Signalis

posted on 31 Dec 2022

“A Dream about Dreaming”

Mind Contamination

Signalis is like no other game I’ve played. And I do not mean that in a superficial sense; you can play a variety of games in the realm of survival horror with similar combat and puzzle mechanics. Although this game may be like several of those, including the predecessors it is inspired by that I’ve seen mentioned in other reviews, it is simultaneously like none of those and nothing else at all.

To me, what Signalis propagates with its being is something that exists in the realms where other-worldly love and nauseating existential horror precariously join hands as one, creating an indissoluble conglomerate of paradox. It’s quite disturbing, but just as captivating and engrossing, and I believe it’s because we all have these pieces within us if we search hard enough.

To tell you the truth, I am haunted by certain ideas from time to time. These ideas tend to encapsulate something that I think about quite often: the disintegration of life, of myself, of the few people I love. The decay of the body, the decay of memories and of the self that once was - the prospect of every discrete point of time in an individual’s life that has existed being methodically and deliberately broken down faster and faster to a singular point of destruction, like a loose freight train whose brakes have failed, tumbling head first into its final absolution with a quickening pace. And nothing in the universe can possibly stop it: it is the ultimate truth of everything in existence, indifferent to our desires and wishes, indifferent to our suffering and our pleas.

It is the omnipotent fact that we are powerless against destruction from time itself; the idea that infects the mind like a rapidly replicating virus and never leaves you until you are finally relieved of consciousness and rotting in the ground.

As you venture through the remains of this post-dystopia Signalis presents you, ripe with environmental horrors of once living, human-like units being absorbed into the walls and floors and a space enmeshed with uncanny claustrophobia that toes the line between psychotic hallucination and cold sanity, you begin to uncover these underlying ideas of breakdown and putrefaction that will claim us all without exception.

It’s in the bloodied and crumpled notes, in the unnerving cut scenes that were hacked together with dizzying imagery, conjuring subconsciously repressed perceptions, hidden intuitions, fragmented memories, aspects of reality that exist on the exterior lines of one’s conscious self: Signalis presents to you the dissolution of the body and the annihilation of the mind through both the cruelty of the hands of time and through an oppressive, uncaring regime that treats the individual as nothing more than an object, a tool: a paradigm that is not far off from the one we currently exist in.

The esoteric subjects this game touches on cannot be found in many places. Enjoy your time with it, savor it and relish it, because it is a rarity, especially in its unique anime-like presentation that I found resemblances to in the art of Tsutomu Nihei with its wiry, dark, cyberhorror design.

“Remember Our Promise.”

For all of it’s darkness, all of its screeches and gore and ominous, encrypted aesthetic that permeate the fabric of your senses while you experience this unique piece of art, there is an undying desire and an unflinching love to see another person once more that carries you - the main character - onward until the end.

In the desolate and barren world that Elster finds herself in, she will stop at nothing to reach her goal. Not a missing arm, nor a shredded torso cavity exposing vital organs will prevent this from happening. She made a promise. She would once again see the one who brought her a feeling akin to happiness in the chaos of the inhumane, relentlessly hierarchical and mechanically delineated machine.

I loved how Signalis managed to interweave a romance story - a search for the other - into its bleak horror. The combination of these two things, at first glance, is an unlikely pairing. But they only reinforce each other’s strengths, because it is through the misfortunes and the tragedy in our life that our bonds with others are strengthened and become that much more important, and it is through our connection with others that we feel that we can gather more strength to face the dismal environment that has cared for us not once. Sometimes, you simply need something else - or someone else - to carry onward.

With few words and sparing, minimalist imagery, Signalis let’s you catch a glimpse of the mysterious, melancholy-laden story of Elster and her companion, and their relationship to the futile world they inhabit.

Hidden gem compartmentalized

Signalis has everything I could ask for. Survival horror. Aesthetic. Melancholy. Obfuscation. Anime. Distorted and questionable perceptions that may not correspond to reality. The deleterious effect of oppressive regimes on the psyche.

Although there were times that I felt the combat to be clunky, or times where I was kind of annoyed that I had to backtrack again and trigger the same sounds and soundtrack from the monsters, I enjoyed every minute of Signalis. I knew I would enjoy it from the moment I booted it up and saw (and listened to) the menu screen. There is really not much to complain about, and I did not encounter a single bug my entire playthrough. This is, overall, a high quality, well-designed game with clear intentions that it managed to execute flawlessly for its target audience.

Since analysis tends to create a wall between you and the raw, objective truth, you really have to play this one to experience it for yourself and draw your own conclusions: don’t just listen to my interpretation of it (although I hope I’ve convinced you to give it a try). This game, like all great pieces of arcane art, will always have a niche audience and appeal to a specific type of person. It will never appeal to the masses at large.

I say that’s a good thing. Let us enjoy our weird, fringe games together on the outskirts of this synthetic, mass-produced landfill. The developers deserve the support from us, the players who will always find our way to what we want and need to play.

Anything else that rose-engine puts out in the future? It’s going in my cart, no questions asked.