Awakening
ACHTUNG, ACHTUNG! There are a lot of games like Signalis, most of them trying to ignite that nostalgia spark from the good old Resident Evil era. I must say most of them miss the spot in some aspects and at the end of the day I am left disappointed. That begs the question: “What is the formula for a good old school Resident Evil experience?” Puzzles? Zombies? Maybe a few jump-scares? Although these ingredients are definitely needed, simply uniting them does not guarantee a big hit, building a good game out of nostalgia is hard. That’s why I appreciate Signalis even more when I dive into these sorts of discussions.
You’re Elster, a technician Replika at the service of the LSTR. You have one simple, yet difficult task, find your Gestalt. What a “Gestalt“ even means is one of the multiple mysteries Elster will have to unravel within the next 10 hours of your playthrough. From the get go it’s clear the protagonist is more machine than human, but emotions are clearly a motivating factor in her mission. I won’t get into much detail about the main plot because finding out for yourself is definitely part of what makes this experience so memorable, the discovery factor is certainly reminiscent of the original Resident Evil mansion.
Old Style, but not outdated
The gameplay feels quite similar and clearly aims to resemble some of the old gems from the early 2000s. The top-down isometric view, character movement and limited inventory management are pretty much a polished copy of what we have already experienced a few decades ago, but that does not mean there are no innovation and cool ideas to be seen here.
Most puzzles are composed of exploration, item gathering, document reading and lots of going back and forth throughout the map sections. I know that might seem tedious and uninteresting, but I must say, the satisfaction of putting everything together never gets old. The radio frequency puzzles are definitely the star of the show, sometimes you will have to sync Elster to a certain frequency in order to receive a wall safe password, play a song to open an item box, you will even have to use it in combat sometimes. It’s a really cool idea that creates a lot of puzzle solving possibilities.
Despite the similarities I am quite glad to confirm that the saving system is not like the old RE games, you are able to save the game as many times as you want without the need to use a specific item.
Not all roses
Signalis is not a perfect game unfortunately, there are some pain points that I would like to point out:
- Item Visibility: I’ve played this game in both a desktop and a Steam Deck, although the game runs like a charm in both devices, i found it quite difficult to see certain items in my 27’ display, the pixelated art style really damages vision clarity in certain areas.
- Too Easy: I have not died a single time within my 10 hours playthrough. The combat is quite easy and the item economy feels way too generous, i’ve never ran out of ammo for example.
- Clunky Menu Navigation: The menu sucks, no sugar coating here, you will constantly lose yourself within the multiple tabs and layers.
Verdict
Signalis is a mustplay if you’re into the original Resident Evil game series. Its engaging and distorted universe will keep you entertained from start to finish.
Highly Recommended
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