pieces. but nothing about the characters felt distinctive enough for me to even wonder much about the wider themes at play, especially since those thematic elements felt more than a little derivative. even the gestalt/replika terminology used is nothing new.
the gameplay i can't fault it for; it's fun, satisfying, and the puzzles are mostly great (i did kinda feel sad that the tarot card puzzle just... gave you the answer). the weapons felt good and i liked having the ability to burn away the corpses of particularly annoying enemies, preventing them from reanimating. the flare gun added an interesting twist to the gameplay as it could be swapped between firing flares and grenades, making inventory management more complex and layered from swapping in and out more types of ammunition.
while it borrows much from its predecessors, signalis' major gameplay innovation lies in its radio-tuning mechanic, which is equal parts fun and clunky. i liked the story significance it has - one small concession i will allow for the writing in this game - and it leads to some interesting puzzle solutions and enemy design. it just, unfortunately, has to contend with some jank in its execution (why quick tuning is not the default operating mode, i have no idea). i wish the game relied on it a little more, though.
the visuals and aesthetics of signalis were what initially drew me in, and i think remain its strongest asset, with well-realised, intentionally low-poly models evoking a nostalgia that seems key to the post-apocalyptic setting. the facilities you explore are largely empty, populated only by a few survivors - several of whom are already fatally injured when you encounter them - and the deteriorating androids that roam the halls, now mindless husks of their former selves. an eclectic mix of cultural inspiration also suffuses the game's atmosphere - a lot of cutscene text is in german, many of the characters have distinctly asian names and the world is saturated in soviet propaganda posters and imagery. i think you could easily make an argument for the intentionality of signalis and all of its idiosyncrasies as an art piece, particularly given that it has such strong aesthetic sense.
while signalis is a fun experience on a surface level, though, i cannot help but feel a little disappointed by so much of the discussion around the game centring on aspects that i personally found to be underwhelming and uninspired.
Thank you signalis for fulfilling my 3 psychological needs of Silent Hill, Lovecraftian horror, and girls kissing
this game is a hidden gem fr
she simply does not have heather mason rizz and I simply do not care
Signalis wears its influences on its sleave, taking the game-design developed by Shinji Mikami for the original Resident Evil and applying it to the psychological horror presentation of Team Silent's Silent Hill titles. It also incorporates film and anime influences, using concepts and framing from Stanley Kubrick (particularly The Shining and 2001) infused with Lynchian surrealism, all while taking philosophical and presentational notes from Hideaki Anno's Evangelion and Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell. The themes of identity, existentialism, and FLESH are all derived from those latter works.
Signalis is truly standing on the shoulders of giants, and yet while being derivative is typically counted against a piece of art, in the case of Signalis these elements are distilled into something artistically coherent. Taking all those influences and putting them in a blender doesn't just pump out Signalis, it takes a creative and dedicated hand to craft an experience around them that works, and Signalis certainly does. The new thing that Signalis is bringing to the table here is a queer, feminist application of these ideas, which allowed for fresh and exciting ways to explore these concepts.
Regarding some criticisms, I think the application of Silent Hill-style psychological horror to Resident Evil design concepts resulted in some awkwardness. In Silent Hill, the resource management is kind of there, but massively played down, with unlimited inventory space to keep the player in the moment. Resident Evil is more about planning routes, fussing over what to take and what to leave behind, being more of a pure gameplay experience. This is reflected in the tighter level and enemy design of Resident Evil compared to Silent Hill, where the latter has much less polished design for its enemy programming, but which never registers as a flaw due to the differing goals of those games. Signalis tries to have it both ways, which can lead to some frustrations and take the player out of the experience, with the limited inventory forcing the player to engage with the game on a mechanical level that undercuts the psychological horror. I think freeing up the inventory just a bit more could have alleviated this issue (Rule of Eight, anyone?), as well as allowing the player to combine items on the ground with those in their inventory, but most of the time the melding of styles works well. A bit of tweaking there and we're in the clear.
I think these minor gameplay problems hold Signalis back from being quite on the same 5/5 level as the two masterpieces from either side of the classic survival-horror spectrum, Resident Evil's 2002 remake and Silent Hill 2, but its probably the next best thing. I can't wait to see what the dream team of Barbara Wittmann and Yuri Stern are able to cook up next.
Signalis is truly standing on the shoulders of giants, and yet while being derivative is typically counted against a piece of art, in the case of Signalis these elements are distilled into something artistically coherent. Taking all those influences and putting them in a blender doesn't just pump out Signalis, it takes a creative and dedicated hand to craft an experience around them that works, and Signalis certainly does. The new thing that Signalis is bringing to the table here is a queer, feminist application of these ideas, which allowed for fresh and exciting ways to explore these concepts.
Regarding some criticisms, I think the application of Silent Hill-style psychological horror to Resident Evil design concepts resulted in some awkwardness. In Silent Hill, the resource management is kind of there, but massively played down, with unlimited inventory space to keep the player in the moment. Resident Evil is more about planning routes, fussing over what to take and what to leave behind, being more of a pure gameplay experience. This is reflected in the tighter level and enemy design of Resident Evil compared to Silent Hill, where the latter has much less polished design for its enemy programming, but which never registers as a flaw due to the differing goals of those games. Signalis tries to have it both ways, which can lead to some frustrations and take the player out of the experience, with the limited inventory forcing the player to engage with the game on a mechanical level that undercuts the psychological horror. I think freeing up the inventory just a bit more could have alleviated this issue (Rule of Eight, anyone?), as well as allowing the player to combine items on the ground with those in their inventory, but most of the time the melding of styles works well. A bit of tweaking there and we're in the clear.
I think these minor gameplay problems hold Signalis back from being quite on the same 5/5 level as the two masterpieces from either side of the classic survival-horror spectrum, Resident Evil's 2002 remake and Silent Hill 2, but its probably the next best thing. I can't wait to see what the dream team of Barbara Wittmann and Yuri Stern are able to cook up next.
Signalis was less than I needed it to be. That's not to say that it isn't a good game. Quite the opposite, it's a very well crafted game. The animation, puzzles, and game play loop are all solid, and it has some of the best ideas presented in a survival horror game in some time. However, despite these ideas, Signalis also comes across as derivative under a guise of homage, choosing to disregard an identity to call its own.
Signals has trouble deciding how to homogenize Resident Evil and Silent Hill, its largest influencers. Both games approach their horror very differently. Resident Evil’s action heavy thrills contrast with Silent Hill’s contemplative tension. Like Resident Evil, Signalis gives you a large arsenal of weapons and gadgets, but it still wants the quiet existential horror of Silent Hill. It just doesn't always mix. A grenade launcher is fun when dealing with a pulsating, claw adorned abomination, but Signalis chooses to be minimal with its enemy variety, much like Silent Hill. There isn't much satisfaction from blowing away the same shambling robot-zombie that have been prevalent throughout the game, but perhaps the game doesnt want that satisfaction, but then why bother with a grenade launcher? James Sunderland didn’t need one. Bosses and set pieces are minimal, giving you very little incentive to use the SMG with the exception of rotating guns around to save resources. Using the high powered weapons takes away from the contemplative nature the game wants to give you, but also doesn't give you the action satisfaction as a trade off. It comes up short both ways.
The game can also be unintentionally loud. Not in its sound design, but in its exposition and world building. Signalis is anxious to explain what we need to know less of, but neglects what we should know more of. The derelict mining facility is chalk full of documents about the planetary system, the evil empires and governments that command it, and will go into deep detail about the wide variety of robotic (Replika) models that populate it. Pages and pages of what certain robots like and dislike felt unnecessary and often took me out of the moment. What does a Scorch model do? The game says, but I don’t recall, and you only meet one, in one room, with minimal dialogue to speak of. In general, when it comes to horror, I feel like world building is not nearly as important as what is happening in the moment. Silent Hill 2 was about James and his personal hell. Why was Silent Hill foggy and full of monsters? Strictly speaking in terms of Silent HIll 2 (ignoring the cult explanations of 1 and 3, which Silent HIll 2 almost ignores completely), Silent Hill is the horror James brings on himself. We aren't told this either; it comes to us through context. We aren't told about what U.S. state Silent Hill is in, or of any pending murder charges James is facing, or what James likes to do on his day off. It does not matter. And in that way, Silent Hill 2 is vague, but in a way that maintains a certain logic though context. Signalis’ narrative is also vague and fragmented, but it does not present it nearly as effectively.
