In a tweet by Yuri Stern, one of the developers of the two man team rose-engine along with Barbara Wittmann of Signalis. They remark how "I wish people would be more open to letting others figure out for themselves how their ending made them feel. Instead of telling a streamer "you got the best ending!", maybe you can ask "did you think this was an interesting conclusion?" And they can decide if they liked it or not" Their comment was in response to how some players classify conclusions as absolutes for true, bad, good, etc.

Stern’s answer caught my attention and I admit throughout my time playing games with multiple outcomes in the finale. I realize I am guilty of this too. And yet, this establishes a thought-provoking notion to provide clarification, evidence, and reasoning, beyond simple claims. Player interpretation differs for each individual. Classified as neither good, bad, or in between. It simply is. Consensus can say comparable beginnings, middle, and end. And yet, we conjure causes to describe something that can be difficult or perhaps easy to comprehend. In my attempt to understand everything throughout my playthrough, I’ve come to see it as a Lovecraftian Sci-Fi blended with Survival Horror. Reputable individuals have noted inspiration, references, and homages to King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. The Festival by H.P. Lovecraft. Evangelion by Hideaki Anno, Stanley Kubrick, Resident Evil & Silent Hill franchise Et al. To me, include Nier and Prey(2017). With a dash of Studio Shaft’s techniques. And while I haven’t read/watched/played some of those homages they harken too. A considerable amount of careful effort to not create a reference-filled fiesta akin to Ready Player One. Plenty of satisfying content and unique properties, enough to stand on its own.

You control Elster, a [Redacted] in search of someone important to her. This is her journey after her ship crashes onto an unknown planet. She doesn’t start with much, but a sufficient tutorial resides to grant a fighting chance. Make no mistake, this isn’t a game you run away from consistently. You. Can. Fight. Back. From a top-down 2.5D perspective. Lengthwise, the game took me over nine hours to complete and I didn’t have any major/minor bugs or crashes. Ran smoothly notwithstanding looking akin to a Playstation One game. An aesthetic remarkably familiar to our past of CRTs, floppy discs, and VCRs with unfamiliar technology. A retro-tech meets dystopian surrealism. An unforgiving world, which I became horrified to learn about and lost myself in admiring the art. The color red is used prominently, like in similar games: Scarlet Nexus and Astral Chain for blue, yet it doesn’t detract from the overall presentation. A pleasant strength tied to supplementary elements the game displays to the player. The retro style succeeds in its favor since you’ll be walking, running, and fighting through broken old corridors sometimes in derelict space stations and facilities. The soundtrack has some nice tunes, but you’re usually dealing with silence or at the very least oppressive atmosphere that can be ethereal. Some tracks lend to an ambiance with static to varying degrees of echoes of various sounds you wouldn’t expect like crashing waves, slow piano tracks, and even a tiny smidge of synth. Oddly enough, an inconsistent/consistent rhythm and tempo permeates; some may find grating to hear and will switch into the opposite range and become somehow ‘relaxing’ to listen. The dual nature of melancholic and comforting generates an intriguing dichotomy. Ultimately, the whole soundtrack is decent, though I wish for more variety to bring ‘life’ to the moment-to-moment scenes. Granted, I think this was a deliberate decision by the composers 1000 Eyes & Cicada Sirens to construct a suffocating pressure to incite ‘space hell.’ And I can’t help, but begrudgingly praise the decision to do so. It works!?

The combat felt very tight, responsive and didn’t suffocate me constantly. For several moments I would have despaired, but a handy walkthrough and some tips kept my spirits up! One could even take advantage of Steam’s new note-taking feature to remember critical material! Accessible during in-game and when you exit. So you don’t always have to keep the program on. Combat when shooting could’ve been tweaked a little to make it more accurate. Considering how the enemies' artificial intelligence acts and how we can’t be experts in hitting shots 100% of the time. I can forgive this slight. Certainly not a dealbreaker, but make sure to watch out for your ammo, aim well, and trust in your gut the bullets will fly through. Healing is painless and not complicated. Intermittent yet equitable drops of supplies to recuperate, so you're not left struggling if you carefully check your stock and surroundings. Heck, you can even combine components to make weapons use different ammo, healing, and key items to save slots since you only have six in your inventory to hold. Aiming isn’t even the main bread and butter. Melee weaponry serves as an acceptable tool to fight baddies. You can attain a stun rod to down enemies then kick them to unconsciousness, and push them freely when you need to gain some distance. Hell, you can even burn them when they fall. Cause boy oh boy these nightmarish creatures(I’ll spare you the imagery) can stand up once more! Thankfully, they don’t return to life or should I say unlife heh within a short time. Probably a decent length passes before you realize your foe is ready for round 2.

Outside of combat. I found worldbuilding to be richly rewarding and added substance to the environmental storytelling. I was craving to know more about the inhabitants, the government, the leaders, technology, etc. So much depth and breadth in going the full nine yards where I know about the whole history of nations, the background of citizens and military soldiers of a strict hierarchy during a tumultuous time. Missions and roles for each [R$%#%$#@] unit and even enemies are spared no expense in displaying how they came to be. Chekhov's Gun tickles nearly every reach imaginable and in effect shines so hard, even in the darkest moments. I constantly read countless lore notes in the form of classified documents, redacted information, diaries, and even propaganda posters! No shortage of information almost to the point of overload, however, Barbara and Yuri have emerged with a balanced tightrope to not overgorge the player while not slipping morsels of info. Proportionally, to induce a sense of curiosity to know more, nagging at the far reaches of your brain to check every room for more data to consume. One cool feature in the form of an archive in the menu, you can access anytime. No need to backtrack to the origin of papers. Thereby, making recollections of pertinent details at the press of a button, straightforward.

The puzzles are solid. Used to great effect to tie into the lore whenever possible. Some examples are lockpicking, numerical password combinations and structural obstacles that could hinder your progression. So retracing your steps for an important piece is advisable to progress. There are extras, but I'll refrain from listing them. Best as a surprise. I found the inclusion of them to be welcoming. Didn’t overstay, while having plentiful time for me to seek answers/clues. Some solutions are more obscure than the rest. Though, for the most part, all of them I felt were fitting, and the hints satisfactory to figure out the solution. Careful precision to not go rage-inducing while not making it too easy for newcomers and veterans. Remember it's okay to fail some puzzles and return with a clearer mind.

Likable NPCs. They're personable, relatable, and offer intriguing perspectives during my playthrough. They complement Elster, by acting as foils. With their objectives at large and didn’t detract at all from their sheer presence. I was content, I am not alone all the time knowing comrades are nearby, who are bravely keeping on despite the horrific nightmares, and even more where I’ll refrain from stating, but suffice it say I was sad to see. A dangerous atmosphere prevails and the mood can become bleak in the blink of an eye. Not to the extent that I became leery. While it may seem dangerous due to the unnatural air and presence. These NPCs 'helped' me on my journey and for that, I am grateful for their company but also their dialog. Conversations revealed vital pieces to tying what happened on the planet and what threads they could link to the plot.

The horror elements are not, at least to me, horrific to the point I was disgusted or vomitable. Didn’t see major jump scares to remove my soul from my body, and I am incredibly grateful this didn't occur. Constant jump scares can cheapen the experience if not done well in my opinion. Again balance is integral and the devs have managed to produce a nice gameplay loop of exploration, scavenging, combat, reading lore, drip-feeding you cutscenes, and solving puzzles to be as painless as possible while still creating enough difficulty for a challenge.

Speaking of the story. I’m a bit mixed on. And this isn’t to say it is a bad thing at all. Think of my mixed feelings as neither positive nor negative, but food for thought I'll outline. In aspects, the game tries to impart to the player. I felt the execution was fragmented. It’s not clear what is shown to be definitive or literal to assert a conclusion on which I can base my facts and evidence. This may sound confusing. And I apologize if I’m not making sense. To clarify, you have to build the ‘narrative’ so to speak. This is fine in theory and there is a thread to follow. But sometimes the writing can be somewhat obscure along with puzzling. This pains me greatly since I couldn’t get enough of the worldbuilding. In the end, I was left with a ‘hmmm’ on the execution. Certainly, games like the Souls series are similar in environmental storytelling. Not so much on the beats of the plot to bridge together, but the world itself you piece towards to understand in your eyes what the story could be.

