I'm relatively new to this genre, but I liked this one a lot.
The aesthetic alone SLAPS, german + japanese + some analog horror + some Lovecraftian concepts = really good idea and very well executed.

The game's visuals are really pleasant to see even though they are doing that PS1/DS thing. Specifically, the lighting system of the game is really good and adds a LOT to the atmosphere.
The gameplay loop is basically getting a key and opening X thing to get another key or something like that, and the loop continues, until the end. Although I don't think this is bad per se - I had some fun - this is pretty much the only thing you'll be doing throughout the entire game. Good thing it's only 10ish hours or so.
You'll also solve some puzzles and do some killing.
The puzzles are nice, most of them are relatively hard (especially if you're not experienced, like me) but most of the time, you'll be able to choose between solving it solo, or using some help that the game itself provides to you through documents and such. It's optional. No handholding if you don't want.
The killing on the other hand fucking sucks ass. Your character is slow and clunky compared to every enemy, and although it is probably intentional, it's STILL considerably frustrating. On top of that, the enemies REVIVE (yes.) so you have to burn them with a super scarce item if you don't want to have to deal with them again. This ended up being an interesting mechanic since you need to decide where to use said item, usually in places where you go all the time (hallways to saverooms, recurrent puzzles, etc)

The story is confusing, I'll have to watch some YT videos to understand it completely, but it's nice to read about the world of the game through diaries or documents.

The final thing that I want to add, is that, again, I am new to this genre. Taking this into consideration, I was not afraid, but wary, apprehensive ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Since you're always low on ammo, health items, and shit, you're afraid of using anything you have, cuz you don't know what comes next. I finished the game without using the nitro or the grenade thing ONCE.
I had some conflicting thoughts, cuz even though I WAS having fun, I was also feeling something that I should not feel while playing a videogame, at least to my notions.
If it was indeed intentional, congratulations to the devs.

The ending could be better, the final area is good but it definitely lacked some final boss or a final section.
I'm not even sure if the game only has one ending. I probably skipped something, but them's the breaks

Reviewed on Mar 03, 2023


6 Comments


I understand that you didn't like the controls because how clunky they are. The game is heavily inspired by the early Resi and Silent Hill games which also had the tank controls, so it was intenional. I liked the controls and I think they fit well, great review though!

1 year ago

I too think the controls in particular are good (on pc?). The game does have an awkward aiming system where the crosshair shakes for a bit before becoming steady, yes it's intended and resi inspired, justified as Elster's programming getting in the way of her aiming to prevent wasting ammo or for example dropping items from her inventory. People can't run through the corridors so she can only walk fast, people can't equip more than 6 items so she has a 6 slots inventory, can't take weapons away from other people or enemies on her own and such. It's doing some different stuff from resi where you are supposed to consume instead of saving stuff and turn into doomguy like in a lot of horror games, here you are always short of ammo and worried until the end of the game.
Players are divided on this (among everything else) but I think immortal enemies are a good idea. It's what horror sim/hide n seek games from slenderman onward (amnesia clones and such) have been doing for a dozen years, using an immortal enemy as a source of negative emotions that never goes away. People seems to think it's just copying an immortal enemy from resi but there's purpose and gameplay wise sometimes it's faster to avoid enemies, sometimes it's faster to take them down but it's never as unplayable as other games featuring immortal guys.
The actual final area has a final boss btw

1 year ago

ADDITIONAL REVIEW: some folks at the backloggd's discord told me that the game indeed had another ending so I went back and properly finished the game. Got the best one, promise.
It's in fact a good chunk of gameplay, 2-3 hours or so. Felt like a DLC...
This time, the ending is actually good, and properly placed. The last area provides a nice exploration and a final puzzle. Too many radio enemies tho.
The final boss is really good, my hands were wet all the time cuz shit was TENSE. Adding a good 0.5 to the rating.

2 other things that I forgot to say in the original review: there's this AWFUL bug where you can't use a door for some seconds that happens sometimes that sucks ass. Sometimes it completely ruins the strategy of running through a room full of enemies just to get to another room.

And 6 slots? They were onto NOTHING.

1 year ago

To SkeletonGrimm67!
Thanks for the compliment!
I think it's okay for them to do some kind of homage (?) to the old classics who built the genre, but I think that we can not forget that RE and SH had those controls mainly due to technical limitations, or they simply didn't know better.
Nowadays, with the power that we have in our hands, it's completely possible to achieve the same level of immersion, survival feeling, and such, without having to recur to things that can potentially be frustrating. Enemy and ammo placement, level and world design, specific mechanics, or overall game design decisions can achieve the same effects but with actual, engaging gameplay and traversal.
I know you like it, and I'm not trying to offend your tastes, memories, or anything like that, but I really think that this type of controls should be left behind, or at the very least, rethought.

1 year ago

To smhomg!
It is nice to know that every limitation in the gameplay comes from the actual lore! However, I can't see this as a reason to make me go through such a hassle. At the very least she should be able to run. Throughout the whole game, we see robots with divergent behavior, so it is possible.
Slow traversal, low ammo and health items, stupidly small inventory, immortal enemies...
Maybe the "hassle" is necessary to accomplish what a horror game should make you feel? i don't know. Since I'm new to the genre, i have to play more games to have a solid opinion of it. The funny thing is that even with all the hassle, i still had a blast with this one. Figures.

1 year ago

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1 year ago

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1 year ago


yeah horror games are not designed to make you feel happy emotions. Everything in resident evil or signalis is unreliable, they give you just enough but not complete information to make a plan so that something might go wrong. You need to make a choice on the fly.
For example, hps are color coded so you don't know exactly how many hits you can take. You can't move very fast so trying to run away might be a waste of time. You don't know the exact damage of the bullets you shoot and might take too long to aim/maximize the bullet dmg. Or run out of bullets fast despite basic grunts taking one maxed pistol bullet to die in signalis (on normal difficulty at least).
You prepare enough resources and plan to go from A to B but a patrolling enemy moves right in front of the door you just opened, screams, etc etc etc.
Imo, either people believe resi style stuff is just bad and it's definitely not the only take on horror stuff, or buy horror design is not fully fleshed out on purpose and you might to try and be in touch with whatever experiment the game is doing which is what I buy. Otherwise it might not be for you and that's completely fine. Me, I appreciate some signalis things. I don't need to play like an idiot and grab every resource from every room. I like the approach to puzzle and much of the game is "it looks intimidating but it's doable and feels good". I appreciate i have to consume instead of saving resources and backtrack to the storage, the game plays faster and constantly running out of ammo keeps the tension going until the end. And while I dont hate lovecraft I appreciate this game takes inspiration from a book where the feelings of the characters tend to be too central to be cosmic horror the lovecraftian way.