I am not averse to ambiguity. Vague writing has become quite trendy, and for games that do it well, an ambiguous story evokes strong emotion and offers opportunities to fill in the blanks through context. However, this tool can also be used to mask ineffective writing. In part, I feel the ambiguity was meant to invoke a sense of existential dread, but when I know more about the evil galactic empire than I do about our main character, I feel the writing is an issue. That is a shame too, because Signalis has a lot of interesting things going on. I know that Elster is trying to find her human lover in order to fulfill a promise amidst some lovecraftian horror’s summer vacation plans. It is a good and simple motivator. Why does the photo and person she searches for change midway through? Why are there multiple Elsters dead in the red desert? What even does the antagonist Alder want? I don’t know, nor do I know why it matters. Perhaps there are clues, but the core story gets so lost in the weeds. Of all the questions I have about the game, the biggest one is this: Why does Signalis see fit to blatantly copy other media?
When does homage end and plagiarism begin? Signalis doesn't try to hide where it draws inspiration from. In fact, it proudly flaunts its stolen goods. Some “borrows” are less egregious than others. Burning corpses to prevent them from coming back, red flooding the screen at a save point, a protagonist with a photograph of a missing lover they are searching for - there are a ton of ideas lifted from survival horror masterpieces. That said, no one game owns these ideas, but when you see them, you are instantly taken out of Signalis and instead become DiCaprio pointing at something you recognize on the television. Some “borrows” are far more blatant and questionable though. Midway through the game,the tight, gray, militaristic hallways are traded for rusted, burnt metal husk hallways with no map and questionable geometry. The place is “Nowhere,” and is named and looks exactly like the final area of Silent Hill. Later, Elster tears off her arms trying to open a hatch in a scene literally traced from Ghost in the Shell. Another scene rips off Evangelion at one point. Why? There didn't seem to be any meta commentary or theme to justify their existence. Surely the devs would know that they would be recognized. It almost feels like all these things were haphazardly thrown in because the creator thought they were cool. This is where Signalis’ identity dissipates. It is unfortunate, because when Signalis does something right, it really does it right.
Atmosphere is Signalis’ greatest strength. From the beginning, the game envelopes you in a foreboding dread. The empty halls lay dead except for the wall mounted cameras that turn to follow you throughout the facility. Something is watching you, but you don't know by who or where. The East German-esque propaganda posters and dimly lit, oppressive gray Soviet Bloc era architecture impress upon you the feeling that even on a normal day, this is not somewhere you would want to be. Outside an endless white of a furious snowstorm traps you in a place that doesn't want you there, and it all comes together when you find the radio.
The radio is the single best mechanic I have experienced in a game for some time. The number of ways they incorporate it sees creativity firing on all cylinders. It is also what makes the puzzles in Signals so outstanding, some of the best I have played in a survival horror game. While the radio’s functionality is its standout feature, the presentation really grabbed me. Tuning into the broadcast frequency of a numbers station or a lo-fi song that barely registers amidst the static made me feel alone and yet not in all the right ways. Somewhere, something transmitted across these frequencies for a purpose. Perhaps they are recent or maybe ancient, but either way they are looped and broadcast across this seemingly dead world. For someone alive, dead, and for what purpose we don’t know, and maybe we don't want to know. It is a flavor of Lovecraftian horror that I wanted more of.
At the end of the day, Signalis is a good game buried under the weight of its ancestors' ideas. It wants so badly to stand side by side with its inspirations that it comes across as almost mocking, giving us the sights and sounds of several classics, but disregarding their original meaning in their own media. Signalis is an “almost there” type of game, where somewhere down the line, someone will take what Signalis wanted to do and perfect it. I will be waiting with great anticipation.
Signals has trouble deciding how to homogenize Resident Evil and Silent Hill, its largest influencers. Both games approach their horror very differently. Resident Evil’s action heavy thrills contrast with Silent Hill’s contemplative tension. Like Resident Evil, Signalis gives you a large arsenal of weapons and gadgets, but it still wants the quiet existential horror of Silent Hill. It just doesn't always mix. A grenade launcher is fun when dealing with a pulsating, claw adorned abomination, but Signalis chooses to be minimal with its enemy variety, much like Silent Hill. There isn't much satisfaction from blowing away the same shambling robot-zombie that have been prevalent throughout the game, but perhaps the game doesnt want that satisfaction, but then why bother with a grenade launcher? James Sunderland didn’t need one. Bosses and set pieces are minimal, giving you very little incentive to use the SMG with the exception of rotating guns around to save resources. Using the high powered weapons takes away from the contemplative nature the game wants to give you, but also doesn't give you the action satisfaction as a trade off. It comes up short both ways.
The game can also be unintentionally loud. Not in its sound design, but in its exposition and world building. Signalis is anxious to explain what we need to know less of, but neglects what we should know more of. The derelict mining facility is chalk full of documents about the planetary system, the evil empires and governments that command it, and will go into deep detail about the wide variety of robotic (Replika) models that populate it. Pages and pages of what certain robots like and dislike felt unnecessary and often took me out of the moment. What does a Scorch model do? The game says, but I don’t recall, and you only meet one, in one room, with minimal dialogue to speak of. In general, when it comes to horror, I feel like world building is not nearly as important as what is happening in the moment. Silent Hill 2 was about James and his personal hell. Why was Silent Hill foggy and full of monsters? Strictly speaking in terms of Silent HIll 2 (ignoring the cult explanations of 1 and 3, which Silent HIll 2 almost ignores completely), Silent Hill is the horror James brings on himself. We aren't told this either; it comes to us through context. We aren't told about what U.S. state Silent Hill is in, or of any pending murder charges James is facing, or what James likes to do on his day off. It does not matter. And in that way, Silent Hill 2 is vague, but in a way that maintains a certain logic though context. Signalis’ narrative is also vague and fragmented, but it does not present it nearly as effectively.
I am not averse to ambiguity. Vague writing has become quite trendy, and for games that do it well, an ambiguous story evokes strong emotion and offers opportunities to fill in the blanks through context. However, this tool can also be used to mask ineffective writing. In part, I feel the ambiguity was meant to invoke a sense of existential dread, but when I know more about the evil galactic empire than I do about our main character, I feel the writing is an issue. That is a shame too, because Signalis has a lot of interesting things going on. I know that Elster is trying to find her human lover in order to fulfill a promise amidst some lovecraftian horror’s summer vacation plans. It is a good and simple motivator. Why does the photo and person she searches for change midway through? Why are there multiple Elsters dead in the red desert? What even does the antagonist Alder want? I don’t know, nor do I know why it matters. Perhaps there are clues, but the core story gets so lost in the weeds. Of all the questions I have about the game, the biggest one is this: Why does Signalis see fit to blatantly copy other media?
When does homage end and plagiarism begin? Signalis doesn't try to hide where it draws inspiration from. In fact, it proudly flaunts its stolen goods. Some “borrows” are less egregious than others. Burning corpses to prevent them from coming back, red flooding the screen at a save point, a protagonist with a photograph of a missing lover they are searching for - there are a ton of ideas lifted from survival horror masterpieces. That said, no one game owns these ideas, but when you see them, you are instantly taken out of Signalis and instead become DiCaprio pointing at something you recognize on the television. Some “borrows” are far more blatant and questionable though. Midway through the game,the tight, gray, militaristic hallways are traded for rusted, burnt metal husk hallways with no map and questionable geometry. The place is “Nowhere,” and is named and looks exactly like the final area of Silent Hill. Later, Elster tears off her arms trying to open a hatch in a scene literally traced from Ghost in the Shell. Another scene rips off Evangelion at one point. Why? There didn't seem to be any meta commentary or theme to justify their existence. Surely the devs would know that they would be recognized. It almost feels like all these things were haphazardly thrown in because the creator thought they were cool. This is where Signalis’ identity dissipates. It is unfortunate, because when Signalis does something right, it really does it right.
