5/5 ★ – Jejuni's review of Signalis.

Signalis is a game about a promise. It is haunting and melancholy. Wholly dark and unsettling, wearing its survival horror predecessors on its sleeve. With gameplay similar to old Resident Evil and visual and musical inspiration from Silent Hill it comes as no surprise that signalis hits the nail on the head as well as it does. It is a game that asks you to fulfill a promise to find your lost lover. Not all too far off from the story of Silent Hill 2 but presents this in a unique manner. The environments are dark and eerie and inventory space is scarce, it is best to travel light. The story is gripping and full of symbolism, presenting fragments which drive the player to dive deeper into its story and uncover it for yourself. A piecewise meal of scattered notes and memories. It is a story that places you in the shoes of the other inhabitants of the station you find yourself in, living their experiences through the notes and presenting a kind of humanity in the characters, despite seeing only a handful of them throughout the game. For the most part you are isolated. It is you - and your promise. Which moves the story forward. The gameplay is tense and strict, every bullet and every medical item is essential. In every interaction you are given the option to run or to fight. It asks the simple question in every room - Is it safer just to run? Which for most of the game is a tough question to answer when you don’t have your footing yet. Eventually you get it and these choices are easier to make, but are ever present. A lot of progression is done through puzzles which can be solved through a variety of means - utilizing radio frequencies and vague hints to push you to think your way through most of them, while not impossible - I found myself turned around completely by some of the puzzles in this game. I want to keep this review as spoiler free as I can so I won’t be touching on the plot of Signalis as much and leaving that up to the player to figure out - go check out the game. It is a phenomenal play clocking in at around 8-12 hours depending on the player. This is also my first review ever and don’t know how to close these things out so yeah, go play Signalis.