I wish the inventory limit of six expanded as you progressed further. Like up to eight. I didn’t find it too troublesome to turn back to my storage chest to unload my stuff. Yet, this exhibits a constant chore since I want to collect everything in nooks and crannies only for me to check the nearest save room to remove them. This isn’t a big deal. I could just run past enemies, right? True. Elster does have the capability. The issue is when I am running, some enemies will come alive to attack. After I already defeated them. Making traversal to new areas a slightly tedious to do, since I must retreat and precious supplies may be utilized. This is exacerbated when I have to redo this method again when I need more space for key objects to progress. A solution I was ruminating; having separate slots for crucial items. Like, say a flashlight or gun. As accessories.

Lore papers could’ve been more definitive as vague as I could put it. In doing so, the given knowledge would become stronger to grasp. Some notes are clear-cut to comprehend, but these ties could've been linked to creating a tighter cohesion in interpreting the plot. We are given an ample amount of lore to draw our conclusions. This is fine in theory and I’ve seen examples amongst my peers that resonated more with them. So the execution worked. For me, however, I’m stuck in the middle of a hallway facing a door of “greatness” and behind me, a door says “Not greatness.” I wonder if the devs could’ve made some threads easier to digest and distinguish. An alternative drip to gently feed the player. Admittedly, this is my personal preference and should not be taken as a common critique of the game. Individuals aside from me have rated the game highly which is fair. And I have seen the inverse side too. So where do I land? Sweats nervously In between those spectrum's sadly enough. There is a solid vision the two-man development studio established and they walk a tightrope in balancing narrative ties through the gameplay and cutscenes with a red Chekov’s gun to use every tie imaginable to draw players and I can say it prevails with some stumbles. I’m not sure if this is a method of drawing everyone to understand completely what the developers try to impart by the time the end credits roll. Nonetheless, I am unsure if this is a title that could vibe with you until a session of play. And in that respect, makes this incredibly challenging to quantify against the entirety of what the game offers.

Speaking of the ending. And again, no spoiler territory. I think easier alternatives were possible to attempt other outcomes. I got one of them and after checking out the rest, I couldn’t help but conclude the requirements are obscure for players to know. I had to research guides and see how technical the wire can run. Won’t delve into the exact details, but suffice it to say, I surmise avenues are within reach making the process less burdensome if the devs were to patch it. Though I doubt they would. Whether or not, newcomers know multiple resolutions. Before I forget, please go on Youtube for the rest, if you were unsatisfied with the one you got. Just a gentle reminder. One of them is so convoluted the community cooperated to discover the hidden requirements. Sszz127 from the Signalis subreddit was the first to discover clues leading to it as far as I know.

I'm sad to report how strenuous it is to depict my proper feelings in describing how much the title appeals to me against the concerns I stated earlier. A variable slow-burn, that may catch those who don’t mind it. Others may find it not as resonating. Besides the regular praise, I see fellow reviewers and fellow peers of mine who call it “a masterpiece, a return to modern survival horror, one to watch out for and more.” Wonderful seeing high acclaim regarding the game in their manner and I find gratifying content is an enjoyable affair. Equally as those who offer a differing perspective from the norm with evidence. I am at a crossroads where I’m not sure. To discern if it’s a must-play for fans of the genre due to my lacking experience in the department. I’ve only played Metro 2033, The Evil Within series, Bloodborne, Omori, etc. So I’m not an expert. If this can appeal to a newcomer. One could even take advantage of Steam’s two-hour refund policy to see if it appeals to you. And if it doesn’t, no shame in refunding. For me, I was hooked after the first hour.

I believe Signalis may provide newcomers with a unique mileage that might vary experience and value. For horror fans and for those who are not used to it like me. I love the worldbuilding and how retro-tech merges wonderfully with the dystopian sci-fi era. The lifeless music at various points forge an almost oppressive atmosphere that is both melancholy and comforting. The combat is balanced to the extent that I wasn't quite a female Rambo, but someone like Ellen Ripley(Aliens) and Leeloo(Fifth Element). Elster perseveres despite adversity. Has no crazy powers nor impressive intellect to bedazzle us at every turn. She simply is a [redacted]. And I like that. Gameplay elements like puzzling solving were fun and tied nicely with the environmental storytelling. Terror aspects turned out to be not too scary or overdone in a manner I found tiresome to see. A genuine effort by rose-engine to keep them challenging and fair in such a way I still endeavored to keep going. Regardless of my struggles, and food for thought, a cool hidden gem exists. Moreover, I echo what Stern posits about not classifying endings as absolutes and asking yourself how the game made you feel and why? Whether at the end of your journey, you conceive some semblance to share beyond the scope of classifying it in categories. Then by all means, please do so. Your voice is appreciated. There is beauty to find out if Your experience left you something meaningful or not.

7.7/10

Additional Material I couldn’t fit in this review, but may prove useful for those who played the game already:
Source for twitter link by Yuri Stern
Signalis Index - Theory, Lore, Commentary, Symbolism, Reference, Music, Decipher, Data-mining, Unsolved questions and more
Steam Guide on endings with Authors Plot Interpretation - Major spoilers
A Literalist view of Signalis - Major spoilers
A Non-Literalist View of Signalis - Major Spoilers
A Youtuber’s take on Signalis - Warning major spoilers
Camera Perspective mod
Final stats of my playthrough
My thoughts on the ending/s of Signalis
^Major spoilers throughout. Only click if you finished the game.

Note: If any links are down please let me know and I’ll try and correct that.
7-30-23 - Note - Added a Non-Literalist View of Signalis and added further clarification on the Signalis Index link.
11-29-23 - Edited first opening paragraph with correct pronouns. 99% of text still intact and largely unchanged.

If you are sad that bloober team is going to stomp on everything that Silent Hill 2 is all about with their eventual dogshit remake than don't worry because the best silent hill game made since 3 is right here! Enjoy this game while you can before people try and tell you it’s overrated or nothing but annoying people talk about it and get you mad

After losing my save when the game came out and putting off replaying back to where i was 2 years later i am happy i finally did it. I knew i would love it, i knew it would be amazing and still it blew me away.

The presentation of Signalis is off the charts; very obviously drawing on the aesthetics and atmospheric feel of numerous survival horror games of the 5th and 6th generation and doing those styles in a committed and distinctive way. The environments, character design, sound design, animated cutscenes and occasional first person sequences work so well in producing a visual marvel that was executed so well by just two people. The title screen and menus alone are a strong show of confidence and style than most AAA games can barely muster today, outclassing even recent Resident Evil that is somehow still missing the iconic flare of the announcer saying "Resident EVIL" when booting up the new games. I guess it's just too campy nowadays to do something like that.

I just wish I liked Signalis even more on the gameplay front. It utilizes many great approaches from Resident Evil, in particular the first entry, but the execution felt off or even too derivative, the latter of which doesn't bother me that much. The 6 item limit felt too restrictive for the amount of puzzle solving and items the game gives out, which leads to a ton of backtracking through the same pathways to the same item box to stash items and run back through the same path to get the item(s) you left. Incorporating a way to expand to at least 8 slots like in RE1 or assigning specific items like the flashlight (not bad but bizarre to make that take an inventory slot) to key items would alleviate this issue without potentially undercutting the tension with decision-making of space for more resources to deal with enemies versus holding items for main and optional progression. (Also apparently there's been a patch for this that addresses this complaint but I didn't experience it on switch).