Atmosphere is Signalis’ greatest strength. From the beginning, the game envelopes you in a foreboding dread. The empty halls lay dead except for the wall mounted cameras that turn to follow you throughout the facility. Something is watching you, but you don't know by who or where. The East German-esque propaganda posters and dimly lit, oppressive gray Soviet Bloc era architecture impress upon you the feeling that even on a normal day, this is not somewhere you would want to be. Outside an endless white of a furious snowstorm traps you in a place that doesn't want you there, and it all comes together when you find the radio.
The radio is the single best mechanic I have experienced in a game for some time. The number of ways they incorporate it sees creativity firing on all cylinders. It is also what makes the puzzles in Signals so outstanding, some of the best I have played in a survival horror game. While the radio’s functionality is its standout feature, the presentation really grabbed me. Tuning into the broadcast frequency of a numbers station or a lo-fi song that barely registers amidst the static made me feel alone and yet not in all the right ways. Somewhere, something transmitted across these frequencies for a purpose. Perhaps they are recent or maybe ancient, but either way they are looped and broadcast across this seemingly dead world. For someone alive, dead, and for what purpose we don’t know, and maybe we don't want to know. It is a flavor of Lovecraftian horror that I wanted more of.
At the end of the day, Signalis is a good game buried under the weight of its ancestors' ideas. It wants so badly to stand side by side with its inspirations that it comes across as almost mocking, giving us the sights and sounds of several classics, but disregarding their original meaning in their own media. Signalis is an “almost there” type of game, where somewhere down the line, someone will take what Signalis wanted to do and perfect it. I will be waiting with great anticipation.
for me the takeaway was lesbians are the most powerful force in the universe
It's hard for me to put into exact words how this game made me feel but it's a truly special experience and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it.
Despite being from a genre I have minimal experience in (survival horror) I really loved every bit of it and solving puzzles made me feel like a genius. I've seen complaints about the minimal inventory but to me it only made the game feel more challenging, I really felt how important it was to think through my options and choose which items I wanted to carry and when.
As for the story itself, I feel so absorbed in it and all of its mystery. The game doesn't explicitly explain much to you but it feeds you plenty of hints, clues and details to help piece it together. I'm still unsure of some specifics of the story but when these pieces fit into place you can tell how much thought went into creating this game's world, and the story of Elster and Ariane. I can't recommend this game enough, it's only $20 and it's just so immaculately put together.
Despite being from a genre I have minimal experience in (survival horror) I really loved every bit of it and solving puzzles made me feel like a genius. I've seen complaints about the minimal inventory but to me it only made the game feel more challenging, I really felt how important it was to think through my options and choose which items I wanted to carry and when.
As for the story itself, I feel so absorbed in it and all of its mystery. The game doesn't explicitly explain much to you but it feeds you plenty of hints, clues and details to help piece it together. I'm still unsure of some specifics of the story but when these pieces fit into place you can tell how much thought went into creating this game's world, and the story of Elster and Ariane. I can't recommend this game enough, it's only $20 and it's just so immaculately put together.
Light and shadow. Hope and despair. Despite being at times almost impenetrably dark, Signalis is ultimately a tale of contrasts. It's simultaneously one of the most impressive and most disappointing indie games I’ve ever played. Impressive, because the story, setting, and visual design are absolutely top notch; disappointing, because I can’t help but wonder how much better it would be (and to be clear, it’s already excellent) if it wasn’t held back by the constraints of independent game development.
The DNA of the original PlayStation runs thick through Signalis’ veins. The most obvious influence is Silent Hill, lending generous portions of metaphysical horror and gameplay conventions like limited inventory space. Dig a bit deeper, though, and you’ll spot traces of Metal Gear Solid, as evidenced by style of the first-person 3D sections, as well as the presence of a radio with tunable frequencies. Psycho Mantis would feel right at home here.
Signalis spent eight years in development and it shows. The backstory, woven of interplanetary empires and oppressive societies, resonates fully with the graphics and gameplay, from the design of the metallic coffin you pilot through space to the emotionless violence of the Replikas you encounter. It’s a game that asks deep questions but never forces answers. You can ponder over the true meaning of your journey or you can run from room to room and blast Replikas. Regardless of how you choose to play, you’ll be rewarded.
Why, then, did I also feel disappointment? It mostly comes down to limitations. While the game looks great as is, the overhead camera perspective always keeps the player at arm’s length from the horror. Although pre-rendered backgrounds like those in the original Resident Evil games were probably out of the question given the game’s indie scope, a dynamic camera system like the one in Dino Crisis and Resident Evil: Code Veronica could’ve made for a nice middle ground. As it stands, running through the game’s rectangular spaces feels more Zelda than horror. Of course, classic survival horror locales like the Spencer Mansion are also largely grid-based, but clever camera work made those grids come alive. The world of Signalis feels static in comparison.
Combat mechanics are also not a strong point. Shooting is functional but not particularly fun, and usually I found myself running around enemies unless I absolutely had no choice but to clear a path. Perhaps this was the developers’ intent, but given the wide variety of weapons they provide it’s a shame that firing them isn’t more engaging.
Don’t let these minor gripes keep you away from Signalis, though. This is a horror gem that’s absolutely worth playing, thanks to authentic PS1 vibes and a uniquely oppressive atmosphere. Could a larger budget and a few gameplay tweaks have elevated it from very good to all-time classic? Perhaps developer rose-engine’s next game will provide us with an answer. I’ll certainly be looking forward to it.
The DNA of the original PlayStation runs thick through Signalis’ veins. The most obvious influence is Silent Hill, lending generous portions of metaphysical horror and gameplay conventions like limited inventory space. Dig a bit deeper, though, and you’ll spot traces of Metal Gear Solid, as evidenced by style of the first-person 3D sections, as well as the presence of a radio with tunable frequencies. Psycho Mantis would feel right at home here.
Signalis spent eight years in development and it shows. The backstory, woven of interplanetary empires and oppressive societies, resonates fully with the graphics and gameplay, from the design of the metallic coffin you pilot through space to the emotionless violence of the Replikas you encounter. It’s a game that asks deep questions but never forces answers. You can ponder over the true meaning of your journey or you can run from room to room and blast Replikas. Regardless of how you choose to play, you’ll be rewarded.
Why, then, did I also feel disappointment? It mostly comes down to limitations. While the game looks great as is, the overhead camera perspective always keeps the player at arm’s length from the horror. Although pre-rendered backgrounds like those in the original Resident Evil games were probably out of the question given the game’s indie scope, a dynamic camera system like the one in Dino Crisis and Resident Evil: Code Veronica could’ve made for a nice middle ground. As it stands, running through the game’s rectangular spaces feels more Zelda than horror. Of course, classic survival horror locales like the Spencer Mansion are also largely grid-based, but clever camera work made those grids come alive. The world of Signalis feels static in comparison.
Combat mechanics are also not a strong point. Shooting is functional but not particularly fun, and usually I found myself running around enemies unless I absolutely had no choice but to clear a path. Perhaps this was the developers’ intent, but given the wide variety of weapons they provide it’s a shame that firing them isn’t more engaging.
Don’t let these minor gripes keep you away from Signalis, though. This is a horror gem that’s absolutely worth playing, thanks to authentic PS1 vibes and a uniquely oppressive atmosphere. Could a larger budget and a few gameplay tweaks have elevated it from very good to all-time classic? Perhaps developer rose-engine’s next game will provide us with an answer. I’ll certainly be looking forward to it.
Incredible game, had me completely enraptured the entire time I was playing and I've continued to think about it nigh-constantly since finishing it. The atmosphere is incredible, the areas are very well designed, and I couldn't stop thinking about the story, and each new unfolding of the story only brought me in further.
I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.
I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.
It is hard to describe how much joy it brings me that there are a pair of brilliant minds at the helm of rose-engine who truly understand the horror video game genre. SIGNALIS feels like the best of all worlds, having borrowed the best parts of its predecessors to create something unique.
