SIGNALIS

SIGNALIS is definitely a game you should experience atleast once. What's amazing about SIGNALIS is the most confusing story i've experienced (Not kidding) Even after beating the game, reading notes and everything I went through in the journey, I still don't understand the story and I am stuck with bunch of questions. I'll also mention this. I have watched some essays about SIGNALIS before I even played (hence how I got hooked into this game) And still, It doesn't click with me. And I think that's a good thing. Im probably not the only person that doesn't understand the story, hence why we are actually interpreting SIGNALIS in our way about how the story goes and what it is about. And if that was the ideal plan all along by the developers, then they definitely have nailed it, spot on. SIGNALIS is full of complicated references, lore and a lot of confusing and hard puzzles that tests your brain to the limit. What I am going to remember about SIGNALIS is: ACHTUNG ACHTUNG ACHTUNG And don't forget: "REMEMBER OUR PROMISE"

This game gave me goosebumps with its art, philosophy, literature and eargasm music. Absolute art and psychological horror... It puts you in a neon-lit, melancholic artful nightmare. Every corner feels heavy with isolation. The game explores what it means to be human and dealing with grief in an abstract way. It's profoundly devastating. If you love solving puzzles, intense atmosphere and endings that give goosebumps then you should play Signalis. Peak hidden indie gem. Above all PEAK YURI!!!

10/10 - THE BEST SURVIVAL HORROR GAME OF THE DECADE A cosmic horror narrative about grief and identity that will linger in your mind long after the credits roll Signalis is an absolute masterclass. It wears its classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill inspirations proudly on its sleeve, but it completely transcends being just a retro homage. It takes the mechanical tension you expect from old-school survival horror—the tight inventory space, the heavy ammo scarcity, the cryptic puzzles—and uses them to pull you into a deeply unsettling, melancholic nightmare. What makes this game stick with you is how effortlessly it weaves its atmosphere and storytelling together. On one level, you’re navigating an oppressive, low-poly dystopian facility filled with industrial rot, terrifying Replikas, and a genuinely paranoiac sound design. But on a deeper level, it’s a brilliant subversion of the genre. The true horror isn't just the monsters; it's the slow, inevitable Eldritch corruption of reality itself, paired with a devastatingly personal story about loss, identity, and the agonizing lengths someone will go to keep a promise. It’s rare to find a game that respects your intelligence this much while actively trying to break your heart. If you want a survival horror experience that challenges your resource management and leaves you staring at the blank screen questioning the nature of reality long after the credits drop, you need to play this.

[h3] "Remember our promise." [/h3] What a trip this game was. From the atmosphere, to gameplay, to technical design, to narrative, every little bit of Signalis will stick with you for a while after you finish it. For me, this game is a love letter to classic survival horrors, taking inspiration from its very roots, but never being "just another one of the genre". No, this piece brings some very unique things to the table. Having played countless hours of many (MANY) Silent Hill titles back in the day, playing this felt like coming back to my childhood home after coming of age - its the same, but different. Every "successful" element of a survival horror is present here, but like mentioned before, the game does not let itself be defined by that. It knows how to twist your expectations, and just when you think you got the game figured out, it'll throw you off by a good measure, just to keep you in your toes (the radio puzzle interactions come to mind). When we talk about the narrative and atmosphere, Signalis can be hardly matched. The story starts off confusing and incomplete, and will stay that way for a good measure of your playthrough; and that doesn't mean the storytelling principles are not well applied - the are just so many theories you can have during this journey, and the writing finds a way to give all theories an equal possibility. In the end, if I had to tell someone what this game is about, I'd say it's about "Love" - how it can transcend space, time, existence itself, if one wishes hard enough to keep a promise; it's about "Longing" - how it can keep one's heart alive, enduring pain, sickness, and loneliness if you believe hard enough in the promise made by someone else. Signalis is beautiful, and wraps up a lot of things I personally love - tragic romance, cosmic horror, masterfully crafted pixel graphics, weird dream-like gameplay segments - in a package fit to put the game into the Classics shelf. That being said, you if enjoyed playing this, YOU SHOULD READ THE KING IN YELLOW IMMEDIATELY.

