Better remake than several of the contemporaries, basically because it is a remix that assimilates the false -or more widespread- history of "survival Horror" (the genre names are a bit silly) that the magazines sold us here in the West batter than the last "new" games of the last few years. Think of essential pillar works of the horror aesthetic in gaming And you probably don't think of Laplace No Ma or Twilight Syndrome, god, names like Sweet Home, Clock Tower and contemporaries are probably starting to sound, but surely most say Alone in the Dark and already jumps into the golden era of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, White Day, Project Zero and all that.
It is natural, understandable due to the lack of a consistent canon in gaming, incapable of being properly created even in the puberty of a medium that is forced to a maturity that it could already reach (in fact it has already touched it).

Advertising and the Ludic factor have screwed up video games in many ways, but the worst is that accidental and unavoidable ignorance due to the lack I mentioned of a properly documented historical canon leads to constant redundancy in design planning and game direction. many "new" games. And it's not that I care too much about this lack of originality, this redundancy, nah, there are pre-rendered games with landscape Screen Orientation where the only thing you do is walk that take my breath away more than any "mechanical revolution" a-la Mario64. I don't think that quality is measured by originality, besides, bro, literally less than 50% of the mechanics that exist or were today are used expressively, almost everything is immediate gratification, fast food style.

We need more Historians in gaming, ASAP.

The adorable and beautiful thing about experiencing first works and recognizing influences on new authors is lost when they approach aesthetics with structures as closed as "classic survival horror", which always seems to result in the same sagas, with the same redundancy as I write these thoughts.

Well this brings us to Signalis. I recently came across a video on Youtube titled: SIGNALIS THE NEW FACE OF MODERN SURVIVAL HORROR

or something like that.

Modern? What ? in what sense? It is a remix of the supposed pillars of survival horror; RE structure, evocative images a la Silent Hill, hand holding sections in the first person, like horror graphic adventures or something from the golden era like White day. A Sci fi setting.
Martian Gothic.
DeadSpace.
Bro. Perhaps the only modern thing is the second round that works as a continuation and begins to suggest ideas about cycles and emotional attachment. But even in that I recognize other works.
It's not a bad thing as such. Remake and give your take, your version. I prefer it a thousand times to any remake of Vicarious Visions or BluePoint (May Arceus punish the shareholder meetings as they deserve) but Regardless of the intrinsic quality of SIGNALIS, you can see where it comes from and how little it can actually offer beyond entertaining hours: the product.

Reviewed on Nov 03, 2022


12 Comments


say more on the ludic factor screwing up games

1 year ago

@GabrielShigeo hope I'm wrong, but I think that fun factor is what dictates a large part of the aesthetic criteria of the players, creating a tendency to appreciate the aesthetic values ​​of a specific video game after receiving their dopamine shots and never before. I know it sounds presumptuous of me but I really think that most people look for what is fun and satisfying, then they fabricate their alibis, and it fucks us all up because it distorts our appreciation of the unknown or that which does not conform to what is commonly known. understand by "video game".

I mean, there are people who criticize Attack of the Friday Monsters for its lack of gameplay (WTF) or understand repetition and slow gaming as "pointless". I don't know

1 year ago

@GabrielShigueo @Ardwyw_mp3 I think about this a lot too, and to me it seems that players understand the "playful" or "interactive part" of the video game as something that should give them access to the main experience (aesthetic or narrative) through a "fun gameplay!" rather than something that is part of the whole experience. and this does not come only from a player's construction, but also from the fact that a great part of the critical production around video games import ideas from design like usability, satisfaction, efficiency, and does not think about videogame as an "artistic language". I studied UX/UI in college and heard this discussion several times.

1 year ago

This comment was deleted

1 year ago

the best example I can think of where this can lead is the reception of Death Stranding's Director's Cut which basically added combat and finally "became a masterpiece!" or even worse, "became palatable". (I really hope I'm wrong)

1 year ago

another banger by Ardwyww_mp3 btw, but I'm really not that optimistic about a video game historiography, it seems like something that will still take a looooot of time, discussions, theories, influential and "prepared" critics... idk

1 year ago

Man I love you so much
Yet another thing to think about while banging Sonic Unleashed (which miraculously touches on some divergences I had while playing it)
What video games are modern to you

1 year ago

^If I can take a guess, everything fifth generation of gaming and beyond, since we haven't really departured that much from the pivots, just branched and got more and more accesible and thinking on-demand game sensibilities

1 year ago

while I pretty strongly disagree with your take on the game (i feel like the games iteration on known trends in horror works to ground it in some sense, and its own vibe and "spookiness" is of its own, not completely owing to the roots of its production), I really appreciate your writing here. In general, really agree with how you feel on a lot of this; just feel like I disagree that this game suffers from it as much as it's contemporaries, I suppose?

1 year ago

What's Mario 64 have to do with anything?

1 year ago

what are you even talking about, its just a indie game horror game, it take inspiration from old ps1 horror games and sci fi and anime and does something on its own with it. like you bring up Mario 64 for no reason.

11 months ago

I think every review living long enough on this site will end up with people resorting to idiocracies and refusal of thinking just to defend the IP they enjoy.

Like, bro up here is "criticizing" you by being an example of the kinda of shit you complained about in your text.