I was also surprised with how poor the shooting and lock on is here. Even classic RE has more accurate aiming and in Signalis there were many times where shots straight up missed opponents even while I was directly facing them. It's very wonky which's probably in service of the tension of encounters, but I felt frustrated more than tense when mess ups like that happened commonly. Not to mention many encounters can be cheesed easily by running past enemies or tanking damage rather than having to waste resources because of a missed shot or two. They were better alternatives for me than just downing enemies and this never really failed in my run of the game. This isn't much of a gripe for me, but it could've been addressed through introducing a new enemy type that challenged or punished running or even allowing enemies or certain ones to follow you into or walk through doors into different rooms. It would make encounters and traversal even more perilous and unexpected and be much better than recycling one of my least favorite mechanics from RE1 (burning bodies) and upping it by applying it to all enemies and making it way more frequent, thus making me less likely to want to use my weapons.

That said, the puzzles do make up for the lackluster survival horror gameplay. While they don't involve too much brain power to solve, most of them possess quite a bit of intriguing lore and detail to the world and made me even more curious about my surroundings. The signal based puzzles and few enemy encounters that used the radio were a sonic and visual treat respectively and added even more questions and intrigue to the setting than just only reading random notes that gesture to the going-ons of the place. I also love the textural differences across some puzzles that make it feel like you are operating or fumbling with some outdated or obtuse tech as it prevents them from being very simplistic in feel/look and solving. The puzzles overall work in part in crafting a strong story and world for many excellent survival horror games and Signalis carries on this tradition with its puzzles communicating a great sense of environmental design and storytelling, aside from the hilarious amount of puzzle solving prizes being more key cards.

Level design and exploration is probably the only other detriment I have with Signalis. While I love the amount of detail put into each of the rooms and spaces, it felt really straightforward much of the runtime. I definitely tried exploring around the rooms for anything interesting that would come up, but this usually didn't amount to much outside of the usual finds. Nothing much off the beaten path or even an alternate path or two that makes exploring more inviting. This isn't much of a huge thing, but it was a bit disappointing going down just one predetermined path for most of the time.

Could it have used less overt mentions to stuff like Evangelion, Silent Hill, Resident Evil and other horror and sci-fi media to cultivate more of its own storytelling? Yeah I agree and it is a bit grating in some moments of directly signaling said influences that did take me out of a good game Signalis is; the whole 'nowhere' section was very eye rolling given Silent Hill 1 is very fresh on my mind and I didn't care much for the take on it here. It isn't all overwhelming and the game still manages to carve out its own path with its lore, style and characters like Elster and Ariane and their cute relationship. I don't really agree with Signalis being the 'best' aspects of classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill like some people dub it, but it's still a strong and compelling effort in its own right. I enjoyed this sapphic ass tale and I'm interested in what the developers make next that will probably be even better than Signalis for me. Hopefully without a puzzle that is completely spoiled by a note sitting five feet away from it.

You're trying too hard, bro! More or less, the main reason as to why I'm generally disinterested in modern horror games, which tend to serve as vehicles for cryptic lore dumps for YouTube analysts to pore over rather than fright-enhanced decision making. I don't want mindfuckery, I want regular fuckery, something that I was hopeful would be present in this kind of return to form. This game was sold to me as the best of Resident Evil meets the best of Silent Hill, but, in reality, it's the worst of both: Resident Evil's cramped item management without any of the brilliant circular level design that makes Spencer Mansion thrilling to route through even after dozens of playthroughs, and Silent Hill's scary-because-it's-scary imagery without any of the dread that defines each and every one of Harry Mason's fog-enveloped footsteps. Instead, we've got jumpcuts to character closeups and spooky stanzas of poetry, pulsating masses of flesh on the ground, and handwritten notes conveniently censored at the most ominous places- surface-level stuff that makes horror games effective for people who don't understand what makes horror games effective. I'm not engaged enough to decipher your jumbled-up story, I'm not interested in your generic sci-fi setting, and I'm not even scared! But, maybe if I actually felt like the character I was playing as, I would be! Fast movement speed and wide hallways make enemies pitifully easy to juke, and thus not at all intimidating. Exploration isn't exciting or intriguing because of how straightforward it is on a grand scale. Plentiful items and infinite saves mean there's not any pressure on you even if you do wind up making a mistake somehow. I initially chalked this all up to misguided attempts at balance, but they get harder and harder to defend once you realize that all you're really doing is (often literally) opening up a locked door just to find a key for another locked door somewhere else on the map, which makes the experience feel more like a parody of classic survival horror games rather than an earnest attempt at recapturing the magic. I hardly took out any enemies, I didn't burn a single body, and, on several occasions, I killed myself on purpose because doing that was quicker than having to run back to the save room to retrieve the specific contextual item I needed, which is about as damning as you can get for this kind of game. The only strategy to pick up on is keeping nothing at all on your person in between storage box visits so that you can handle when the game inevitably dumps five key items on you in successive rooms. Mikami's rolling in his grave!

The lone bright spots are the traditional puzzles, which, although are few and far between, frequently nail the physical satisfaction of fiddling around with a piece of old, analog equipment that you're half familiar with and half in the dark on. If this game had understood its strengths better, it would've been a fully-fledged point-and-click or even a Myst-style free-roaming puzzler. The actual survivor horror feels tacked on, as though it's obligated to be this kind of game because it's attempting to tell a story in the same emotional vein as the Silent Hill series and the player needs to have something to do before being shown the next deep, thought-provoking cutscene. I can't even say that it understands the classics from a visual standpoint, forgoing the fixed-camera perspective that gives each of Resident Evil's individual rooms a distinct cinematographic personality and instead opting for a generic top-down approach that makes every location feel the same. Though, that's not to say the art direction itself is bad. In fact, it's phenomenal, and easily the standout of the game's features, but it doesn't make up for how bland everything else is. At some point, this one demoted itself in my eyes from 'mostly boring but worth playing just for the aesthetic' to 'downright painful.' Maybe it was after the game pretentiously transitioned into a first-person walking simulator one too many times. Or, more likely, it was when some of the small details- red-light save screens, items conveniently located right on top of their respective instruction manuals, and even the sound effect of equipping your pistol- started feeling less like homages and more like creative crutches, indicators of an entirely rudderless experience. I really feel terrible for ragging on something that's evidently a passion project and extremely competent from a technical standpoint, and I sincerely hope the devs keep at it. But, man. I wish I got anything at all out of this. The one game I've played that's managed get this done, I mean, spiritually succeeding an era/genre rather than a specific series by remixing several blatant inspirations so proficiently that it ends up feeling like something entirely new, is still Shovel Knight, but I'm not sure the world's ready for that conversation quite yet...

a melancholic wound which bleeds for the virtue of creativity, unfortunately — ironically — weighed down by the influence of its inspirations so much that it's afraid to be itself. each new callback feels like a shopping list of narrative elements, tropes or imagery utilised with no sense other than "we also enjoyed [media property]"; it stops eliciting a simple eyeroll and crosses into absurdity when symbolism lifted wholesale from other titles is transplanted for extremely pivotal moments or scenes.

to speak to its strengths, Signalis maintains a highly unique visual language and style across 3d and 2d artistic assets as well as its tactile UI and graphic design. the sleek utilitarian replikas vs the rosy warmth of the gestalts is rendered skillfully with a mere pixel monopen, their representative polygonal forms surprisingly expressive in their minimalistic textures and animations. the accompanying score is also something really special, particularly the piano arrangements which command this epic sadness matched by the tale of Elster and her beloved. i only wish so much attention was given to navigating the game itself as it remains a glorified note hunt segmented by barely responsive doors, with combat feeling more a universal frustrating necessity enforced by the label "survival horror" than anything tense or scary.

like a lot of these gorgeously stylised and well-loved indies, i really did want to love Signalis as its themes and genre are among my favourites along with the recommendation from a few good friends. either way i'm glad to have finally played it despite my own average reception and am inspired by its longing viscera and heartache.