Words cannot properly convey how much I loved this game. Also, writing a proper review for this game would take hours and I don't feel like spending my night doing that, so I'm gonna return to my survival/classic difficulty run instead. Edit: Game good. Like, really good. Absolutely play this game if it intrigues you at all. Spoilers: [Spoiler]Now that I've completed this game I've come back to say I love almost every aspect of this game. From an overhead view, everything in this game was wonderful. The universe of Signalis feels fully realized in a mysterious, but believable way. The many, many themes featured in the game work perfectly to create a wide array of emotions that all seem to hit at just the right time. If you allow the intrigue and curiosity to take over, you're left with more questions than answers and it really leaves you wanting more. The blend of philosophy, science, and the arts add a sense of realism to the world-building and keep your mind pondering the messages left by the Rose-Engine team, as well as the works they have taken inspiration from. I didn't want to stop playing Signalis from the narrative alone, so the excellent atmosphere, gameplay, puzzles, and mechanics really felt like the idiomatic 'cherry on top' to an already great story. There is so much to unravel about this game and you know that video essayists have had an absolute heyday with this one. Signalis has felt like the closest we've been to attaining a true OG Playstation survival horror successor; not to discount other attempts at recreating and evoking that era of survival horror. The rule of six inventory can feel frustrating, but it really changes the way you think when it comes to item management and how you interact with the world around you. It makes your decisions feel more impactful and changes the way you interact with the game, even when compared to the early RE games which are, arguably, the biggest inspiration for the inventory system. The combat feels. . . .clunky, but in what feels like an intentional decision to make each shot feel important. To make each decision impactful, whether you stay and fight, run, take space, use an item, or heal. The spaces often feel tight and claustrophobic, but with enough skill you are usually able to evade enemies or decide if you would rather engage them. This decision is further iterated-on when you factor in another inspiration from REmake: enemies returning to life. Deciding to eliminate enemies and burn their corpses adds another layer to the combat and traversal of the game, and walking over fallen bodies contributes to this anxious feeling as you question whether or not they may spring back to life and attack/impede your progress. The puzzles of the game are each unique and don't overstay their welcome. They can range from simple ciphers and memory tests to math and pattern recognition. It can be argued that Signalis does suffer from the classic 'multiple keys to unlock the next area' type of gameplay loop, but I can't help but feel the unique encounters and puzzles in order to obtain said keys more than make-up for it. I loved the implementation of the radio in puzzle solving. Using the radio to unlock doors, open boxes, and solve puzzles make it feel like another core part of the Signalis universe and almost reinforce elements such as the number station broadcasts and hidden messages. Even the Kolibri enemy can be seen as a basic 'puzzle room' element when introduced, later requiring full combat whilst dealing with their threat. The artifact ending requiring the Magpie signal's number sequence, one which has been a constant throughout the experience, really brought the themes of signals full-circle. The game's art style works very well for the story Signalis has set-out to tell. Gore and viscera are used tastefully, colors are vibrant and muted where necessary, the switch between art styles keep the visuals interesting, the list can go on and on. The music is another point of high praise. Blending industrial sounds, ambiance, classical music, and ethereal compositions really help flesh-out the environments and the tone of cutscenes. The sound design is also on-point; the various sound effects have become ingrained into my brain. The three-note oddity, the cries of enemies, the save station, it all has left a mark in my mind that I can't seem to shake. I also can't help but love the Replikas. Their design and 'personalities' that we glimpse from documents, world-building, brief meetings, and propaganda posters also left quite the impression. Now that I've gushed about some of the things I love about Signalis (I'm really only really scratching the surface here; the depth of Signalis cannot be understated), I'd like to talk about the few complaints I had. First-off, the awkward shooting when it came to groups of enemies. Rather than targeting an immediate threat, you can easily end up aiming at a downed enemy and throw-off the entire pace of the fight. Next, I ran into a bug where equipped 'defense items' would not work. You had to walk up to enemies, go to the inventory, and use the item from the menu. It went away after a restart, but was very frustrating in the moment. And finally, the fact that enemies do contact damage is a bit of an annoyance. To me, it feels like it takes away from the ability to use quick reactions to avoid enemies in some niche situations where you could have avoided an enemy attack with some skilled movement. Despite these complaints, I instantly fell in love with Signalis and couldn't put it down. I've recommended it to everyone who will listen and have been listening to the soundtrack on repeat since completing it. In conclusion, the game is good. Like really good. There is so much to unpack with this indie gem and it has instantly become one of my favorite games of all time. Take the time to play Signalis. Hell, when you're done, go listen to what those aforementioned video essayist and see if you reached any of the same conclusions or recognized the influences of the game. Listen to the soundtrack. Let the emotions flow; feel the tension, the the sorrow and heartbreak, the joy and somber isolation. Take it all in, but above all else, absolutely give Signalis a chance. - Some dude on Steam[/spoiler]

