It feels like I should like this way more. Like, it mixes classic Resident Evil exploration, Silent Hill-ish environments and some big aesthetic inspiration from Square's CGs/FMVs... And yet I'm left sort of cold by it.

It could be the clumsy backdrop of nuclear-era anti-communist propaganda. But it's not like I haven't loved culturally clumsy games before. It could be that at this point Lovecraftian reference soup as an aesthetic has very much worn out its welcome for me. But again, I have liked lovecraft-inspired games before, and Signalis sooort of uses it as a metaphor more than anything else(?). I mean, the isometric visuals, for how pretty, I didn't think fully worked with the genre, but that's a nitpick tbf. It might just be that the game is neither as scary as the first Silent Hill nor as vibe-y as Silent Hill 2? I guess...

Honestly I think it's just too... polished? Too successfully big and cinematic? There's no underdog charm here, none of the counter-cultural kavorka that many micro-games on itch.io have when touching on similar themes and aesthetics. It has a that sort of, sterile big-game feel, and while it's overall a solid experience, I don't think that its, separately great, elements come together well enough to transcend that.

Also I think I would have liked it a lot less if I didn't realize that, playing it on steam-deck, you can limit the game to 30fps. The game is too smooth in a way I really don't like when running at 60fps.

Also the 3d bits are neat.

(P.S. I know that it was functionally made by two people, so it's not a big production per se, but that's the general vibe that the big level of polish of the game gives me)

Reviewed on Mar 04, 2023


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