Signalis is not only a classic survival horror game, but also a psychological horror story with elements of space horror, so what we write here only scratches the surface. You have to play it yourself to know what this game really is.
Signalis is an atmospheric melancholic horror story set in the world of retrotech science fiction.
You are a replica of the technician, Elster. It was discovered that her spaceship had crashed and her pilot, Arian Yong, was missing. Elster quickly finds something hidden under the surface of the planet’s ice that shouldn’t be there, and receives a mysterious radio signal that changes everything.
Driven by a promise to a lost partner, Elster must face a horribly distorted figure who passes through seemingly abandoned re-education and mining facilities, through corridors and attacks visibility. ..
As she descends deep into the facility and the mine, she encounters another replica. The agenda is dark, the young woman bears her own burden and has a strange vision of memories from her other life.
The world of Signalis is a desolate and desolate place with concrete walls and humming CRT screens. In this world, through surveillance, bureaucracy and publicity, Yusan’s totalitarian system is always present.
As Elster travels to a mysterious government facility, she must find a creative way to overcome its many bureaucratic safeguards. She needs to use the radio to break the message, unlock the door with a code and keycard, and solve the puzzle based on logic.
When developing these puzzles, it was important that the solutions weren’t ridiculous or exaggerated, and made sense for both the gaming world and the players. For example, at some point, some parts of the tool need to be available in combination. Or you need to use a chemical to dissolve something according to the actual properties.
Emphasizing the Cold War-inspired setting, Signalis features real-number broadcast recordings.
Number stations have been in use since World War I and send encoded messages over short-wave radio signals. It is often sent in the form of Morse code or synthetic speech. The contents and senders of these number stations are unknown to date. In most cases, many of these transmissions were sent by undercover agents to their undercover agents.
Futurist fans of cassettes are looking forward to handling floppy disks, self-developed photos, and old-fashioned operating systems that appear on clunky CRT screens. The latter is also reflected in the game inventory.
Signalis is a love letter to classics of PS1 era survival horror games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, so you’ll spend some time in this inventory. Resources such as ammunition and health items are scarce and portable, but storage boxes allow you to exchange items as needed. To protect your resources, you need to decide when it’s best to fight or run.
The game’s crisp, stylized visuals are a homage to brutalist and 80’s technology, in subtle contrast to the occult theme. The slow-paced but intense staging style is inspired by the work of Stanley Kubrick, Hideaki Anno and David Lynch, reflected in the game’s nearly experimental cutscenes and bold typography. I was also influenced by Tsutomu Nihei’s art. This is especially noticeable in the contrasting elements where most of the replicas are carefully placed with a black design.
We pay close attention to the uneasy atmosphere, the soundscape of the drone, and the creation of a multi-layered story that we hope will remain with you after the game is over.
Signalis will be available worldwide on PS4 on October 27, 2022.