Playtime: 15 Hours
Score: 10/10

(NOTE: Recently on October 26 2023, rose engine updated the game, specifically to impove the inventory that I originally complained about in my review. You can now switch between: Classic, which is the 6 slot inventory we previously had; expanded which gives you 8 inventory slots; or revised where you still have 6 slots, but now utility items like the flashlight have their own slot and don't take up inventory space. These are great changes and I just wanted to update my review to reflect that)

Such a mesmerising experience that I absolutely loved! I love survival horror games and I love Sci Fi films like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner, and this game combines all of those which is right up my alley!

Gameplay wise this game plays like any classic survival horror game, taking cues from both Resident Evil and Silent Hill. You have a fairly large weapon line up, with a pistol, shotgun, revolver, flare gun (that can also use grenade shells as ammo), rifle and sub machine gun. I honestly just expected a pistol, shotgun and revolver but this game really over delivered on its weapons line up and I love it. However, you also get a list of secondary items you can equip like a stun prod (which is basically like a defensive knife), thermite flares you can use to burn enemy corpses, so they don't come back (very RE1 remake), a flashlight etc.. I like that the game gives you so many options and the tools to deal with the threats. Combat uses a twin stick shooter system, which I hate playing on controllers in general, but on keyboard and mouse its very accurate and responsive. Overall, I liked the combat and the game has enough enemy variety that you often can't guess what will be waiting for you in the next room.

Puzzle wise, this game actually has some really good puzzles. Very old school in their design, but none of them felt obscure and hard to solve. They also include a radio in this game, but unlike in Silent Hill where its used to detect enemies, in this game you use it to solve many of the puzzles by listening to certain frequencies. I thought it was a clever integration of the radio and there's even a specific enemy type that you need the radio to fight, which I thought was cool, although those enemies did get annoying after a while.

Sound design is also perfect from the monsters making very unsettling noises down to the sounds the weapons make, as they sound very punchy when you fire them which adds to the satisfaction. The music is also amazing, with some very melancholic tracks that reminded me of Silent Hill, while still doing its own thing. This all adds to the games incredible atmosphere that really makes you feel isolated on this desolate planet.

As for horror, this game doesn't try as hard to scare you with jump scares or anything like that. The atmosphere does help the game, but I never felt as scared as I did playing games like Darkwood or Lost In Vivo where even an abandoned subway station scared the hell out of me, despite not much happening. The gore is used very well in this game as the mixture of anime and a PS1 art style adds to the unsettling nature of it, but its never over done that you become desensitised to it. The cut-scenes also use a lot of unsettling imagery that I will talk about more later. Overall the game has a good atmosphere and some good scares, but it wasn't as well done as I would have liked.

The story though was just beautiful. Its done in a very minimal way, as most cut scenes last less then 30 seconds, but its the imagery they use that communicates a lot without saying much. Its got a very European art house film style to it which I liked with a lot of German language and imagery, which connected with me personally, since I studied both German language and history in high school. There's also plenty of notes scattered around for you to read that does a lot of world building about the different Replika units you encounter and the setting they live in. However, these notes are vital to read to understand characters backstories and motivations as they don't outright tell you in cut scenes. There is no voice acting aside for some audio on the radio that's in German, but honestly the story was still very effective and I don't feel like it really needed voice acting to tell it.

As for complaints, I don't have that many really. The big one is the limited inventory of only 6 slots which can be frustrating to deal with. Especially since equipping items still take up inventory space. E.g. having a gun, ammo and a secondary item like a flashlight, already takes up half your space. And it can be frustrating since some puzzles require you to find multiple items to solve it, so you have to make a lot of trips back to the safe room. 6 slots is just too low even for most survival horror games. 8 slots I think would have been the magic number and while I played this game as the devs intended me too, on repeat playthroughs I'm definitely going to install mods that expand the inventory to at least 8 slots, so that its less tedious. One thing I also noticed was that once you pick up the flashlight it almost trivialises the other secondary items as you need it to explore many dark rooms to progress. The only time I took something else out was when I needed to use thermite flares to burn certain monsters that were in certain spots for convenience. Other then that, there was also one level in particular where you have no map and a lot of the games tougher enemies are everywhere, which made navigating that area an absolute pain. When you get there, definitely use a guide is all I'll say.

In conclusion, despite my issues with the inventory, this game is a masterpiece to me and I won't soon forget it. Its one of those games that I will be thinking about its story long after I have finished it, and in terms of gameplay it gives you the ultimate survival horror experience. If your into survival horror games, you owe it to yourself to play this one!

All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/

Signalis felt like a mind-bending experience that I was unable to completely wrap my head around on my first playthrough. It is exceptionally atmospheric in all of its senses; the music and sound design are both beautiful and haunting, and the visuals stylistic and creepy. Not to mention the use of language! English, German and Japanese mixed together fit the world of Signalis very well in my opinion.

Comparatively, the puzzle elements of Signalis are much stronger than the combat aspect. I concede that the game would feel a bit empty without combat, but it was quite annoying to wade through hordes of enemies in tight spaces while emptying clips that did seemingly no damage. The puzzles are so incredibly original and fun, though. Signalis creatively combines all kinds of stimuli into its puzzles, so that the player feels rewarded by completing them. I personally loved the radio mechanic, which is something I have never seen so cleverly used in any other game to date.

Aside from missing a key from time to time, the puzzles were never unclear due to convenient "lore letters" revealing information about core concepts, such as how to operate certain puzzle mechanics. In other words, players that are interested in reading background information are rewarded with hints. All this information is stored and easily accessible later, so getting stuck is never frustrating either.

In the next couple of days, I will be looking into the lore of Signalis a little more to hopefully increase my understanding of the story. This game is very interesting, to say the least. Fans of Resident Evil will surely get a kick out of this, seeing as Signalis greatly resembles that playstyle.

Olhar para Signalis é ver todas as suas influências, clássico RE, Silent Hill e uma série de outras. Ele pega pedaços dessas influências e as combina em algo novo e original. Embora a jogabilidade de Signalis se assemelhe mais a RE, o tom é muito mais Silent Hill. A arte é espetacular, pegando todo o charme e atmosfera de uma estética 3D.

Uma coisa que gostei muito em signalis é o seu inventário limitado forçando você a fazer escolhas difíceis sobre quanto equipamento carregará e quantas viagens repetidas fara em áreas perigosas. A jogabilidade principal não é a ação/furtividade ou os puzzles (embora existam muitos) É o processo de fazer decisões e a estratégia de como você aborda cada situação. Vou trazer muitas armas e munições? O combate será fácil, mas talvez eu não tenha espaço para itens de cura. Vou andar por aí com um estoque quase vazio? Perigoso, mas posso tentar evitar o combate, e tentar pegar varios itens e nunca mais precisar voltar para lá. Posso dizer que isso cria uma tensão constante enquanto você luta para planejar suas excursões em cada sala.

Tambem vou ressaltar a força que signalis tem em seu cenário. O mundo misterioso e de ficção científica é incrível e honestamente, foi uma delícia. Naves espaciais acidentadas a seres totalmente tenebrosos semelhantes a andróides e outras coisas que só podemos sonhar em ter um dia na vida real. Signalis tem tudo, e também acerta tudo. O cenário também é complementado com maestria tanto pela trilha sonora quanto pelo visual do jogo.

Mais uma coisa importante: e o terror? Afinal, o jogo é vendido como um jogo de terror de sobrevivência, então como ele se sai nisso?
Bem, na minha opinião, é ótimo, mas é importante ressaltar que esta NÃO É UMA EXPERIÊNCIA ASSUSTADORA, ou pelo menos não foi para mim. O jogo não tenta assustá-lo, especialmente com táticas baratas de jumpscares. Os elementos de terror aqui residem novamente em seu cenário e na tensão criada pela atmosfera

Bom, se você quer uma história de terror de ficção científica sobrenatural com garotas apaixonadas de oito horas, esse é o melhor.

Resumindo, virei uma grande fã desse jogo. Espero que esta review tenha ajudado a esclarecer por que exatamente eu gostei tanto dessa experiência perturbadora e emocionante♡

E não se esqueça da promessa.