From the moment you open up the inventory screen for the first time, the inspiration is plain. The Silent Hill/Resident Evil is here, and the striking art style comes from a fidelity just above the PS1 era but not PS2. You also aren't locked to tank controls, and can even move around while aiming. There are a multitude of weapons (evidently a couple of which are very missable), but the ones I did not miss sound and feel amazing. The game also even features a radio, but unlike the one featured in the Silent Hill series, there are quite a lot of extra gameplay functions, many puzzles of which make use of tuning it to different channels to find solutions. A lot of the major puzzles lean a little too often on being collectathons to unlock your next area, but they are usually made up of smaller more interesting puzzles to claim the pieces. The map screen is well done too, marking the names of rooms you have visited and the status of doors you have tried (unlocked/locked/broken). It will also mark key interactables if present, but you aren't told if you have picked up every item which I feel is a good balance.
The story is intriguing and emotional with a focused cast of interesting characters and themes, and the tone is a lot closer to something like Silent Hill than Resident Evil. If you love classic survival horror and science fiction, SIGNALIS is unmissable. I'm really glad there are game creators out there who still truly get it.
From the moment you open up the inventory screen for the first time, the inspiration is plain. The Silent Hill/Resident Evil is here, and the striking art style comes from a fidelity just above the PS1 era but not PS2. You also aren't locked to tank controls, and can even move around while aiming. There are a multitude of weapons (evidently a couple of which are very missable), but the ones I did not miss sound and feel amazing. The game also even features a radio, but unlike the one featured in the Silent Hill series, there are quite a lot of extra gameplay functions, many puzzles of which make use of tuning it to different channels to find solutions. A lot of the major puzzles lean a little too often on being collectathons to unlock your next area, but they are usually made up of smaller more interesting puzzles to claim the pieces. The map screen is well done too, marking the names of rooms you have visited and the status of doors you have tried (unlocked/locked/broken). It will also mark key interactables if present, but you aren't told if you have picked up every item which I feel is a good balance.
The story is intriguing and emotional with a focused cast of interesting characters and themes, and the tone is a lot closer to something like Silent Hill than Resident Evil. If you love classic survival horror and science fiction, SIGNALIS is unmissable. I'm really glad there are game creators out there who still truly get it.
Why is that indie devs who make survival horror game throwbacks feel like they have no understanding how they worked? Alisa had godawful combat that it forced you to do and this one's got tedious ass puzzles. Also everything being uguu anime girls doesn't make this scary at all, it just reminds me how I remember people saying the Higurashi anime was so scary and it just looked goofy as shit to me. Man, is the modern horror game scene in such dire straits when the most mediocre stuff is just lauded.
Great, but ultimately lacking: Signalis is the model indie game. And believe me, that is both a blessing and a curse.
Like any good indie game, Signalis is niche. The survival horror genre it calls home is now long dead--killed by its own god-king, Resident Evil. Although 'killed' might be the wrong word--'evolved' is probably a better choice. But it's hard to deny that games like Signalis are a rare sight in 2023. If there's one place--and only one place--where we'd see an honest-to-god survival horror game now, it would be in the indie sphere. And if you're a huge fan of the classics like I am, then that's a good thing.
...Is something my lizard brain wants to say...but my critical side starts to take over. When I first saw Signalis I knew I could immediately write it off as:
"Resident Evil + Silent Hill with a retro sci-fi anime aesthetic."
I say 'write off' because watching a line-up of indie game announcements is like seeing them get procedurally generated in real time. And unfortunately, "Silent Hill," "anime," "retro," and "sci-fi" are some of the most common marbles that get pulled from the "let's make an indie game" bag. More importantly--now that I've actually played the game--I can confirm I wasn't wrong to pigeonhole the Signalis like that.
And don't get me wrong, Signalis is a good game. A very good game. Hell, for a team of two people, it's an honest-to-God miracle that it turned out this good. But unfortunately for Signalis, the flaws are all the more clear when you get this close to greatness.
The House that Evil Built
The first thing you could slight Signalis for is its total lack of originality. And believe me, when I say 'lack of originality,' I mean there's not a single unique bone in the game's body.
But that's not really a bad thing...right?
Right. I'd say it's not a massive issue.
The problem isn't that Signalis is a hodgepodge of a some basic visual, gameplay, narrative, and atmospheric ideas. The problem is that Signalis isn't really better than any of its influences. And if the parts aren't performing up-to-snuff, then I regret to inform you that the whole isn't really pulling its weight either. But let's shelve this point for now--we should talk about some gameplay first.
Signalis' hollistic gameplay experience is...well I mean it'sResident Evil meets the more puzzle-heavy focus of Silent Hill. If you've played those games then you know what to expect. If you haven't played 'em--and you for some reason want my opinion on them--you'll have to wait for my Halloween review series (that'll get delayed until March). But the games are, in a word, excellent. Perhaps not perfect games (Resident Evil would be rendered obsolete by its Gamecube REmake), but they're absolutely iconic and deserve a playthrough from anyone serious about understanding gaming history. Unfortunately though, Signalis' fails to improve upon the now decades-old survival horror formula and even manages to throw some new problems in the mix.
If you love survival horror as much as I do, then you probably know exactly what I did when I booted Signalis up. Max difficulty (or the max allowed on first playthrough), tank controls turned way the fuck ON, and every single quality-of-life feature disabled. The damn genre ain't called survival comfort...I want the game to hurt me plenty.
Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to see how the Signalis fails hardcore survival horror fans. The game is made like most niche indie game titles are--with the expectation that you've already cut your teeth on all the classics. Because, dear god...the designers certainly have. Nearly every room in Signalis is filled with brutal (and sometimes admittedly clever) chokepoints, insane enemy placements, and ultra-tight turns that are custom-designed to fuck up your day. Obviously the RE games had their tough spots--sometimes turning the dial to eleven is exactly what good horror needs--but it was nowhere near this insane.
Seriously, I went back and reviewed a good half hour of Resident Evil gameplay to make sure I wasn't crazy. And thankfully, if there's one thing I can still remember, it's how RE plays.
Within an hour, Signalis is throwing you shit harder than nearly anything Resident Evil offered--at least in terms of area design. Moreover, Signalis makes a crucial change that basically kills the tank controls for anyone but the most ultra-hardcore of super players. In Resident Evil (and its clones), most enemies would only damage you if they made an active effort to hurt you. The zombie bastards might shamble all over the mansion, but they didn't bite unless they made for a real lunge at you. This was--in all likelihood--a way to tip the scales back in the players favor. After all, players would be wrestling with confusing tank controls for their entire playthrough. Signalis, on the other hand, gives enemies the accursed touch of death--meaning a simple bump into an enemy, no matter how slight, equals damage. And believe me, on hardcore difficulties that means you're always just three bumps away from certain death.
Don't get me wrong, I love my survival horror games to be tough. But this? This was just unfun. There are just so many brutal enemy placements and crazy small bottlenecks that transformed the tank controls from the ultimate way to 'enter the survival horror' into the most unfortunate way to 'experience the tedium and boredom' of running through the same areas over and over again after dying for the umpteenth time.
These issues are only compounded by the game's peculiar camera perspective. I'm sure you know that most of the survival horror classics feature the iconic 'fixed camera perspective'--something that heightens the genre's atmospheric and 'cinematic' qualities. Signalis, on the other hand, decides to have a go at a tilted top-down perspective. It's not inherently a bad thing…although it definitely diminishes the game's ability to build a true sense of world like the classics did.
The real problem arises from how tank controls interact with this novel perspective--particularly when your character model is blocked by objects in the foreground. Tank controls are relative to your current position--meaning you can't figure out where the fuck you're going if you don't know which way you're currently facing. This sounds like a minor gripe, but it's a complete nightmare when a sizeable chunk of the game's rooms are filled to the brim with occluding objects and 'what-the-fuck-am-I-looking-at' levels of darkness.
Combine all of this with the game's most terrifying revelation--that the final boss is a bullet-hell challenge--and you have a recipe for a complete tank-control meltdown. I know I can't harp too much on an optional feature, but I'm frustrated they'd taunt players with a mechanic that's core to the survival horror genre…only to implement it in the shallowest way possible.
Needless to say, I decided to switch off tank controls within the first few hours of my playthrough. After all, why suffer? Especially for something as trivial as an optional control type.
