Signalis is basically what happens when you take the best traits of the two most acclaimed survival horror franchises, Silent Hill and Resident Evil, fuse them together and then slap an anime-esque art style on top of it.
I can't think of the last time I played a new original survival horror game that I genuinely loved like I did Signalis. This was one of the biggest surprise hits of the year so far for me.
If you've played Resident Evil, then Signalis will feel very familiar to you. Inventory management and backtracking are a constant, as well as learning to conserve items/ammo by getting used to sneaking/running past enemies as opposed to always fighting. Alongside that, you'll be solving various puzzles and using key items across the game to progress. Very standard stuff if you're used to survival horror. Signalis is not very innovative with it's gameplay, but if it ain't broke why fix it, right?
I think the gameplay is probably the ONLY area where I have a few mild issues worth addressing. I found there to be a lot of times where I have to shimmy around a door or object a bit just to get the game to interact with it. It's nothing major, but I did notice it a lot throughout my playthrough. It's not so bad when you're just exploring, but when you're trying to run away from enemies and the game won't let you run through the door it can be a little irritating.
Maybe it's just because I'm someone experienced with survival horror and, therefore, I tried to be very careful about using ammunition, but I found most of the weapons and tools in this game to be widely underused by myself. Or just straight up never used at all in my playthrough. Throughout the game, I mainly used just my pistol and occasionally switched it out for the revolver or shotgun. However, the game gives you a plethora of different weapons and tools, like stun prods and flares, to fight enemies, but nothing about the scenarios I faced ever convinced me that I needed to take advantage of these other weapons/tools. As long as you're not trying to be Rambo, I can't see where and why most of this stuff would be really useful to carry around in your already very restrictive inventory.
Where Signalis REALLY stands out, though, is in every other part of its presentation. The old-school PS1-esque graphics look awesome and have a lot of love put into it. I usually find this style in modern horror to be corny, but this is a situation where it works excellently and only adds to the whole feel of the game. The music is lots of great ambient stuff alongside some intense creepy tracks. Very Yamaoka inspired. It goes really well with the whole look and feel of the game.
The narrative of Signalis is probably the hardest one to describe in detail, both due to spoilers and also just because its a very abstract, psychological type of story and I'm nowhere near confident that I fully grasped it all. That being said, though, I was captivated by it and I enjoyed how it explored itself through storytelling within the gameplay, or in its beautiful, cinematic cutscenes that feel reminiscent of some of my favorite animes such as Evangelion, Monogatari, and Ghost in the Shell. It has a surprisingly rich amount of world-building and details that legitimately not only make me want to unravel the main plot, but also want to know more about just the setting in general. It's really good stuff and I think most fans of sci-fi horror will enjoy it for that.
Signalis is an absolute indie game achievement that has swooped past much of the competition this year and become one of the best gaming experiences I've had in 2022. Can not recommend it enough.
I can't think of the last time I played a new original survival horror game that I genuinely loved like I did Signalis. This was one of the biggest surprise hits of the year so far for me.
If you've played Resident Evil, then Signalis will feel very familiar to you. Inventory management and backtracking are a constant, as well as learning to conserve items/ammo by getting used to sneaking/running past enemies as opposed to always fighting. Alongside that, you'll be solving various puzzles and using key items across the game to progress. Very standard stuff if you're used to survival horror. Signalis is not very innovative with it's gameplay, but if it ain't broke why fix it, right?
I think the gameplay is probably the ONLY area where I have a few mild issues worth addressing. I found there to be a lot of times where I have to shimmy around a door or object a bit just to get the game to interact with it. It's nothing major, but I did notice it a lot throughout my playthrough. It's not so bad when you're just exploring, but when you're trying to run away from enemies and the game won't let you run through the door it can be a little irritating.
Maybe it's just because I'm someone experienced with survival horror and, therefore, I tried to be very careful about using ammunition, but I found most of the weapons and tools in this game to be widely underused by myself. Or just straight up never used at all in my playthrough. Throughout the game, I mainly used just my pistol and occasionally switched it out for the revolver or shotgun. However, the game gives you a plethora of different weapons and tools, like stun prods and flares, to fight enemies, but nothing about the scenarios I faced ever convinced me that I needed to take advantage of these other weapons/tools. As long as you're not trying to be Rambo, I can't see where and why most of this stuff would be really useful to carry around in your already very restrictive inventory.
Where Signalis REALLY stands out, though, is in every other part of its presentation. The old-school PS1-esque graphics look awesome and have a lot of love put into it. I usually find this style in modern horror to be corny, but this is a situation where it works excellently and only adds to the whole feel of the game. The music is lots of great ambient stuff alongside some intense creepy tracks. Very Yamaoka inspired. It goes really well with the whole look and feel of the game.
The narrative of Signalis is probably the hardest one to describe in detail, both due to spoilers and also just because its a very abstract, psychological type of story and I'm nowhere near confident that I fully grasped it all. That being said, though, I was captivated by it and I enjoyed how it explored itself through storytelling within the gameplay, or in its beautiful, cinematic cutscenes that feel reminiscent of some of my favorite animes such as Evangelion, Monogatari, and Ghost in the Shell. It has a surprisingly rich amount of world-building and details that legitimately not only make me want to unravel the main plot, but also want to know more about just the setting in general. It's really good stuff and I think most fans of sci-fi horror will enjoy it for that.
Signalis is an absolute indie game achievement that has swooped past much of the competition this year and become one of the best gaming experiences I've had in 2022. Can not recommend it enough.