Had this one on my backlog since I saw it come to game pass and finally got to experience it. I enjoyed the old-school horror ps1 type of game and was pleasantly surprised with how many weapons and items they squeezed in here for being an indie game. That being said I read as many files as I could and tried to grasp the story, but it was just so hard for me to follow, and with a game like this it certainly is hard for me to care about these characters. Any time a cutscene would trigger or something would happen I would just be like "Umm okay then" lol. At first, the inventory management wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but the later areas in the game made it more of a chore to deal with, not to mention each area has the same similar type of tasks with some varying puzzles thrown into it. Really liked how the nowhere area was and the art direction behind that and the similarities to the other world in Silent Hill. A solid game to scratch the survival horror itch, but some quality-of-life improvements would go a long way with this one.

Signalis is a perfect game in the presentation aspect - every single bit of this game gels thematically and hits a spot I've wanted for ages. The art style is gorgeous, the visuals are flawless, the sound design is amazing, the worldbuilding is impeccable. I'm normally not a fan of games where the plot is obtuse and requires the player to piece it together but Signalis creates such an intriguing world that it's impossible to resist it. I can't get over how much I love everything about this game - except the gameplay.
I love survival horror games. Signalis made me incredibly frustrated for numerous reasons. The six item inventory limit doesn't add to the game (as of the 25th the devs made it so the flashlight and eidetic modules don't take up a slot by default which is a great change but I didn't get to experience that since the Game Pass version didn't update). Most of my experience was running with nothing but a pistol and flashlight (sometimes not even those), filling up my inventory in two rooms, then run back through enemies to empty my inventory. I never felt like I should kill enemies either because they'd get up like RE1R crimsonheads (I wasn't aware that they had a limited amount of times they could get back up). I can't say it was challenging because I finished the game with a fuckton of ammo and heals in my item box so it felt like the inventory limit was entirely artificial.
On top of that, the key hunting got incredibly tedious a few areas in which, combined with the incredibly limited inventory, lead to endless backtracking that wasn't fun, difficult, or beneficial. I will say the fact you can enter your inventory, notes, and radio while interacting with a puzzle is incredibly convenient and makes for a lot of saved time. The puzzles for the most part were solid and made sense but a few left me stumped in a way that I couldn't intuit or the answer wasn't clear (namely the tarot card puzzle and dials near the end, don't use the words "sun-like" and have both the sun and the star as a tarot card since the sun is literally a star). Out of my complaints for this game, this is near the bottom but compared to other survival horror games I was mildly disappointed by this aspect.
At the very end, I came out of this game wanting more from the developers. I fail to think of any other games that nail the PS1 aesthetic as good as this and the music, visuals, and gameplay are so cohesive that I need something else like this. I don't care if it's another survival horror, if it's something closer to Parasite Eve, if it's an RPG in the same world. Despite my dislike for the gameplay, I'm desperate for more.

ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴏᴜʀ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ. ᴡᴀᴋᴇ ᴜᴘ.

As it is mentioned lots of times already by many people, and I will mention it as well, Signalis is a genius, well designed and a tremendous survival horror experience, and a groundbreaking moment for indie videogames.

An incredible work of art from two developers (with a little help from others of course) who offered a loving tribute to all survival horror games from the late 90s to early 2000s, including a presentation of how far someone is willing to go for their loved ones.

Elster, a Replika unit, wakes up after crashing to an unknown planet, not remembering the reason she's here. Forgetting her 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲. She leaves her ship to find something, only to run into a strangely familiar room, yet she can't wrap her finger around it. That was the moment, she got the first message from an unidentified sender. The moment she got back all her memories. From past selves maybe? From other Elsters? That she had made a promise. And she'd do anything to keep it. Her promise. No. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 promise.

A story about a person stuck in a neverending dream. A loop. An eerie and dreadful reality. To keep reminding Elster. 𝗧𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲.











W̴̛̼͖̒͋̇̍̇̔͑̉̈ă̸̡̢̖͍̗k̵̯͎̇͂̍̏̉̆͠ĕ̵̞̞͂͜ ̶͔̯̹̣̤̝̻̀͒u̴̥̭̟͂͒̈͑p̷̬̖̘̩͖̰̘͍̦̳̉̅̐͝.̷͚̙̅͂̑̓͗̀̉͠










I would love to get more into the messages and themes of Signalis and how fun of a time I've had with the gameplay, but decided in the end to keep it short, to avoid spoilers mostly, but the game has made a huge impact on me and turned this experience from a spine-chilling horror survival, to a thought provoking narrative with hidden details waiting to be discovered. To remind you. To keep you straight to your goal.


ɪ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇ. ɪ'ʟʟ ᴅᴏ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ.

a Nier fan's spin on Resident Evil. maybe feels a little unfair to reduce it to its influences, but signalis absolutely wears said influences on its sleeve - at one point i was like yeah the developers for sure loved evangelion cos of all the huge kanji cut-ins and then they 1:1 ripped the one shot of shinji from eva episode 26 n i was like ah yep that makes sense. Only even played this game cos of the generational lesbian fanart that was coming out of the fandom so imagine my surprise when suddenly i'm fighting for my fucking life for 10 hours. goated game, thank you harper for the rec

So my dear friend BungVulchungo absolutely loves this game, to the point where he couldn't stop talking about it after he played it. So it had me pretty excited to play it myself. While I can't say I loved it as much as he did, I did have a really good time.

I'd say the absolute best aspect of this game is its presentation. Its absolutely spectacular and was something I definitely loved. Really makes the game feel unique in that aspect. I also really enjoyed the exploration and puzzles. Every time I got to a new section, I was excited to just explore the place. The OST is pretty nice too, minimal for the most part but it works. While I didn't totally understand everything about the story, I thought it was told in a pretty cool way.

Sadly I did have some issues/nitpicks that hold it back from being amazing. I honestly didn't find the game that spooky. Idk, it definitely had some nice atmosphere but as a horror game it's definitely weak on the scares. I said I really enjoyed exploring each area, and while I do...they also dont feel too memorable because they aren't connected like for example the Spencer mansion or even Luigis Mansion 1 lol. Idk, I just prefer how those games did it personally. While I didn't dislike the combat, it's not amazing and can be annoying when multiple enemies are around. In those instances, I usually tried to evade them. One last little nitpick is while I liked reading the optional notes and texts, whenever the nation stuff was brought up..I just didn't care. I cared more about the Replika and Gestalt way more. Also this game did have some boss fights and I can't say I loved or disliked any of them. They were fine I felt.

I did really enjoy this game but it does have some faults I feel. I got the promise ending and I'm kinda thinking about going back to get the true ending once I replay Luigi's Mansion. Maybe I will maybe I won't idk but I did enjoy this game overall.

7.5/10

A sapphic love letter - a daisy chain of vignettes that offer glimpses into other creative and influential media powerhouses, metered out by the task of juggling keys and receptacles in limited inventory slots across a vast steel complex. Too much mule work for its weight in silver in my humble. This search for lost love where ur body is weighed down by deprivations of liberty and soul rings so hollow to me when it's so clockable under a very narrow scope of media that strikes the same chimes so much better. More to the point I think I'm just too depressed to find any spark in this. Since I've been resorting to it recently, the flashes of self-harm imagery just piss me the fuck off.
Signalis a visual juggernaut that can dole out amazing one-two punches of sight and sound when it wants to, but the genre darling glazing is too sickly for my blood, I'd roll my eyes at practically every cutscene calling to something in the creators' Anilist Previously Watched stack. Not a classic survival horror head either, sorry not for me, not a problem in and of itself.

Signalis is 'old school' survival horror done well.. Too well honestly.