I did keep the rest of the difficulty options cranked; although at this point it was perhaps for vanity's sake. The switch made everything far easier--the aforementioned bottlenecks-of-doom were suddenly turning into walks in the park. But tank controls aside, there were still massive design blunders to wrestle with.
Enemies in Signalis will often 'patrol' a room a-la Metal Gear Solid guards. To spice things up, they'll keep moving even when you exit the room--meaning you'll never know exactly where they'll be when you enter again. Unfortunately, someone decided to allow enemies to patrol right in front of doorways. This might not seem awful at first glance, but there's another element at play here. You have to go through a baked animation every time you enter a room. Meaning you're relinquishing control until the animation completes. You and I might not be game-design geniuses, but I'll let you imagine how this one plays out.
It didn't happen often…but I can't express how frustrating it is to walk into a room and suddenly take massive damage before I have the chance to even move my character. It's a cruel joke: underthought game design at its worst. I work my ass off just to survive with ultra-limited healing items, and this is what I get?
Don't get me wrong, survival horror games are supposed to crank the heat up--sometimes way past comfortable and even sometimes past fair just to spice things up. But this was absolutely a step too far, and another reminder that other design choices (damage-on-touch) were just not working out.
I'll save you the rest of the boring itemized list and just say that Signalis is filled with similar micro-issues that add up to some missed potential. To be clear, it's nothing game-breaking. Not even anything that makes the experience really that bad, but it undeniably misses the mark--even when it had plenty of classics to directly learn from.
The King in Yellow
So the gameplay is slightly subpar to the classics…but that doesn't tell the whole story. After all, survival horror is just as defined by atmosphere and narrative as it is by gameplay--often moreso. And in this sense, Signalis performs pretty damn well…albeit with similar failings that hold it back from excellence.
Atmosphere is a very fickle beast. I think you'd agree that the best atmospheres are indescribable, right? It doesn't help that the lines between 'mediocre' and 'incredible' are usually separated by a few arbitrary and hyper-specific aspects. Hell, trying to review any atmosphere is nearly as tricky as making them. Music, photography, and film already have it bad enough--and you don't even get to interact with those mediums! So good luck trying to make an effective atmosphere when players are actually in control. You just know they're gonna get fed up with puzzles, accidentally clip into walls, and die forty times before clearing the area…so how the hell are you supposed to make an ambience that keeps them hooked? Give 'em an hour and they'll start looking beyond the game's aesthetics and see just its mechanics instead.
I'm not even gonna try and explain the 'good' and 'bad' with any specific examples. Like I said, 'atmosphere' is just too tricky to pin down. At least, too tricky to pin down without turning this into a 3 hour read. So I'll just leave the point as an exercise for you. You have your own survival horror favorites…right?
During its best moments, Signalis actually manages to nail those atmospheric highs--which is no small feat for an indie game. The cutscenes really shine in particular. The choices in editing, cinematography, music, and pacing feel genuinely directed and inspired. At least more directed inspired than the average triple-A game that actually tries to claim a 'cinematic' heritage. There are certain shots, moments, atmospheric slices, and vibes that I'll definitely be holding onto several years from now--and what more could you want from a game?
Well, I want a game to not ruin its own atmosphere with a desperate amount of failed scare attempts.
You get treated with industrial noise louder than a gun every time you approach an enemy in Signalis. And man. Have you played a Resident Evil game? You're gonna be approaching a lot of fucking enemies before the credits roll. To add insult to injury--you'll mainly be hearing the same song over and over again--a choice so completely baffling that it nearly destroys any sense of atmosphere the game was going for. It begs the question: why? What did rose-engine hope to accomplish beyond setting up some cheap, simple scares? Even the scares fade away quick--you're gonna be hearing this shit two thousand times before the game is over after all. It's shocking that design like this made it past the basic playtesting phase.
Welcome to Horror 101: don't fatigue the audience.
But even the aforementioned good moments are, truth be told, not entirely of Signalis' own creation.
They are, quite literally, inspired.
Of course, all art takes influence from other work--we all take influence from our environment every day. But Signalis goes a step further. Several crucial shots, environments, and scenes are essentially beat-for-beat remakes (or rip-offs, if you're a harsh critic) of classic moments in already great media. Shots from Evangelion (particularly The End of Evangelion), Ghost in the Shell, and Bakemonogatari get recreated one-for-one while other iconic elements from these series get very clearly folded into the mix. Especially the Monogatari series' trademark frenetic editing style [THIS SPACE IS LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK] and the distinct scenery from Evangelion's final moments.
And while references and homages are not inherently bad…I still detract some points from the score here. After all, I don't think any of these moments--that I often thought were Signalis' best offerings--were any better than the original scenes they were aping. Hell, half of the time it just made me want to go back and watch the original instead, which is a danger when you try to make such clear allusions. Signalis does well, but that's largely because it manages to stand on the shoulders of very large giants without completely blowing it. Not a very difficult, impressive, or interesting task.
But beyond the very clear pulls, there's plenty of other media you could read into the game's story and general vibe. Since we're already doing a popular art potpourri (did I mention the use of The Shining carpet?) I feel pretty at-home comparing Signalis' plot structure to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. The similarities are pretty clear even at a surface level: the impossible-to-resolve narrative ambiguities, notions of dualism, the general dreamlike presentation, the thematic focus on love, desire, and identity, and the two sets of female lovers who may or may not be exactly the same people strewn across different versions of 'reality.' Well, 'reality' with a lot more air quotes than that. But anyways, making the comparison to Lynch makes it obvious in other ways why I think Signalis ultimately misses the mark.
I've made it clear that the game loves references, but unfortunately it doesn't stop at basic visual nods. Much of the story is directly pulled from/heavily relies on other works of art--namely Chamber's short story collection The King in Yellow and Böcklin's Isle of the Dead painting set. These two works appear frequently throughout the game's runtime, primarily serving as obvious signposting for thematic ideas. And, if I'm being honest, it doesn't work at all. The frequent references feel like a cheap way to impart thematic weight and gravitas without doing much of the work. Why is the King of Yellow here? Well, because the writers wanted you to feel the same way that the King in Yellow makes you feel. Why are we quoting Lovecraft? Because we're going for his vibe. Why are we constantly looking at the Isle of the Dead's many variations? Because…well that would be a spoiler. But let's say it [if you read the rest of this sentence you release me from all liability in your spoiler-free experience] involves doing something over and over again involving…death.
But--you might be wondering--what if I haven't actually read The King in Yellow? Or what if I don't know (or give two flying fucks) about The Isle of the Dead? Well…then you can go pound sand, I guess. You'll just be seeing some (admittedly cool) paintings and a neat book cover over and over again, but that's about it. You can certainly read whatever you'd like into these symbols--art's subjective after all --but I don't really find value in these works being here. Not on a thematic level, and definitely not on a metacontextual level either. They're without a doubt the most awkward plot feature the game has to offer.
And don't get me wrong, Signalis wouldn't be the first surrealist piece to be based on an existing piece of art. Lynch's Blue Velvet involves the song of the same name, while Mulholland Drive is practically one street over from Sunset Boulevard. Similar surrealist icons like Haruki Murakami don't pull punches when Norwegian Wood is about the Beatles song and After Dark similarly involves Five Spot After Dark. But I think the real difference is the use of these references. These two (among many others) seek to elevate and extend the feelings, themes, and ideas presented by their referenced work. Blue Velvet doesn't seek explanation or thematic resemblance through its source material. It's looking to take emotions from that artwork and convolve it with the darker and complex themes of abuse and sexual deviancy it uniquely presents. Signalis, by comparison, uses these art pieces to offload the hard work of thematic development to something they don’t' have to write. If you want answers, I guess you're gonna have to look up what The Isle of the Dead is. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Moreover, Signalis--like any other surrealist art missing the mark--is pretty devoid of truly memorable objects/places/moments that are distinctly surreal. Being 'weird' is one thing: it's trivial to make up shit that don't make any sense. Most bad writers do that every day. The truly surreal, in my book, presents things that speak to you on a subconscious level. They provide content that doesn't make 'logical sense'…but it compels you. It compels you through something deeper--something you understand but just can't explain. It's the kinda stuff that hits different. The shit that'll stick with you forever.
