SIGNALIS Preview

SIGNALIS is a 2D survival horror game set in a dystopian future. In this world, you play as a technician Replika named Elster, who is on a mission to recover her memories and her partner. 

Throughout the game, you explore different dark locations riddled with infected as you scavenge for valuable items for survival and progression. Although there aren't a lot of tutorials, for the most part, the game is pretty straightforward — find an item to open the next area to find more items. Whilst this may sound a bit repetitive, thanks to the variety in puzzles, it's actually a nice gameplay loop. Unfortunately, veterans of the genre might find the challenges a bit easy, even with the lack of hand-holding or explanations. 

As an example of what puzzles you might encounter in SIGNALIS, there's a moment in which I found a locked door with a lockpicking mechanism attached to it. Although right beside it was a note that explained that it was for lockpicking, that is all the explanation I got — I had to figure out how to get it to work. While this is one of the more unique ones, you'll also find more classic challenges, such as having to find the combination to a safe lock through just hints from a note. The developer also uses a change of perspective from 2D to 3D during some puzzles, giving more depth and variety.

Whilst I did love the challenge of figuring everything out on my own, I found myself getting lost quite often. Not having an updating quest log meant I never knew if I could solve the puzzle upon finding it or if I had to sweep the area again for something I might’ve missed.

Aside from scavenging and challenges, you'll also find enemies throughout the abandoned facilities. Although you've got weapons to defend yourself with, the enemies revive after a certain amount of time, making the already scarce supplies feel even more diminished. Thankfully, there’s an item you can use to incinerate them and stop them from reviving, but they’re also in short supply, so you ideally choose carefully. Whilst I understand this was probably implemented to put pressure on the player (and the cremation helps control the amount of reviving enemies), it's a bit tedious to be forced to deal with them every time you pass through the hallways. Because there’s so much backtracking, every time you’ve got to pass through, you’re at a risk that the enemy will catch you and swipe at you; despite their exceedingly slow movement speed, this can still happen quite often because of the narrow passageways. 

This brings me to the HUD. I like the clean screen, but, without the information readily present, it’s easy to lose track of how many bullets you have left, what item you have equipped, and how much life you have left. Although I found it a unique experience, others might find it tedious to go into the menu to find the information, especially if they happen to die to an enemy due to not realising they’ve got low health.

As for the story, unfortunately, the game doesn't offer a lot of context. The lack of proper understanding made reading the scattered notes ineffective, as what little information they provided was mostly lost on me. This was especially arduous because SIGNALIS set in a dystopian world, so I didn't understand what a Replika was. Additionally, due to the lack of knowledge, whenever the game would present me with flashes of memories, I wouldn't understand what I was witnessing. For example, at one point, I opened a locked box, was suddenly transported to another area, acquired an item, and then returned to where I had been, but I still had the new item. I still don't understand how or why, or if it was even a flashback. This lack of context made it difficult for me to fully grasp the story unfolding, let alone care for it. 

Lastly, whilst I like the dark and pixelated style, I oftentimes found it hard to understand what I saw; this made it difficult to know where I could walk or what items might be interactive. Because of this, I found myself wandering around the rooms clunkily. Additionally, the audio design was very intrusive and loud. During encounters, the music would get noisy and intense, and when saving, an unnecessarily eerie (and loud) song played. It felt like the game was trying to scare me through the sudden jumpscares of volume or force a creepy tone to remind me that it's a horror game. Unfortunately, it just felt out of place. 

Although I really like the gameplay loop — and could live with the slow enemies and lack of resources — I hope that there will be more context, as I'd love to be able to relate to the story.