The limited inventory was a really big hurdle for me (and it seems many others) in the early hours of this game, applying a level of difficulty that very quickly becomes more frustrating than anything. Bringing a healing item, a weapon and a flashlight takes up half your inventory alone, leading me personally to an endless cycle of backtracking just to drop something off, or worse - having to go all the way back through rooms of enemies just to get a torch so you can see a new room with more enemies... And so many items than you can't carry them all since you have a torch now 🥹

Once you adapt to this restriction it becomes a lot easier though I think. I'm very much a resource hoarder in these games, convinced that I'll need a million health kits and 30 guns for the final boss alone, so I often left more enemies standing than I should've, only to run into them on every trip through a room.. I also kept pack-muling things back to the chest 'just in case' despite going the whole game without using some items at all... Don't be like me and I'm sure you'll have a much easier time :p

Besides the inventory/difficulty, there were some technical shortcomings in terms of doors not working if I turned slightly, taking so long to pick items up that I take free damage, or simply aiming my weapon (did not like that)
- but for a game made by two people it's pretty solid on the whole. It's a bit abstract in it's storytelling for a decent chunk of its runtime, but by the end things come together and are made a lot clearer. I definitely wouldn't say I understood everything, what with how long I wasted backtracking and getting lost giving me time to forget, but I feel like I took away enough that even on the surface level I liked the story.

All that said I don't want to ramble too long because I've got a busy night ahead -- short version is that if you're at all interested you should give this game a try, with it being on Gamepass as well it deserves at least a shot to win you over.

Thanks for reading as always, quicker one today because I'm hoping to finish off the last couple of chapters of FF7 Remake before bed as well, doubt I'll review it cause I couldn't do it justice, but tl;dr it's my all time favourite 😌
Enjoy your spooky season everyone, upcoming completions are hopefully Sea of Stars, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (slowly but surely) and I'm considering starting Clock Tower 3 once I beat FF7R, we'll see. Until next time!

Signalis is a game which constantly leaves you with a want for something more, glimpses of beautiful warmth through its eternally stunning style mesmerise us into wanting more and more but after eternity we are left with nothing. The game and its story all exist through the lenses of homages, influences and references, all a parallel to characters who are nothing but memories of experiences they never lived and just as those characters mourn memories and lives that were never theirs we too become entrenched in a life we never lived, as tears flow and flow and we replay and relieve to find answers that will never ever come no matter how hard we look. And just as the characters, we are faced with the abominable challenge of loss and nothing more….

Please, just let me stay be your side a little longer.

elster's journey is similar to my own

except im human
and i'm not a robot
and i'm not in space
and not in a relationship at all
and on top of all of this I'm a he/they black man from chicago

but we're basically the same

damn, it only took me 6 months of processing to write this review

this game has hands down the densest atmosphere of anything i've ever played. a lot of this lies with my priorities- that is to say, sound design above all. even sitting in a brightly lit room, i can feel myself transported into the desolate corridors of signalis simply by listening to audio of the game on youtube. the whirrs and whines of the desktop. the click of elster's pointy feet on the metal floor. the muffled soundtrack that often blurs the line between the mechanical ambience of an automated place left abandoned and traditional composition. combine these immaculate soundsketches with the inky black visuals often only punctuated by the fuzzy lights of old tech and unforgettable art direction (top 10 coolest looking video game women list could consist of this entire cast) and you get a world that needs no scares to create tension. it feels like i myself am trapped there, am one with elster exploring these grim, haunted rooms. when simply walking around is so captivating independent of any mechanics, the decision to focus on a gradually disturbing non-linear story rather than straightforward scares (as would be default for modern horror games) is got damn poetry. that oneness i experienced with elster applies doubly as i watch her unfold this tragic penrose-ian mystery. i think it's notable how signalis primarily creates horror from the transhumanist and queer themes. it gives the story a heady cyberpunk edge i wouldn't expect from a survival horror title, but now that i've played this i don't understand why more games don't combine the two. for all of the blunt references, it's awe-inspiring how everything comes together to form that feels something new even for someone (me) who has experienced nearly all the media the creators are pulling from.

that being said the combat is piss-easy even on survival mode (i beat it in 5 hours carrying no health or weapons except for boss fights) and i kind of wish it was just like a puzzle game or something. not that the puzzles are tend to be fun or brain-stimulating either? the fact that the developer has had add a patch to make the game easier is so funny when you compare the difficulty to any ps2 survival horror game. kind of a massive milquetoast blotch on the game, but hey, what can you do. at least the low difficulty means that you'll spend most of the non-story time walking around, and damn, isn't this a great game to just walk around in.

the presentation is some of the greatest from a genre title across the past decade plus but the funkier gameplay bits are keeping me from giving this the higher score that i wanted to.

i don't know what it was that made things feel so off but the finicky behavior with interactive spots (items, doors, puzzle spots, etc.) did such a number on my enjoyment by the end of the game. i got my shit wrecked by mobs of enemies because a door didn't open again and again. it feels like such a small thing to have as a sticking point in the grand scheme of shit but when like 80% of the game is navigating through the locations to puzzle solve, inventory manage, fight or flighting with enemies, and the like it really hurts things.

thankfully i don't have a ton of complaints otherwise. the puzzles in this game are among the absolute best in the genre, at least my favorites since the hard/extreme puzzle difficulties in SH2 and 3. the game does a nice job job of keeping thematic and aesthetic cohesion within its universe during them which is a nice bonus.

visuals and music are wonderful as well but they're kinda something that one needs to experience for themself.

for better and worse, Signalis as a game embodies Survival Horror to me more than any game since possibly the PS2 era. i can't recall the last time i found myself feeling so stressed due to ammo/healing reserves, enemy mobs, finding my way forward and the like while almost universally enjoying my time all the same.

it won't be long until i come back for the other endings. maybe upon replays on the lower difficulty setting i'll find myself bumping the score.

"terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow."

It truly honors the "survival" part. It's also absolutely flawless in its level design and atmosphere.

The biggest draw, though, is literally everything else. The cryptic story, the interesting characters, the setting and abstract world-building, the excellent art and sound design, the intense and haunting soundtrack, the claustrophobic atmosphere, and the very cinematic and surrealistic presentation are all supremely crafted, sucking you into its cold world and making for a wholly unique and unforgettable experience.

Easily one of my favorite games of all time. It's simultaneously so fun and hellish to play at the same time and I'm still thinking about it.

i feel like my fellow gay bitches online are all lying to me on this one. big issue: i think its story kind of sucks. Signalis is more interested in cryptic lore dumps, ominous poetry, mysteriously censored documents, and spooooky german words than actually setting an atmosphere or crafting a world. the protagonists' romance is supposed to be the beating heart but it read as very bland and hollow, you never get to know much about them and (SPOILERS) they all used to read Word Up magazine anyways. i'm not interested in filling in its blanks because none of it made me feel emotions. this would be fine if it was better to play but Signalis is too easy - its toughest element is its limited inventory, combat is largely avoidable and not too challenging if engaged with. there's not enough friction here, your android girl is a great runner and a great shot. the art direction is very nice, the models and lighting look gorgeous, but there's not enough unique assets in the game. it felt like i was mostly in the same few places fighting the same few enemies the entire time. i do think it succeeds at having some pretty inventive puzzles and i do love the first-person segments, i wish there were more (non-narrarive) setpiece-oriented ones. Signalis had one last thing it could do to hook me, but it loses me here too - none of this game is fucked up! there's never any freaky shit going down, no psychosexual pervert nightmares or nasty stuff or even anything slightly disturbing. i like yuri, i crave that sicko shit!!! Signalis felt like a dystopian teen YA with a bit of sprinkle of Twilight Syndrome and sci-fi militarism, very tame for what was supposed to be a hellish pseudo-reality.

"She'll never dance with us again, no matter what we do."
Or:
"PERHAPS, THIS IS HELL."

What do I even say to this, man? This has been a game I've been meaning to play for a very, very long time and I'm glad I finally finished it, because holy shit. Might write a big review later but I'm too stunned at the moment, that ending genuinely knocked all the air out of me and is pretty easily the closest a game has come to making me cry in ages. fuck.

