Do androids dream of eclectic meats?
Its strange and familiar, gorgeous and horrible.
Fundamentally, it’s a love story.
Things go bad for space technician Elster, but she made a promise she intends to keep.
Well get back to this later.
Youll be back here soon enough, you know that.
Probably with a new key.
Maybe with a new gun.
But theres also a good chance things will have…changed, by then.
A floor tile might reveal new horrors.
You might have spent your last bullet.
So, left or right?
you’re able to only carry six items, after all.
Let’s talk about that inventory.
Rose-Engine, the team behind Signalis (did I mention its two people!
The game is made of interconnected, shortcut-laden spaces.
Navigating them safely can feel like a puzzle in itself, and the backtracking makes their design come alive.
Elster moves omnidirectional and smooth, and theres even a tank controls option for self hating idiots connoisseurs.
Guns have auto or free aim, pick your poison.
The maps are great, too.
Staying faithful to the classics doesnt mean Signalis has no fresh twists, though.
Its also decidedly un-camp, opting for grimy, unsettling vibes and emotional trauma.
Now, Signalis still cant resist a little cheese, as a treat.
Exit a console without saving, and youll be warned that Youll regret this later.
But it trades out spoopy stately homes for cold war concrete, wriggling meat upholstery, and inner turmoil.
Its much more onSilent Hill 2s wavelength in these regards.
Great puzzles, too.
Its not enough to collect everything, youll also want to read everything.
There are absolutely moments of Bad Things Appearing Where There Were No Bad Things Before.
The weapons are chunky, especially the shotgun.
Theres a flare gun you might burn things with.
You use tasers like nu-Resis knives.
it’s possible for you to stealth past enemies.
Theres even a propaganda poster espousing the evils of running in corridors, clueing you into stealth.
Whether you should stand and fight, or whether to scarper to the nearest safe room and cry.
I like this stuff a lot.
Signalis rarely does it.
The noise of me griping is over.
Heres some much nicer noise: Signalis soundtrack.
Detuned keys and classical piano.
Off-kilter audio disruptions, apparently engineered by someone who exclusively has nightmares about malfunctioning 90s modems.
Its filled with music that elevates emptiness to loneliness, loneliness to horror, and horror to tragedy.
This same anarchic, retro-future sound design extends to visual noise, too.
A Kojima thats happy to remain in the background, lets say, keeping their disruptions subtle.
