A minor review or something because I need to get this out of my system or I'll go nuts. I am not good at writing reviews about games past variants of "this owns" or "it aint for me" most of the time, so pls be kind.
SIGNALIS is a sci-fi survival-horror game developed by the (2 person) indie studio rose-engine that takes inspiration from a multitude of sources. Ranging from other video games to several literary resources, with the game even straight-up including a copy of the book The King in Yellow in it.
The main, concise, spoiler-free description of the premise is that you play as an android named Elster that seemingly has crash-landed on a snow-laden planet and you're looking for someone very important. Naturally, as with most survival-horror games, Things Don't Seem Right™.
Most of the gameplay takes place in a top-down/slightly-tilted view as you go about through various locations. Sometimes it changes to other views, as appropriate, providing different ways of interacting with the environment.
As expected of a game in the genre, resources are scarce and you need to manage them wisely. Inventory space is very limited, at six slots. Use them wisely. As you move through the game, you acquire new items and weapons, each with their own varying levels of effectiveness that you need to come to understand and wield properly.
You also come across a few puzzles that need to be solved in order to progress, again, another staple.
All in all, everything you expect from a survival horror game is here, and goddamn it's really really fucking good.
First off, this game will not give you all the answers to everything with a straight face. You may even need to do a second playthrough or more to get a different perspective about everything. If you don't like narratives that are slightly disjointed and non-linear with describing events that took place and take place, then you might be put off a bit from this, but I'd highly recommend giving it a try anyway.
Throughout playing through the game and investigating the environment you come to learn more things about the backstory of what happened/is happening and lore that serves to act as worldbuilding.
A constant underpinning of the story is of an unknown cosmic terror that transcends the electronic and the biological. Or is that really the case? Is that really all it is? You tell me, because I'm still trying to put everything together and that shit kicks ass. There's easily so many ways to interpret what's actually going on that what you take away from it will ultimately depend on what you pick up on and how you (the reader) piece it all together (to an extent, of course).
I feel the non-linearity and the revelations that occur throughout the game are just right and don't feel out of place. Initially it was the gameplay that sucked me in, but I'm extremely here to figure out what is actually going on now. The thread that binds the whole story together is absolutely magnetizing.
As stated, much of the game is played in a top-downish slightly tilted view, but the game will transition into different art styles appropriate at varying times. 3D first-person, scenes with text on screen (sometimes violently so, sometimes indecipherably so), all with the intent of punctuating certain moments, whatever they may be, and personally, I think it works very well.
Overall I really enjoyed the art styles used in the game.
This game features no jump-scares or anything of the sort as a way to try and otherwise startle or scare you, no mediocre stuff like that.
Movement-wise everything feels right. You move at the right enough speed to maneuver around enemies and escape to safer distances in a way that feels fair. Weapons feel very well-balanced and don't feel useless over time either. They complement the decision-making process rather than detracting from it. Every weapon serves a distinct purpose in how you'd take on certain enemies. Remember though, that the limited inventory space means you'll need to think about how you want to put everything together.
Enemy placement in the game is very good. Throughout my entire first playthrough I never came across a scenario where it was impossible to manage everything coming at me in different ways. There's a right enough number of enemies to keep things from being underwhelming and overwhelming. The enemy placement also has a large effect on how you'll determine your routing through particular sections. Several items you get later on will further affect that decision-making process in different ways.
All in all everything is very good for the most part and I liked the gameplay loop a lot.
I'm unbelievably over the moon about this game and would heavily recommend it if you're into survival-horror games. This is one of the best games I've played in a very long time, and as I play through it again for a second time to understand more of the narrative better and piece things together, I think this might be one of my favorite games ever.