Signalis is an immaculately written love letter to survival horror. It manages to be a culmination of the best elements from the best games in the genre, wearing its inspirations on its sleeves while still managing to carve out a unique identity all its own. Its tight controls, tremendous level layouts, and excellently presented story make for an experience that’s easy to get invested in and difficult to put down.

The puzzles are also handled very well, though some of them I will admit left me horribly stumped. Despite this, I wouldn’t really say that the puzzles in this game are obtuse or impossible to figure out. Whenever I couldn’t solve a puzzle, it was generally because of one or two small details that I overlooked. Each puzzle in this game is definitely solvable, and immensely satisfying to figure out.

My only and very minor complaint is that sometimes enemies are placed a little too close to entry ways. Sometimes they’ll just be right there and attack you before you get a chance to even react to them. But this doesn’t happen very frequently, and it’s not at all a major deterrent.

The story is presented in a very unusual, but memorable fashion that really makes it stand out. Much of it is left to interpretation, but you are going to have to do quite a bit of reading if you want to have a semblance of what’s going on. I personally don’t mind this, and if you’re not interested in the story and just want to play the game, that’s still perfectly fine.

Signalis truly feels like an instant classic, one of those games that anyone who’s an enthusiast for video games as a whole, or at the very least horror games, really needs to play. It’s a hauntingly beautiful experience.