They're the sorts of themes, emotions, and experiences you couldn't possibly get in regular, non-surreal media. The examples--even just through Lynch--are plentiful and obvious: The Red Room from Twin Peaks, the 'room above a convenience store' and the ring from Fire Walk With Me, the blue key and box from Mulholland Drive, every-other-fucking scene in Inland Empire, etc. etc. Beyond objects, just about anything can be made compelling when framed the right way. Be it phrases like 'fire walk with me' or just the mundane act of walking into the alley behind a Denny's…anything can be transformed into the most horrific shit you'll ever experience--provided the author knows what they're doing.
Signalis is missing these types of beats and feelings to a painful degree. That's not a massive strike against the game…but it is a shame that they couldn't reach greater heights when they had such a good foundation to work off of. I guess filling the game with End of Eva iconography will suffice…
And to be clear, I don't think you really need to pick Lynch/Murakami to do this. Considering how much else is ripped from famous stuff, the creators might have been pulling from different sources. I'm only using Lynch and Murakami because they're famous and there's a decent chance you've encountered them already. I don't think I'm getting 'cool guy cred' by name dropping a more obscure guy who does the same shit. And if you actually haven't encountered Lynch or Murakami...then put down the damn controller! Experience something that isn't a video game every once in a while! If a Doom WAD can convince TikTok kids to read fucking House of Leaves…then let this be the review that gets you to watch Mulholland Drive and read Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World!
As for the actual meat of Signalis' narrative…it's pretty good--especially for a medium as devoid of good narratives as gaming is. The lore is…serviceable, the characters are interesting enough, and the pacing designed to keep your intrigue. It's not going to reinvent the wheel, nor is it the best exploration of these ideas. But it mainly flows with grace and manages to stick the landing pretty well--provided you can handle ambiguity and incoherence in your narratives.
I will admit though: it is very funny to see hundreds of articles, video essays, and comments get themselves worked up over Signalis' lack of conventional narrative cohesion. Contradictory and unresolved plots have been around for a very long time--and are just as valid a way to tell a story as any other. So learn to just enjoy the ride and forget about the logic. Does your life make any more sense?
Das Model
All in all, Signalis is a model indie game: It's a passion project born of a very small and dedicated team. It seeks to explore genres that have long been forgotten by the mainstream. It tries more experimental approaches that you won't find in huge commercial products. And it manages to do it all with a good art style, charming presentation, and great gameplay. A very reasonable $20 ask, and an awesome way to kill a weekend.
But I think there's also a darker side to being the 'model' indie game. A side so dark that it might even make it into an horror game like Signalis! It's clearly based on (or ripping off) several already great games. It has very little to offer in terms of new ideas that expand upon those masterpieces. It doesn't surpass, or even meet those classic in almost every way. It somehow manages to screw up things the 'originals' got right in the first place. Its writing is incredibly uneven and can't help but shove in distracting meta-references to other art. Its presentation is tied to incredibly played out niches. And…most importantly…It rarely seems to understand what made the games it imitates 'masterpieces' in the first place.
So what do you think?
I'm the kind of guy that would rather just replay Resident Evil than play a worse version of it. But Signalis manages enough developed ideas to justify its own existence. And let's not forget just how insane it is that primarily two people developed it. I know my ass isn't doing that--and I know yours ain't either. It's just a shame the game couldn't punch above the 'great for 2022 indie games' weightclass and into the 'great for the decade' or 'great for the genre' ones instead. But such is the nature of the 'model' indie game--they aren't seeking greatness, they're seeking the familiar.
Here's hoping that rose-engine's sophomore effort escapes the model.
Like any good indie game, Signalis is niche. The survival horror genre it calls home is now long dead--killed by its own god-king, Resident Evil. Although 'killed' might be the wrong word--'evolved' is probably a better choice. But it's hard to deny that games like Signalis are a rare sight in 2023. If there's one place--and only one place--where we'd see an honest-to-god survival horror game now, it would be in the indie sphere. And if you're a huge fan of the classics like I am, then that's a good thing.
...Is something my lizard brain wants to say...but my critical side starts to take over. When I first saw Signalis I knew I could immediately write it off as:
"Resident Evil + Silent Hill with a retro sci-fi anime aesthetic."
I say 'write off' because watching a line-up of indie game announcements is like seeing them get procedurally generated in real time. And unfortunately, "Silent Hill," "anime," "retro," and "sci-fi" are some of the most common marbles that get pulled from the "let's make an indie game" bag. More importantly--now that I've actually played the game--I can confirm I wasn't wrong to pigeonhole the Signalis like that.
And don't get me wrong, Signalis is a good game. A very good game. Hell, for a team of two people, it's an honest-to-God miracle that it turned out this good. But unfortunately for Signalis, the flaws are all the more clear when you get this close to greatness.
The House that Evil Built
The first thing you could slight Signalis for is its total lack of originality. And believe me, when I say 'lack of originality,' I mean there's not a single unique bone in the game's body.
But that's not really a bad thing...right?
Right. I'd say it's not a massive issue.
The problem isn't that Signalis is a hodgepodge of a some basic visual, gameplay, narrative, and atmospheric ideas. The problem is that Signalis isn't really better than any of its influences. And if the parts aren't performing up-to-snuff, then I regret to inform you that the whole isn't really pulling its weight either. But let's shelve this point for now--we should talk about some gameplay first.
Signalis' hollistic gameplay experience is...well I mean it'sResident Evil meets the more puzzle-heavy focus of Silent Hill. If you've played those games then you know what to expect. If you haven't played 'em--and you for some reason want my opinion on them--you'll have to wait for my Halloween review series (that'll get delayed until March). But the games are, in a word, excellent. Perhaps not perfect games (Resident Evil would be rendered obsolete by its Gamecube REmake), but they're absolutely iconic and deserve a playthrough from anyone serious about understanding gaming history. Unfortunately though, Signalis' fails to improve upon the now decades-old survival horror formula and even manages to throw some new problems in the mix.
If you love survival horror as much as I do, then you probably know exactly what I did when I booted Signalis up. Max difficulty (or the max allowed on first playthrough), tank controls turned way the fuck ON, and every single quality-of-life feature disabled. The damn genre ain't called survival comfort...I want the game to hurt me plenty.
Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to see how the Signalis fails hardcore survival horror fans. The game is made like most niche indie game titles are--with the expectation that you've already cut your teeth on all the classics. Because, dear god...the designers certainly have. Nearly every room in Signalis is filled with brutal (and sometimes admittedly clever) chokepoints, insane enemy placements, and ultra-tight turns that are custom-designed to fuck up your day. Obviously the RE games had their tough spots--sometimes turning the dial to eleven is exactly what good horror needs--but it was nowhere near this insane.
Seriously, I went back and reviewed a good half hour of Resident Evil gameplay to make sure I wasn't crazy. And thankfully, if there's one thing I can still remember, it's how RE plays.
Within an hour, Signalis is throwing you shit harder than nearly anything Resident Evil offered--at least in terms of area design. Moreover, Signalis makes a crucial change that basically kills the tank controls for anyone but the most ultra-hardcore of super players. In Resident Evil (and its clones), most enemies would only damage you if they made an active effort to hurt you. The zombie bastards might shamble all over the mansion, but they didn't bite unless they made for a real lunge at you. This was--in all likelihood--a way to tip the scales back in the players favor. After all, players would be wrestling with confusing tank controls for their entire playthrough. Signalis, on the other hand, gives enemies the accursed touch of death--meaning a simple bump into an enemy, no matter how slight, equals damage. And believe me, on hardcore difficulties that means you're always just three bumps away from certain death.
Don't get me wrong, I love my survival horror games to be tough. But this? This was just unfun. There are just so many brutal enemy placements and crazy small bottlenecks that transformed the tank controls from the ultimate way to 'enter the survival horror' into the most unfortunate way to 'experience the tedium and boredom' of running through the same areas over and over again after dying for the umpteenth time.
These issues are only compounded by the game's peculiar camera perspective. I'm sure you know that most of the survival horror classics feature the iconic 'fixed camera perspective'--something that heightens the genre's atmospheric and 'cinematic' qualities. Signalis, on the other hand, decides to have a go at a tilted top-down perspective. It's not inherently a bad thing…although it definitely diminishes the game's ability to build a true sense of world like the classics did.
