There has been quite a variety of indie horror lately and Signalis feels like the perfect companion to Scorn as a definite follower of old-school survival horror but replacing body horror with the creepiness of existential terror. If you found Scorn too old school to handle, this trip may be too far for you. However, for fans of survival horror, this is a solid take with all the good and bad that comes with the genre.
Finding Oneself
Our story follows Elster who is a replika for a mysterious empire. Replikas comes in various models with preprogrammed emotions and memories and are used throughout the empire for a variety of tasks. In a fringe world, she is looking for someone close to her where a mysterious virus is corrupting replikas and turning them into rabid beasts.
The entire game is played isometric-style as you explore massive facilities. Keeping with survival horror traditions, there are way more enemies to fight than there is ammo — requiring you to sneak around when you can. For people who have missed the puzzle-heavy era of survival horror, Signalis is going to be perfect for you. The game features a variety of brain teasers and brain melters that you will need to solve to work your way through.
While combat is not the focus, you are given a variety of weapons and tools that you can equip to make things easier. Stun batons are one of the best sub-weapons in the game and allow you to instantly down any enemy and set them up for a final finishing kick. Similar to Silent Hill, the game will move you through the various areas of the facility and once you’ve finished one, you won’t be coming back to it.
Despite the retro look, the game has some amazing style to its scares.
A Survival Horror Odyssey
I wouldn’t say that Signalis is scary in the same way as a lot of indie horror these days, but the game does a fantastic job of presenting an eerie mood and letting the player wander around the madness. There aren’t any real jump scares in this game, and instead, the cosmic and existential horror comes with you discovering just what is going on and the extent of the destruction. The game hints at and glosses over, a lot of the darker aspects of the universe you’re in and reminds me of the original Alien in that there is an entire dark universe to this setting, and we’re only given very little about it. Besides cutscenes, the game will go into first person for specific story sections and when you’re exploring areas for puzzle solving and items.
Signalis does a great job of evoking many of the feelings of old-school survival horror, but it also brings back some of the frustration and its own unique pain points.
Not so Hot Spots
Besides the overall puzzle difficulty, I ran into some general issues when it came to moving around and exploring the world. There was a noticeable problem with interactables not properly activating when it came to doors and picking up items. This would become an issue when trying to flee from enemies and the doors wouldn’t respond and open up.
Speaking of enemies, the stealth in this game can be a bit spotty at times. There were cases where there was no way to avoid detection, or enemies would see me from an angle that didn’t seem possible. One aspect that is important to note is that enemies will patrol around a room in fixed cycles with or without you in it. There were situations where I would enter a room, the enemy would be right at the door, and they would attack without me even being able to control my character. Even if you stealthfully get into a room passed an enemy standing guard, there is the possibility when you run back out in a fixed animation that it will put you right into their sightline.
The sightlines of enemies also create an issue when it comes to the fixed perspective. In rooms that are only one screen wide, this isn’t a problem. But anytime you have to move through a large room, it is impossible to see enemies off-screen until it is too late. I would have liked some kind of indication if we were staring at something that is offscreen that is about to try and murder us.
The stealth aspects are a bit hit or miss, and can lead to some sticky situations
While these issues can be eventually overlooked given time, there is one problem that stays with you for the entire game — inventory space.
Signalis has a fixed inventory of six items (with resource items stackable). This doesn’t sound so bad, but if you want to equip a weapon, have a sub tool, and ammo, that’s half your inventory right there. You can drop off items at the many storage boxes in save rooms, but this can require a bit too much ferrying around items and can extend the run time of you never knowing if that random item you picked up is going to be needed now or later.
As for the puzzles, Signalis does feature some tricky puzzles to solve, and I had to resort to a guide on several occasions. There were two puzzles in particular that I had no idea how you were supposed to use the clues given to figure out the solution, and there are multiple endings as well.
Resplendent Replika
Signalis is a great take on classic survival horror gameplay, and if you don’t mind puzzles that are more demanding than the enemies trying to kill you, this is an impressive game. I love the aesthetics and the cinematic approach that we really don’t see enough from horror games these days. While it may not be the scariest game around, this is still a fantastic game to play for some existential horror fun.
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