SIGNALIS

[Trithne]

tbf survival horror dropped tank controls by the time of Silent Hill 2. it's strange to try and bring it back.

Signalis doesn't have tank controls so it's a pointless discussion. But...

I don’t really care for the fixed isometric camera. It’s been a meme that PS1-era survival horror games have always had bad camera angles but at least they can make environments easier to differentiate. Here, navigating can be kind of a boring pain in the ass to navigate though this is a smaller game but even by the end of each sequence, I was antsy to move to the next part. No tank controls either which I’m gonna say the purported “clunkiness” has long been over exaggerated. A true throw back would have been brave enough to at least toggle that in.

This game has no tank control, because it is top-down like pacman. That said tank control is the preferred way for 3D games with camera that changes perspective with your movement. This includes games with cinematic camera like RE (they are are called "fixed" camera but the camera is not fixed at all, because it changes the point of view depending on your position), first person shooter and third person/over the shoulder games. All these games uses tank controls, i.e. movement logic relative to the player orientation.

 

[lightbane]

Tank controls are optional. The real issue is how you can't edit the game controls in the game's options (not counting editing files if that can be done) in 2022, as well as pushing you to play this with a pad.
It looks like Silent Hill: The Fangame, complete with the fem-robot protagonist waking up staring to a bathroom mirror, SH2 style (why would a robot be in a bathroom?), and the protagonist's ability to kick downed enemies with her legs. I suppose that's why she has pointy not-feet.

It's also very German, not only for the random German words, but also because of the insistence to follow procedure slamming into your consciousness from minute 1. Also random animu stuff.
Zwanzig's games were more subtle and had less obsession with following rules.

 

[Wunderbar]

lightbane Zwanzig is not German.

 

[lightbane]

Perhaps I misremembered, but I believe there were random German words and even the title itself for Zwan's games.

 

[Egosphere]

one thing i did like about old horror games were the mixture of fixed and following camera angles. i wouldnt keep them in every game, but they did add a certain flair to the experience due to how varied they were. the start of SH where you follow Mason as he makes his way down the alleyway to get shanked is a good example of them put to good use. first person is okay but is prone to jumpscares. third person over the shoulder stuff has been ubiquitous for so long that it feels too well trodden by now

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Seems interesting. Sadly, I don't know if I'll be alive to play it.

Are you alive?

 

[Viata]

Seems interesting. Sadly, I don't know if I'll be alive to play it.

Are you alive?

Yes. Has the game been released? Is it good?

 

[orcinator]

(why would a robot be in a bathroom?)

https://e-hentai.org/?f_search=female:urination$+robot

 

[Trithne]

Well, that was a time. One death on the Final boss, and what I guess is the good-but-not-secret-good-ending.

Roughly ten hours is pretty much my preferred length for a game, so reasonably content with this.

 

[Wunderbar]

Finished the game, and I agree with everything orcinator wrote earlier in this thread.

Signalis is pretty much a style-over-substance game, as the stylish presentation is the game's main selling point. For an indie horror game developed by two people it has shockingly high production values - the background art, the various menus, puzzles, effects - everything looks great and aesthetically pleasing (well maybe except for cutesy anime faces you occasionally see in cutscenes). One of the rare cases where pixelating PS1-like shader is used well.

Gameplay-wise it's Resident Evil, but worse - enemy variety is extremely low (technically there are multiple enemy types, but they all act the same), encounters aren't particularly interesting due to a top-down camera where you can see every enemy clearly, and key item acquisition is designed in a very linear fashion. Dunno why people here bitched about the six items limit, it's not even particularly restrictive because a key usually opens only one door, and there were basically no situations where i had to juggle multiple key items without knowing where to use them. You see a locked door that says "east wing", then a couple of minutes later you find "east wing key", and then you find a shortcut that leads directly to a locked door you saw before. My only complaint was the flashlight module - since the thing is almost mandatory for exploration, it would've been better to put it into a dedicated flashlight slot.

The puzzles were hit and miss. I liked some of them (mostly the ones involving your radio, like the one where you must decipher a code to unlock a strongbox marked with 'sword'), but was disappointed with how many of them were based on trial-and-error methods (lockpick, fusebox, etc).

IMO, by far the worst thing about Signalis is the tryhard plot and a ton of annoying Silent Hill references. The only reference I liked was bright red saving/loading screen.

Overall it's not bad, but based on the praise the game received in this thread I kinda expected more.

 

[anvi]

Signal is what?

 

[Talby]

I heard there's tranny propaganda in this game, is it true?

 

[Wunderbar]

I heard there's tranny propaganda in this game, is it true?

tranny propaganda - no, but the main character is a lesbian robot.

 

[Vibalist]

I heard there's tranny propaganda in this game, is it true?

Only on the Codex does someone revive a 1½ month old thread to ask something like this.

 

[fork]

The main problem is that the game is bad.

 

[Vibalist]

I think it's pretty good. Obviously not on the level of RE, but it oozes style and has decent puzzles. The gunplay is the weakest aspect, but it never really got to the point where I wanted to tear my hair out or anything.