Deleuze + Signalis
This ended up more an essay than a review. Also, I’m not going to cite this properly, but all sources are provided at the end. Sorry! ^w^
CW for suicide/death

Arnold Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead are a series of Swiss symbolist paintings, painted through five separate versions of the same scene, produced from 1880 to 1886. It depicts someone rowing to/from a crescent-like island, a second figure stands at the stern, statuesque in white, as if marble. The island is large, foreboding, the figures small, miniature-esque, no matter the medium or year. I’m not particularly enamoured by the piece itself, but the idea of the repetitions and transformations of the same concept has always interested me, the impression of the painting untied, always linked to the ways that they are represented to us. In different variations, the disturbances of the water from the prow shows the boat moving towards or away from the island. Especially interesting is the fact that Böcklin edited the first version – updated, perhaps – to keep it in line with an addition he made to the second. The boat and the figures aboard were not an original fixture in the piece, when now it is what the eye focuses on. The stability of the scene is disrupted through this edit, the rowing man and the standing woman, art made into the white foam off a wave of continuity rather than the stagnant permanence imposed in galleries.

One of the main themes which struck me from SIGNALIS is Die Toteninsel, a reference to the origin of the repeated motif– a semi-hypnotic 5 note pattern, crawling as it changes – from Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, which itself was inspired by a black and white reproduction of Böcklin's Isle of the Dead he saw in 1907. The adaptation of this theme by 1000 Eyes is a tad slower, but rather than seeming lethargic, it allows an emphasis on the ephemeral quality of the original’s opening, sometimes lost even in the best of recordings, such as Pletnev’s hastier version, with the Russian National. It’s the primary reason as to why I far prefer Svetlanov’s recording, with the BBC Symphony, even to Rachmaninoff’s own recording; an unusual pacing allows more creative handling and a far more deliberate and lasting progression towards the Dies Irae – one accentuated by viola tremolo, of all things. These first five notes, however, are the prelude to the scene itself, the point at which the music most embodies the painting: a slow drift over a calm surface, the prow of Charon’s boat only lending to a kind of intense, fixated, stillness. The mist-drenched scene is one inscribed with a sense of dread, gentle movement over slight eddies towards something more, something worse.

The music is one of the main draws of any game for me, and the use of semi-acerbic industrial noises in Riot Control made teeth itch in a way few game soundtracks have. This is a staple of the soundtrack, a kind of grating-ness which puts into harsh relief the relation between the character and environment, rooms hostile even within the apparent human basis of construction. Therefore, the pieces which break from this allow a reprieve from anxiety inducing hallways, leaving the repeated use of the 5/8 motif unusually affecting. It again rears its head in Ewige Wiederkunf – another name verging on pun, eternal return – this time on the organ (an easy way to win my heart), where the haunting quintuplet gives way for a rippling layer, itself only making space for almost sporadic piano notes; the placid sea of noise formed by the organ remains, even as it fades out of understanding.

In a critical but also fundamentally historical turn, Deleuze attempts to peel back the layers of domination representation has secured in his genetic-evaluative principle-thesis, Difference and Repetition. This is primarily done through a dissection of identity and how difference and repetition relate. Importantly, and easily misunderstandable, he explores this through the concept of intensive difference – differences that are fundamentally changed through itself. For example, length – 2 centimetres being divisible into two identical lengths – is extensive, whereas temperature – 2 degrees being divided results in one degrees (0-1) being different from the other (1-2) – is intensive. The entire project is, essentially, following this to the logical conclusions, the real escaping the stability afforded by the Platonic forms, replaced with an embroiling sea of immanence.

The centrality of the focus of pure difference in Deleuze’s philosophy is difficult not to understate: difference not between fixed identities but between expressions of pure movement, alteration between undefined points. This process, of differentiation of Ideas as multiplicities of intensive difference, is attempted in the same way that the dy/dx makes visible the Idea of the curve. The relations of Ideas and the Ideas themselves are ungraspable, where nothing is afforded proper stability, leading to an ontology married to becoming. While Ideas are not actual, Deleuze wants to validate their ontological realness, allowing for the virtual, the realm of pure intensive difference, coming about through the interconnectedness of the series, determining the structural properties through bringing into relation a multiplicity of other undetermined elements, without ascribing predicates to a subject. The virtual is thus alternative to the real-possible distinction, allowing an Idea – something that exists entirely in the virtual – to plague us from outside the world of the actual, but within the real. To make something actualised is therefore not to make something new, but instead merely to realise the virtual via creative process, which in turn reciprocally produces change within the virtual itself. We cannot ever grasp the virtual, only ever feel the effects of it, in the same way that trauma is never itself actualised. With multiple expulsions of a single trauma, the repetition is defined via variation along the difference of each substantiation of it, rather than the trauma itself as singular, separable, identity. As Willliams explains, ‘[Each] walk that you take everyday is different each time and significant each time because it involves variations in intensities with respect to earlier and later ones and changing relations with wider series. You change with the walk and with the sensations and their intensities’. Thus, each walk is made unique, but also reciprocally determined by and determines the subject.

The Swiss modernist Gerard Meier wrote a novel of the same title – Toteninsel – a slow, drifting chat between two aging men, the long speeches of one blurring to the thoughts of the other. In the few rare moments of silence from Baur, Bindshädler considers the plight of the crickets, the ‘philharmonic muscle orchestra’, a background layer of the distant noise of the world, inhabiting and inhibiting the walk. The descriptions emphasise the almost alien nature of it – teeth on wings, ears on legs –exaggerating the etchings the world imprints on us, a blade caressing the lines of the body. The book is intensely occupied with art, past walking alongside present in poorly disguised autobiography, riddled in the spiralling structures of sentences. Art exhibits exactly what Meier is so fascinated by in the face of his twilight years: intensities encroaching, interrupting, yet also furnishing a winding wend.

Death in the sphere of the virtual becomes something extended beyond the death in the actual. It is inspired by Freudian and Heideggerian deaths, where the actual death becomes an event our entire lives become determined by, in relation towards – Freud with the death drive, Heidegger with being-towards-death. In either case, life is defined by its cessation. However, Deleuze’s use of death is more forgetfulness, an amnesia of what we were to allow for the birth of what we are, and what we will be. The small deaths dissolve the self, allowing for a constant state of becoming. These can only be understood as virtual deaths, opposed to the final cessation that the actual death provides us. In order to connect anew, we must relinquish the permanence of any particular self or body, a ritual forgetting. Suicide brings an odd dilemma, in the sense that it appears to try and force the actual death and its double to release together, to be entangled and intertwined in one singularity. The deaths of the virtual and the actual death can never resolve, however, so every suicide is ultimately futile; the deaths in the virtual cannot coalesce with the actual, because the actual suicide creates new intensities even as it cancels older ones. Therefore, the actual and the virtual play a dance, always at arm’s length from one another, following each other’s moves – an unequal one, but so too ballet. Each attempt to force the two only releases new intensities, re-interpreted back into the actual.

Why do I bring Deleuze up in a review ostensibly about SIGNALIS? Perhaps to make use of a philosophy degree of rapidly waning usefulness. But also because I believe that SIGNALIS can only be understood in its obscurities. Instead of dismissing the usage of historical artifacts in the game-space as heavy-handed and ill-construed emphases on the loop-like nature, paratextual instances are instead the basis for understanding the relations of characters; each is formed by and generates its own intensities through disruptions, each one reaffirming and in turn determining the virtual. To understand the game as an intertwinement of transcendent characteristics – a repetition of Elster’s love, or an element of over-arching permanence to Ariane’s identity – completely ignores the lengths to which dominance of a singular, identarian approach is undercut.

SIGNALIS can be most thoroughly felt in impressions from the bones and carcasses of others; the safe rooms and puzzles are eerily (and often frustratingly) similar to older Resident Evil games, the abstracized plot to Silent Hill, the setting to Dead Space, the regurgitation of classic music (Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Schubert). Most notably and obviously there are textual references to the King in Yellow (Chambers), Die Toteninsel (Böcklin), and The Shore of Oblivion (Bracht). Each one is thrown at the player, obtuse and pernicious. And yet the lacerating effect of this, the shifting perspectives, the jarring cutscenes allows a recognition of the repeated structures undergirding. A thousand bodies cushioning a landing in an elevator shaft, the game is built out of repetition and parallels. The laboured grasping through metal halls is remade in these disruptions – or perhaps remade because of its disruptiveness – allowing for an art which attempts to shake an understanding of it as whole.

