I was lied to about ‘SIGNALIS.’ A friend of mine recommended it to me. They said, “I think you’d enjoy it. It has lesbians in it.” They did not tell me any more than that. It makes sense. I had said I don’t like horror games, so they played up a romance subplot. I do like yuri.
As it were, ‘SIGNALIS’ is a top-down retro aesthetic survival horror game by the studio Rose Engine. It is the studio’s first released title and became available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on Oct. 27, 2022.
‘SIGNALIS’ is an extremely polished experience. I could count the number of bugs I encountered on one finger. It consistently runs at full speed, and only on my fourth playthrough did I notice any true graphical oddities.
Gameplay is split between exploration and puzzles. Combat is light, and it’s possible to finish the whole game by only fighting twice. With the exception of one particularly infamous puzzle involving a water pump, they’re all enjoyable. Often, one large puzzle is the subject of a floor.
The setting is reminiscent of ‘Dead Space,’ leading you to explore a collapsing mining facility. As such, levels are comprised of different floors of a vertical structure, sometimes several. The progression is ever downward.
It’s simple; finish a floor’s puzzle, unlock a door, a pit or an elevator and drop further down. Each level, of course, has stronger monsters and harder doors to unlock.
Where ‘SIGNALIS’ pulled me in was its aesthetic and its story.
The game is dripping with character. Intricate pixel art splashes punctuate polygonal models. Screen effects from the 32-bit era blend with 19th-century cosmic horror; images of anti-imperial revolution intertwine with surrealist body horror, living machines and perhaps magic.
This is a game where VCR tapes bring you to maglev trains on other planets and oil paintings are portals to ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ — though without the inexplicable references to Christianity. It is full of references to classical music.
The story that it tells seems simple. Your spaceship has crashed, leaving you stranded. You are looking for a lover. The place you’re looking for said lover is deeply corroded. In a way, that describes every survival horror game. It seems clear what you’re in for.
Except, then, that it isn’t.
The thing with ‘SIGNALIS’ is that it is a game about second impressions. Nothing is as it seems. Until the second half of the game, there are few clues as to what this story is really about. It is not, in fact, a horror game that dabbles in romance. It is a romance wrapped in a horror game.
Perhaps describing it as romance is misleading. It would be more accurate to say that ‘SIGNALIS’ is a game with a story that unravels. Not in the typical sense, but in the sense that it changes the longer you look at it, and what you think you’re seeing falls completely apart.
This story unravels in a way that I can only describe as “doomed yuri at its finest,” and it becomes something that I think you should experience unspoiled. I have been thinking nonstop about this game since I first played two years ago, in part because I didn’t know what it was.
February is a month about romance, so make March a month about doomed yuri. I played this game alone in a room with bad heating and a broken light fixture very late at night.
You don’t have to do that. This game is just as good in a normal room.
Zien can be reached at [email protected].
