Old school survival horror fanatics are annoyingly easy to please, aren’t we?
Signalis ticks all the boxes: brainy puzzles, limited inventory space and spooky, sombre atmosphere. It plays like your favourite Capcom horror title but looks like your favourite Konami, evoking as much early Kojima titles as Silent Hill. Whilst its ambitions towards the latter teeter between inspired and derivative at times (who can blame it), the cutscenes’ snappy and artful editing, flashes of images and text alike, evoke the rhythms of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I must admit the plot, as a result, become more confusing than emotionally engaging - I’m barely sure what even happens in the outcomes of the many endings you can achieve.
However, the game exceeds at everything it’s meant to, most importantly the gameplay. The speedy navigation of the map and item management feel like an appropriate upgrade from the clunkier controls of early-gen predecessors, considering the sci-fi action element presented here. The combat - shoot the monsters down and stomp them until they die - has a great sense of weight and intensity, particularly as you manage very limited ammo, albeit alongside some neat shock-rods and flare gun tactics. The puzzles are refreshingly difficult, but satisfyingly logical and well set up - it’s a particularly wonderful aspect considering how weak the puzzles can be in other recent horror titles such as The Medium and even Scorn. It also takes the radio trope to whole new levels with some delightful signal-based puzzle solving.
Whilst the scares aren’t quite at the heights of the big hitters, Signalis is incredibly consistent in its endlessly disquieting setting, eerie monsters and dream-like pacing, enough so to become perhaps a new favourite amongst old and new generations of horror fans.
Signalis ticks all the boxes: brainy puzzles, limited inventory space and spooky, sombre atmosphere. It plays like your favourite Capcom horror title but looks like your favourite Konami, evoking as much early Kojima titles as Silent Hill. Whilst its ambitions towards the latter teeter between inspired and derivative at times (who can blame it), the cutscenes’ snappy and artful editing, flashes of images and text alike, evoke the rhythms of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I must admit the plot, as a result, become more confusing than emotionally engaging - I’m barely sure what even happens in the outcomes of the many endings you can achieve.
However, the game exceeds at everything it’s meant to, most importantly the gameplay. The speedy navigation of the map and item management feel like an appropriate upgrade from the clunkier controls of early-gen predecessors, considering the sci-fi action element presented here. The combat - shoot the monsters down and stomp them until they die - has a great sense of weight and intensity, particularly as you manage very limited ammo, albeit alongside some neat shock-rods and flare gun tactics. The puzzles are refreshingly difficult, but satisfyingly logical and well set up - it’s a particularly wonderful aspect considering how weak the puzzles can be in other recent horror titles such as The Medium and even Scorn. It also takes the radio trope to whole new levels with some delightful signal-based puzzle solving.
Whilst the scares aren’t quite at the heights of the big hitters, Signalis is incredibly consistent in its endlessly disquieting setting, eerie monsters and dream-like pacing, enough so to become perhaps a new favourite amongst old and new generations of horror fans.