The real problem arises from how tank controls interact with this novel perspective--particularly when your character model is blocked by objects in the foreground. Tank controls are relative to your current position--meaning you can't figure out where the fuck you're going if you don't know which way you're currently facing. This sounds like a minor gripe, but it's a complete nightmare when a sizeable chunk of the game's rooms are filled to the brim with occluding objects and 'what-the-fuck-am-I-looking-at' levels of darkness.
Combine all of this with the game's most terrifying revelation--that the final boss is a bullet-hell challenge--and you have a recipe for a complete tank-control meltdown. I know I can't harp too much on an optional feature, but I'm frustrated they'd taunt players with a mechanic that's core to the survival horror genre…only to implement it in the shallowest way possible.
Needless to say, I decided to switch off tank controls within the first few hours of my playthrough. After all, why suffer? Especially for something as trivial as an optional control type.
I did keep the rest of the difficulty options cranked; although at this point it was perhaps for vanity's sake. The switch made everything far easier--the aforementioned bottlenecks-of-doom were suddenly turning into walks in the park. But tank controls aside, there were still massive design blunders to wrestle with.
Enemies in Signalis will often 'patrol' a room a-la Metal Gear Solid guards. To spice things up, they'll keep moving even when you exit the room--meaning you'll never know exactly where they'll be when you enter again. Unfortunately, someone decided to allow enemies to patrol right in front of doorways. This might not seem awful at first glance, but there's another element at play here. You have to go through a baked animation every time you enter a room. Meaning you're relinquishing control until the animation completes. You and I might not be game-design geniuses, but I'll let you imagine how this one plays out.
It didn't happen often…but I can't express how frustrating it is to walk into a room and suddenly take massive damage before I have the chance to even move my character. It's a cruel joke: underthought game design at its worst. I work my ass off just to survive with ultra-limited healing items, and this is what I get?
Don't get me wrong, survival horror games are supposed to crank the heat up--sometimes way past comfortable and even sometimes past fair just to spice things up. But this was absolutely a step too far, and another reminder that other design choices (damage-on-touch) were just not working out.
I'll save you the rest of the boring itemized list and just say that Signalis is filled with similar micro-issues that add up to some missed potential. To be clear, it's nothing game-breaking. Not even anything that makes the experience really that bad, but it undeniably misses the mark--even when it had plenty of classics to directly learn from.
The King in Yellow
So the gameplay is slightly subpar to the classics…but that doesn't tell the whole story. After all, survival horror is just as defined by atmosphere and narrative as it is by gameplay--often moreso. And in this sense, Signalis performs pretty damn well…albeit with similar failings that hold it back from excellence.
Atmosphere is a very fickle beast. I think you'd agree that the best atmospheres are indescribable, right? It doesn't help that the lines between 'mediocre' and 'incredible' are usually separated by a few arbitrary and hyper-specific aspects. Hell, trying to review any atmosphere is nearly as tricky as making them. Music, photography, and film already have it bad enough--and you don't even get to interact with those mediums! So good luck trying to make an effective atmosphere when players are actually in control. You just know they're gonna get fed up with puzzles, accidentally clip into walls, and die forty times before clearing the area…so how the hell are you supposed to make an ambience that keeps them hooked? Give 'em an hour and they'll start looking beyond the game's aesthetics and see just its mechanics instead.
I'm not even gonna try and explain the 'good' and 'bad' with any specific examples. Like I said, 'atmosphere' is just too tricky to pin down. At least, too tricky to pin down without turning this into a 3 hour read. So I'll just leave the point as an exercise for you. You have your own survival horror favorites…right?
During its best moments, Signalis actually manages to nail those atmospheric highs--which is no small feat for an indie game. The cutscenes really shine in particular. The choices in editing, cinematography, music, and pacing feel genuinely directed and inspired. At least more directed inspired than the average triple-A game that actually tries to claim a 'cinematic' heritage. There are certain shots, moments, atmospheric slices, and vibes that I'll definitely be holding onto several years from now--and what more could you want from a game?
Well, I want a game to not ruin its own atmosphere with a desperate amount of failed scare attempts.
You get treated with industrial noise louder than a gun every time you approach an enemy in Signalis. And man. Have you played a Resident Evil game? You're gonna be approaching a lot of fucking enemies before the credits roll. To add insult to injury--you'll mainly be hearing the same song over and over again--a choice so completely baffling that it nearly destroys any sense of atmosphere the game was going for. It begs the question: why? What did rose-engine hope to accomplish beyond setting up some cheap, simple scares? Even the scares fade away quick--you're gonna be hearing this shit two thousand times before the game is over after all. It's shocking that design like this made it past the basic playtesting phase.
Welcome to Horror 101: don't fatigue the audience.
But even the aforementioned good moments are, truth be told, not entirely of Signalis' own creation.
They are, quite literally, inspired.
Of course, all art takes influence from other work--we all take influence from our environment every day. But Signalis goes a step further. Several crucial shots, environments, and scenes are essentially beat-for-beat remakes (or rip-offs, if you're a harsh critic) of classic moments in already great media. Shots from Evangelion (particularly The End of Evangelion), Ghost in the Shell, and Bakemonogatari get recreated one-for-one while other iconic elements from these series get very clearly folded into the mix. Especially the Monogatari series' trademark frenetic editing style [THIS SPACE IS LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK] and the distinct scenery from Evangelion's final moments.
And while references and homages are not inherently bad…I still detract some points from the score here. After all, I don't think any of these moments--that I often thought were Signalis' best offerings--were any better than the original scenes they were aping. Hell, half of the time it just made me want to go back and watch the original instead, which is a danger when you try to make such clear allusions. Signalis does well, but that's largely because it manages to stand on the shoulders of very large giants without completely blowing it. Not a very difficult, impressive, or interesting task.
But beyond the very clear pulls, there's plenty of other media you could read into the game's story and general vibe. Since we're already doing a popular art potpourri (did I mention the use of The Shining carpet?) I feel pretty at-home comparing Signalis' plot structure to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. The similarities are pretty clear even at a surface level: the impossible-to-resolve narrative ambiguities, notions of dualism, the general dreamlike presentation, the thematic focus on love, desire, and identity, and the two sets of female lovers who may or may not be exactly the same people strewn across different versions of 'reality.' Well, 'reality' with a lot more air quotes than that. But anyways, making the comparison to Lynch makes it obvious in other ways why I think Signalis ultimately misses the mark.
I've made it clear that the game loves references, but unfortunately it doesn't stop at basic visual nods. Much of the story is directly pulled from/heavily relies on other works of art--namely Chamber's short story collection The King in Yellow and Böcklin's Isle of the Dead painting set. These two works appear frequently throughout the game's runtime, primarily serving as obvious signposting for thematic ideas. And, if I'm being honest, it doesn't work at all. The frequent references feel like a cheap way to impart thematic weight and gravitas without doing much of the work. Why is the King of Yellow here? Well, because the writers wanted you to feel the same way that the King in Yellow makes you feel. Why are we quoting Lovecraft? Because we're going for his vibe. Why are we constantly looking at the Isle of the Dead's many variations? Because…well that would be a spoiler. But let's say it [if you read the rest of this sentence you release me from all liability in your spoiler-free experience] involves doing something over and over again involving…death.
But--you might be wondering--what if I haven't actually read The King in Yellow? Or what if I don't know (or give two flying fucks) about The Isle of the Dead? Well…then you can go pound sand, I guess. You'll just be seeing some (admittedly cool) paintings and a neat book cover over and over again, but that's about it. You can certainly read whatever you'd like into these symbols--art's subjective after all --but I don't really find value in these works being here. Not on a thematic level, and definitely not on a metacontextual level either. They're without a doubt the most awkward plot feature the game has to offer.