To secure this, the physicality of SIGNALIS’ world dissolves, achieved through flickering in and out of art-styles and aesthetics and location – [THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]. Ariane repeats in Alina, intensities re-iterating within a realm of un-actualised existence. Falke and Ariane and Alina, Elster and Elster and Elster; multiplicities from which are differentiated the same principle, each one a terrible death, each one a painful birth. Obvious differences only serve to contour the repetition itself, an incision in the whole. Messages sent, repeated, received through four different languages. Each character is exposed as pure becoming, death encountered in the unconscious of life, a complete destabilisation of the singular identity, reconstructed only through the teeth of each other. Repeated virtualities are present in actualisation, the devotion for one and another, the relationship of each serving to shape an undetermined Idea that exists behind all of them, present through mirrored scenes, and yet all reciprocally entangled; self-referentiality which cannot be severed. The stylistic flare – poses imitated in cuts, traced scenes from Ghost in the Shell, a 5/8 motif seeping in, The Isle of the Dead and The Shore of Oblivion – becomes obvious, each serving not to show similarities between the two but differences in the whole via disruption. And what is this all in service of? Simply put, a-normative Queer love (Queer as other, Queer as wrong).

What is actually gained from this reading, however? What new is formed? It can transubstantiate away confusion to a baseline solidity, explain the impenetrability of the text as ‘actually that’s the whole point’ in a twist which can only be seen as self-righteously hipster-esque. My intent is moreso an understanding of the game as Queer (interfering), first and foremost. Blind devotion entwined with constant undercutting of the Actual challenges our pre-held notion of the Real - all that is solid melts into air. Set-dressing here is made to focus this idea; a vapid gesticulation towards authoritarian systems as shorthand for rigid absoluteness is merely a way for the Queer to break through in fleshy contortion. And, as Elster on the Penrose, perceived wholeness melts away in the exposure of the brutal alterity of art. The shredding of textual membranes within SIGNALIS forces the player to confront the indigestible, to re-align oneself, where one cannot understand it merely by grasping the whole, but instead through tracing the relation between repeated elements. Put simply, the deep-rooted un-intelligibility of disparate, colliding slices allows for a prioritisation of foreign intensities, and thus the encounter with a radical Other.

For this is something I have not touched on. The interminable project of all French philosophers rears its head once again; an absence, an unfinished question within Deleuze’s project. The Self/Other and real interaction with alterity is left absent, or open. Interpretations of Deleuze agree that he tends towards a structure for an ethical system: do not ‘explicate oneself too much with the other, not to explicate the other too much'. Express your singularity, replay the events that make and unmake you, experiment with others through creative destruction. SIGNALIS should be understood as an attempt of Deleuzian ethics, between the game and the player, between the relations of art, between the self and its repetitions. Each artifact is thus a fracture of art, tearing the smooth skin of our attention, an attempt to facilitate radical divergences, rekindling relations, forcing them more strange, more obscure, more unsettling. An otherness that always introduces new intensity, that disfigures and removes; Ariane to Elster.

Love driven from/by destructive (creative) need, an otherness which rips apart and claws back together. I miss it.


Works Cited
Böcklin, A. (1880). Isle of the Dead: Basel. Oil on canvas. Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel.
Böcklin, A. (1880). Isle of the Dead: New York. Oil on board. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Böcklin, A. (1883). Isle of the Dead: Third Version. Oil on board. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Böcklin, A. (1886). Isle of the Dead: Fifth Version. Oil on board. Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig.
Barnard, N., Moore, R., & Lace, I. (2010, March 10). Comparative reviews of 10 unidentified performances of Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead by three MusicWeb reviewers. Retrieved from MusicWeb International: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Mar10/Isle_of_the_dead_composite.htm
Bracht, E. (1889). The Shore of Oblivion. Oil on canvas. Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt.
Bracht, E. (1911). The Shore of Oblivion. Oil on canvas. Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster.
Chambers, R. W. (2017). The King in Yellow. London: Pushkin Press.
Chopin, F. (1971). Prelude Op.28 No.15 [Performed by V. Horowitz]. New York City, New York, USA.
Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and Repetition. New York: Athlone Press Limited.
Hubert, L. (2004). Arnold Böcklin: Die Toteninsel. Traumbild des 19. Jahrhunderts. Kunsthistorische Arbeitsblätter, 71.
Meier, G. (2011). Isle of the Dead. Dalkey Archive Press.
Rachmaninoff, S. (1929). Isle of the Dead [Performed by S. Rachmaninoff & Philadelphia Orchestra]. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Rachmaninoff, S. (1999). Isle of the Dead [Performed by Y. Svetlanov & BBC Symphony Orchestra]. London, UK.
Rachmaninoff, S. (2012). Isle of the Dead [Performed by M. Pletnev & Russian National Orchestra]. Moscow, Russia.
rose-engine. (2022, October 27). SIGNALIS. Humble Games.
Schubert, F. (2005). Ständchen D957 [Performed by A. Gastinel, & C. Désert]. Paris, France.
Cicada Sirens, 1000 Eyes , & Schley, T. (2023). SIGNALIS (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK).
Somers-Halls, H. (2013). Deleuze's Difference and Repetition: An Edinburgh Philosophical Guide. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Tchaikovsky, P. I. (1984). Swan lake, ballet suite, Op 20: I: Lake in the Moonlight [Performed by M. Rostropovich & Berlin Philharmoniker,]. Berlin, Germany.
Williams, J. (2013). Gilles Deleuze's Difference and Repetition a Critical Introduction and Guide. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

This game deserves proper critique as much as it deserves its praise.

Gameplay is poorly designed. Ammo, inventory space, level design and respawning enemies are all SUFFOCATING. These elements don't work well together and just frustrate you.
Signalis just poorly replicates old mechanics, while forgetting why these elements worked in the first place. Most ps1 RE games had 8-slots inventory while Signalis tightens it to 6, but also constantly drops at you quest items(Like Silent Hill did) that are far more common than in RE. Because of that backtracking reaches insane levels of tedium. Add to that tight corridors filled with enemies that will respawn later on and it becomes even worse. I had far more fun with majority of psx survival horrors despite them being 20 years older than Signalis.

But despite all of that you can swallow it up and gameplay, while annoying, still will be... serviceable. After all, game tries to be story focused. But story isn't that good either.

Remember principle of "Show, not tell" technique? Well, Signalis OVERuses and UNDERuses it at the same time. Let me explain, there's two primary sources of storytelling in Signalis:
1. Vivid dreamy incomprehensible cutscenes with hundred hidden meanings
2. Ten thousand notes and journals that just infodump on you everything with no context.

Remember Silent "two hour videoessay" Hill 2? People keep analyzing it decades after, I know comparing Signalis to THE Silent Hill 2 is unfair, but the story is simple and perfectly comprehensible without German/Chinese knowledge and reading King in Yellow. Silent Hill KNOWS when to be subtle and when to be blatant. Good luck with understanding Signalis though, because game just tells you to screw yourself and figure everything out by yourself.

Story itself isn't bad, but the game is AFRAID to tell you anything. It comes off as pretentious 2deep4u Evangelion wannabe, instead of presenting cohesive storytelling. It's just blueballing you with introducing a lot of cool stuff like replikas' past lives or cosmic horror, but doesn't provide any fricking answer, all is left is fans' theories. Hell, you won't even know why you ended up at Sierpinski in the first place!!!

The game has positive sides, like outstanding art direction or unique lore, but people just straight up ignore fundamental problems that prevent it from being "instant classic" or "greatest silent hill game since silent hill 3". But ig because lesbian representation is so rare, people treat it like angel simply because it has WLW story(Which is thankfully executed really damn well, but introduced WAY TOO LATE).

I really wanted to love this game. Sadly, I couldn't.