[h3]"PERHAPS, THIS IS HELL"[/h3] This game is an absolute masterpiece of psychological horror, sending chills down my spine with its art, philosophy and incredible music. The lore is very deep and unique. Even if you read every single note, you might still find yourself completely puzzled. The game frequently references [i]The King in Yellow[/i] and real-world paintings, integrating them beautifully into its world. The book also served as an inspiration for the [b]frenzied flame[/b] in the souls games. Time to finally see what [i]The King in Yellow[/i] is all about.

I loved my experience with SIGNALIS. Rose-engine took the foundational groundwork laid by the first Resident Evil three decades ago and created what is arguably the greatest survival horror game of the modern age. Thrilling, beautiful, well-designed in multiple facets, and unbelievably fun to play. You owe it to yourself to play this masterpiece if you are a fan of the genre. I don't have many criticisms of the game, aside from its narrative. In short, it's utterly incomprehensible without the aid of guides. The way the narrative is told, structured, and presented makes it nearly impossible for the average person to grasp what is happening, even on a fundamental level. The game cares too much about its intellectual appearance, and as a result, it ends up feeling more pretentious and artsy-fartsy for the sake of appearing smart than actually being smart. One of the most unnecessarily confusing and deliberately convoluted narratives I've seen in a long time. Under all those layers of pollution, though, is a genuinely good story with creative and intriguing worldbuilding waiting to be explored if you have the time and curiosity to learn more post-game. Despite my harsh criticisms of how the narrative is told, it hasn’t changed how I feel about the game: I still love SIGNALIS. Its praises are well-deserved, and it's easily one of the best games I've played all year.

This was such a great game. The story is intentionally vague, which I don't mind, but don't love either. However, this is not a game you understand, but a game you feel. What I loved about Signalis was the atmosphere. This game is just gripping, it flawlessly implements RE's gamplay loop in a much more interesting world. I was really invested in deciphering the puzzles and the layout of the map itself while coping with limited resources and constant tension, to the point I always wanted to see just a bit more of the game while also fearing what would come next. I cannot recomment it enough.

literally Silent Hill 2 and Nier:Automata's lovechild if James Sunderland was a lesbian. peak doomed yuri. I had such a hard time grasping at what was happening as everything in the game is connected to something one way or another, so many scenes across the whole game point at things I don't even understand still, it's incredibly lore-dense and confusing in the best way possible. Literally everything about this game is so well-made. If you like the King in Yellow you'll love this. don't forget our promise </3

Its ability to convey emotions through narrative execution reminds me heavily of Neon Genesis: Evangelion. This game is THE GOAT in gaming. (Second only to Disco Elysium of course)