And don't get me wrong, Signalis wouldn't be the first surrealist piece to be based on an existing piece of art. Lynch's Blue Velvet involves the song of the same name, while Mulholland Drive is practically one street over from Sunset Boulevard. Similar surrealist icons like Haruki Murakami don't pull punches when Norwegian Wood is about the Beatles song and After Dark similarly involves Five Spot After Dark. But I think the real difference is the use of these references. These two (among many others) seek to elevate and extend the feelings, themes, and ideas presented by their referenced work. Blue Velvet doesn't seek explanation or thematic resemblance through its source material. It's looking to take emotions from that artwork and convolve it with the darker and complex themes of abuse and sexual deviancy it uniquely presents. Signalis, by comparison, uses these art pieces to offload the hard work of thematic development to something they don’t' have to write. If you want answers, I guess you're gonna have to look up what The Isle of the Dead is. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Moreover, Signalis--like any other surrealist art missing the mark--is pretty devoid of truly memorable objects/places/moments that are distinctly surreal. Being 'weird' is one thing: it's trivial to make up shit that don't make any sense. Most bad writers do that every day. The truly surreal, in my book, presents things that speak to you on a subconscious level. They provide content that doesn't make 'logical sense'…but it compels you. It compels you through something deeper--something you understand but just can't explain. It's the kinda stuff that hits different. The shit that'll stick with you forever.
They're the sorts of themes, emotions, and experiences you couldn't possibly get in regular, non-surreal media. The examples--even just through Lynch--are plentiful and obvious: The Red Room from Twin Peaks, the 'room above a convenience store' and the ring from Fire Walk With Me, the blue key and box from Mulholland Drive, every-other-fucking scene in Inland Empire, etc. etc. Beyond objects, just about anything can be made compelling when framed the right way. Be it phrases like 'fire walk with me' or just the mundane act of walking into the alley behind a Denny's…anything can be transformed into the most horrific shit you'll ever experience--provided the author knows what they're doing.
Signalis is missing these types of beats and feelings to a painful degree. That's not a massive strike against the game…but it is a shame that they couldn't reach greater heights when they had such a good foundation to work off of. I guess filling the game with End of Eva iconography will suffice…
And to be clear, I don't think you really need to pick Lynch/Murakami to do this. Considering how much else is ripped from famous stuff, the creators might have been pulling from different sources. I'm only using Lynch and Murakami because they're famous and there's a decent chance you've encountered them already. I don't think I'm getting 'cool guy cred' by name dropping a more obscure guy who does the same shit. And if you actually haven't encountered Lynch or Murakami...then put down the damn controller! Experience something that isn't a video game every once in a while! If a Doom WAD can convince TikTok kids to read fucking House of Leaves…then let this be the review that gets you to watch Mulholland Drive and read Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World!
As for the actual meat of Signalis' narrative…it's pretty good--especially for a medium as devoid of good narratives as gaming is. The lore is…serviceable, the characters are interesting enough, and the pacing designed to keep your intrigue. It's not going to reinvent the wheel, nor is it the best exploration of these ideas. But it mainly flows with grace and manages to stick the landing pretty well--provided you can handle ambiguity and incoherence in your narratives.
I will admit though: it is very funny to see hundreds of articles, video essays, and comments get themselves worked up over Signalis' lack of conventional narrative cohesion. Contradictory and unresolved plots have been around for a very long time--and are just as valid a way to tell a story as any other. So learn to just enjoy the ride and forget about the logic. Does your life make any more sense?
Das Model
All in all, Signalis is a model indie game: It's a passion project born of a very small and dedicated team. It seeks to explore genres that have long been forgotten by the mainstream. It tries more experimental approaches that you won't find in huge commercial products. And it manages to do it all with a good art style, charming presentation, and great gameplay. A very reasonable $20 ask, and an awesome way to kill a weekend.
But I think there's also a darker side to being the 'model' indie game. A side so dark that it might even make it into an horror game like Signalis! It's clearly based on (or ripping off) several already great games. It has very little to offer in terms of new ideas that expand upon those masterpieces. It doesn't surpass, or even meet those classic in almost every way. It somehow manages to screw up things the 'originals' got right in the first place. Its writing is incredibly uneven and can't help but shove in distracting meta-references to other art. Its presentation is tied to incredibly played out niches. And…most importantly…It rarely seems to understand what made the games it imitates 'masterpieces' in the first place.
So what do you think?
I'm the kind of guy that would rather just replay Resident Evil than play a worse version of it. But Signalis manages enough developed ideas to justify its own existence. And let's not forget just how insane it is that primarily two people developed it. I know my ass isn't doing that--and I know yours ain't either. It's just a shame the game couldn't punch above the 'great for 2022 indie games' weightclass and into the 'great for the decade' or 'great for the genre' ones instead. But such is the nature of the 'model' indie game--they aren't seeking greatness, they're seeking the familiar.
Here's hoping that rose-engine's sophomore effort escapes the model.
Signalis is a fresh introduction to games like Silent Hill for me, i hear about such games from a friend but ive never tried one out, i heard she loved this more than Silent Hill 2 which piqued my interest, and im really really glad it did. This is a beautifully put together game, the music is amazing and the art is wonderful, i struggle to describe these things as anything other than beautiful. The world is fun to explore and navigate and the puzzles are engaging with the clues being not too obvious. The setting of S-23 Sierpinski is one of tragic happenstance that you experience little by little reading pages left behind, only going through the aftermath of it all with the occasional hopeless Replika survivor. The symbolism and memories and how it meshes so easily with the real world, it confuses you as you wonder how and why is this happening, you want to understand every piece of this story as the pieces given to you are so very intriguing. The later state of S-23 Sierpinski in which it becomes more invaded by a nebulous meat mass of sorts is ever more depressing as it makes you realize more and more that those here will not be saved, and this is a place that is a shadow of its former self and the people it held. The Eule enemies are nothing to worry about, a standard enemy of sorts, but the more specialized like Storch and Mynah etc are nothing to scoff at, if they were alone. However this game is great at overwhelming you in this place that screams at you that you do not belong, and so these enemies are thrown in with each other to create more panic in the player, and speaking personally, it worked really well!!! The Kolibri were so overwhelming to me when they were the only entity in the room, but combine that with two Storches and Eules and i couldnt think at all, it was just panic panic panic panic! Dont be fooled however, this is a love story more than it is a horror story, one that made me tear up, in how a select few are able to do. Delicate are the details laid out, little by little you piece together what happened and why Elster is here. A game with a truly beautiful romance between two women, something i always find so beautiful and captivating (likely because im also a lesbian), that you only partially see up until the end. To see that love being here, in threat of being lost in this world where nothing thats happening makes sense, is just so very tragic to me. Also to point out the experience i had, i had gotten to the Promise end. Something about love is so pure, it hurts when something so despairing drives a wedge between it. If theres anything id say to my friends about this game its to please play, for no matter what you like, i think this is extremely worth the experience.
This game just really desperately wants people to make video essays about it
if great artists steal, this is some of the greatest of the medium. its only major flaw is its unwillingness to be truly inconvenient
Deranged puzzles, high-stakes item management, endless locked doors, strategically burning bodies. Signalis definitely feels like Resident Evil 1 survival horror. Cryptic story gives Evangelion at times. I LOVED this game. May be my 2022 fave. Everyone check it out
i hate when girls die
I loved the game, great atmosphere and gameplay, but now it's time to search a lore video to understand what i played
Stylish retro survival horror. I think it's a call-back to Resident Evil but I've not played any of those games so I'm not sure.
This one starts well with amazing atmosphere and great puzzles. The story is pretty confusing but interesting enough.
Unfortunately, the combat is annoying which was fine at the beginning because it incentivises avoiding enemies but later on the game turns into an enemy-spam fetch quest. This was a real let down because the immersion was so good at the start but the frustrating combat really hindered that, and when you take away the immersion you are suddenly left with not much worth praising.
This one starts well with amazing atmosphere and great puzzles. The story is pretty confusing but interesting enough.
Unfortunately, the combat is annoying which was fine at the beginning because it incentivises avoiding enemies but later on the game turns into an enemy-spam fetch quest. This was a real let down because the immersion was so good at the start but the frustrating combat really hindered that, and when you take away the immersion you are suddenly left with not much worth praising.
Unfortunately the game loses itself on the limited inventory, the game seems to work well the lack of resources but soon enough you will have an abundance of ammo and health and not even space or opportunities to spend it all. Still has a top tier atmosphere, ambientation and visuals overall
"Perhaps this is hell."
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"Perhaps"?
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"Perhaps"?