 

[Villagkouras]

Dear devs, if you have a game that lasts 2-3 hours and you want to last more, either expand the fucking game or release it as a 2-3 hour game, with the appropriate price. Don't make your game tedious as fuck just to pad its length, because I'm going to play it. And I'm not the guy that bullied you in school, don't take your revenge on me.

The 6 (5 most of the time) slot inventory adds NOTHING to the game. It's not hard to navigate between enemies, it's not scary to backtrack, nothing new happens. All I do is walk back and forth, because in one room there are 3 or 4 new items and I have only 2 out of the 5 slots free. It's just tedious and is used only to pad the length of the game.

The last area's gimmick adds NOTHING to the game. Again, it's there only to add an hour in HowLongToBeat.

And of course, if you took the time or had the intelligence to study why RE games are successful, you know the game you want to copy, the serious and allegoric plot isn't one of the reasons. There is a reason most games have basic or no plot: In this medium, plot doesn't matter. You know what matters? Making a fun (as in engaging) game. So don't try too hard to make me feel your feelings, I don't care. Some of us don't expect a video game to shape our personal views, so fuck off with your agenda.

It also had technical problems, like some item and door icons not showing unless you had a very specific position, buttons not registering when pressed in quick succession and it also crashed a couple of times (in 10 hours). I strongly suggest to play with the debug console on to add item slots, you're going to have a much better time, sadly I found out there is this option when I was 70%+ into the game.

Very overrated game.

 

[FreshCorpse]

I rated it. I got it on a whim and it's kind of gotten me into the genre, which I otherwise wouldn't have looked at. RE is now definately on my list. Probably REMake for the PC.

I can't say I really understood what was going on with the plot but I suppose that disorientation was part of the immersion. The art direction was amazing and greatly added to the experience.

I see the criticism of enemy variety. Same trap as Prey 2017. The aiming mechanic was a bit hokey and limiting for the game.

Looks like I missed the rifle. Final boss was quite confusing and although I did it in one I'm still not entirely sure of the mechanic - there obviously is some kind of melee attack in this game but i think I missed the tutorial. I played this very bittily, often in a tired state with a young child not sleeping well and might have missed it.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

View attachment 37931

I rated it. I got it on a whim and it's kind of gotten me into the genre, which I otherwise wouldn't have looked at. RE is now definately on my list. Probably REMake for the PC.

I can't say I really understood what was going on with the plot but I suppose that disorientation was part of the immersion. The art direction was amazing and greatly added to the experience.

I see the criticism of enemy variety. Same trap as Prey 2017. The aiming mechanic was a bit hokey and limiting for the game.

Looks like I missed the rifle. Final boss was quite confusing and although I did it in one I'm still not entirely sure of the mechanic - there obviously is some kind of melee attack in this game but i think I missed the tutorial. I played this very bittily, often in a tired state with a young child not sleeping well and might have missed it.

Pick up the spears and stab her when you shoot her a few times and she goes down on her knees or whatever. All but one boss(of the 3) actually needs to be killed and that's Mynah the first boss. You can actually avoid the Chimera and Falke and just run around and they'll die.

No melee attack. Though if you run into an enemy you push them which gives you a small moment to move away. The only melee attack there is, is kicking the enemies when they are on the ground. If you are looking for something that is surreal and shall I say "profound" like Signalis, you'll only really find that in Silent Hill 1,2 and 4 (Origins in a way). You can also try the Project Zero games and give Deadly Premonition 1 a go as well. And if you feel like emulating : Rule Of Rose on PS2

 

[BING XI LAO]

 

[Twiglard]

So the phenomenon drawing the Elsters toward the planet, made them all stand in front of an elevator shaft for the bad guy to smack them right into the elevator shaft, thus killing them. It continued for a while, but eventually the pile grew so big that it cushioned the fall of the player's Elster, leading to the game's later events.

Makes sense, this is good storytelling.

I wish they did more with themes, motifs and character drama but it's definitely better than doing them incompetently.

 

[lightbane]

I tried playing this and I didn't like, it uses elements from Silent Hill but making little sense as the victims are sci-fi cyborgs. I read the plot in the wiki and it made even less sense, for not to mention it has that type of ending that undoes everything you did ingame.

 

[Talby]

Well, I just beat the game. Overall I liked it. Decent survival horror gameplay, and the aesthetic and setting were very compelling. I do have one question, however.

Spoiler

What the fuck just happened?

 

[Zombra]

I picked this up due to Overwhelmingly Positive Steam reviews + survival horror. I walked back and forth on a ship for an hour trying to find keys and batteries to power up the doors and then open them or whatever, trying to make visual sense in the pixel art of what was and wasn't interactive. Felt like I did a LOT of backtracking because I didn't know that the first 50 computer terminals were just scenery but the 51st was plot critical. So walking back and forth hammering the interact button on every single piece of garbage just in case. This kind of pixel hunt is trash in my opinion. Got bored and never went back. Did I do wrong?

 

[Ivan]

Got bored and never went back. Did I do wrong?

No. You gave it an honest try and sounds like you got far enough to know it wasn't for you. I do wish you would have made it to some of the boss fights, as that's what I recall the most from my experience. Great boss themes, for a horror game. Esp if you like that kind of thick NIN sound.