Signalis test: a gem of its kind

For a production that claims to belong to the horror genre, Signalis is a game that feels good — paradoxically. It owes this observation to the calendar of recent years: to shiver, amateurs have only remakes to put in their mouths. And this will still be the case in the future, with the arrivals of dead space, Resident Evil 4 and silent Hill 2. By being 100% unique, Signalis leaves with a nice asset in his bag.

In Signalis, we embody Elster, whose objective is simple: to find his traveling companion, after the crash of his ship on an unknown planet. This pitch actually hides a whole dystopian universe promised to future generations, under the backdrop of space conquest. The heroine, synthetic but “conscious”, is attached to dirty work, in the service of a tyrannical society whose pride swallows up everything like an ogre. Elster will find out the hard way by inspecting the surroundings, plagued by androids that no longer really work as expected. Very often, Signalis is strange.

Signalis is a gem of survival horror

As much to say it right away, Signalis is not a scary game in the strict sense of the word. On the other hand, he knows how to be scary, unfolding his cryptic and deleterious atmosphere as Elster engulfs himself a little more in mysteries and darkness. The developers want to pay homage to the landmarks of old Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Zombies and other creatures are simply replaced by dysfunctional robots, just as capable of crawling and grabbing with piercing cries (big work on the sound design). They are even able to get up, if we don’t take the trouble to make their bodies disappear once and for all. Something that will never cease to amaze you.

To instil a feeling of unease in anyone who dares to embark on the adventure, Signalis relies on its deliberately mowed graphic part. The pixelated rendering lends a macabre charm to environments that are mostly plunged into darkness. The color scheme allows no fantasy, and there are several iconographies of totalitarian regimes (do you like red?). There are even inscriptions in the German language (the two developers live in Hamburg), which seems apropos compared to History with a capital H. Thanks to all these elements, Signalis doesn’t really look like any other video game, despite obvious inspirations (SF manga, in particular).

In Signalis, the camera is fixed – except during rare passages in immersive view. The result is a very old-school gameplay, reminiscent of the very old Resident Evil (phew, you can shoot while moving). The point of comparison also applies to aiming, semi-automated (and not always precise), and the meticulous management of resources. Thus, you will not find ammunition on every street corner, and the flight, rather than the confrontation, will sometimes be preferred to save some money. This is all the more true since the inventory imposes limits in terms of ergonomics: divided into six small boxes, it requires special gymnastics in its management. Above all, it involves multiple trips back and forth between him and the chest available near the save points. Signalis is really an experience old and, therefore, will not appeal to those fed up with accessibility and fluidity.

More than in the action, and even in the exploration (the levels are not very big), it is in the puzzles that Signalis shines. If some are only to find keys by searching the sets, others are much more complex and satisfying. Their solution generally requires a good sense of observation, a small dose of reflection and a good knowledge of certain clues found here and there (tip: read everything you can read, and don’t hesitate to take a few pictures) . We will even end up unlocking a radio, whose adjustable frequency allows us to solve certain puzzles. It’s very clever, although a bit underused. For an independent production, it’s generally very successful.

The verdict

We liked

• Successful cryptic universe
• Well thought out puzzles
• A good representative for the genre

We liked less

• Ergonomics that can put off
• Imprecise aim
• Inventory too difficult to manage

Developed by two people over 8 and a half years, Signalis is a real gem. A tribute to the old glories of the survival-horror genre, it advances with its own universe, its old-fashioned gameplay and its cryptic mysteries. The adventure is more than satisfactory, despite deliberately dated ergonomics that can put off.

Above all, Signalis is an experience that does a lot of good for a category of games that somehow survives with its flight of remakes. Puzzles, action, oppressive atmosphere: everything is there for thrills, without Signalis having to rely on fear to convince.