NOTE: I played on the survival horror difficulty with tank controls. Your experience may be different.

A fantastic game on its own, Signalis is a love letter to horror games. Taking much of its inspiration
from classic (pre-4) Resident Evil and Silent Hill, tensions run high due to low resources and disturbing
environments.

The main character is one of several types of beings called "Replika" -- an artificial cyborg created
to perform vital tasks to maintain a militaristic fascist society. She is an LSTR unit, designed
to survive long, lonely missions, which is the source of the strength that allows her to handle the
horrors that she dutifully marches into. As you start, all you know is that she wants to find a woman
that is important to her, and will do anything to find her. But you will soon discover that some mysterious
disease is killing all of the humans, and turning all of the Replikas into violent monsters. What type
of monster they become depends on what type of Replika they were in life.

As you progress further, things become crueler. Environments become more twisted and surreal, and you
encounter characters that are breaking down either physically or mentally. Progression is locked behind
key items that often require you to solve puzzles. You may use a cybernetic enhancement to
photograph a keypad solution from another room, fix some broken-down machinery, or receive a password
from a radio transmission. These puzzles are all unique and offer a fun challenge, as well as a welcome
break from the fear.

With the game relying more on anxiety than jump scares (though I did jump once or twice), your resources will run thin
as you explore your environment. Once you make the horrifying discover that no enemy dies permanently,
you have to decide if you want to defeat an enemy and waste your ammo, or just avoid them.
And, if you defeat them, do you enter the room again and risk having them wake up, or do you take a
detour? The only way to permanently defeat enemies is to use a flare, an uncommon item that will burn
corpses. Intelligently choosing where to use these flares is vital to making rooms you frequently
visit permanently safe. In the early game I started by trying to defeat all enemies I encountered,
but near the end I was too afraid of running out of items, and chose a combination of stealth and
maneuvering to make my way through the game instead. In the end I had more ammo than I needed, but the fact
that I severely overestimated the danger ahead shows how well the game did creating a tense, horrific
atmosphere.

There are no "good" emotions in this game. You'll feel scared, anxious, depressed, sad, and disoriented. And I
love this game for doing that. You, the player, have no emotional incentive to continue, but you do it anyway.
Without giving away too much, I'll tell you that this idea is core to the story of Signalis.

If, as you play the game, you find the story to be vague, just remember: THIS SPACE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

[h1]Horror can be beautiful[/h1] [i][b]NOTE:[/b] I played on the survival horror difficulty with tank controls. Your experience may be different.[/i] A fantastic game on its own, Signalis is a love letter to horror games. Taking much of its inspiration from classic (pre-4) Resident Evil and Silent Hill, tensions run high due to low resources and disturbing environments. The main character is one of several types of beings called "Replika" -- an artificial cyborg created to perform vital tasks to maintain a militaristic fascist society. She is an LSTR unit, designed to survive long, lonely missions, which is the source of the strength that allows her to handle the horrors that she dutifully marches into. As you start, all you know is that she wants to find a woman that is important to her, and will do anything to find her. But you will soon discover that some mysterious disease is killing all of the humans, and turning all of the Replikas into violent monsters. What type of monster they become depends on what type of Replika they were in life. As you progress further, things become crueler. Environments become more twisted and surreal, and you encounter characters that are breaking down either physically or mentally. Progression is locked behind key items that often require you to solve puzzles. You may use a cybernetic enhancement to photograph a keypad solution from another room, fix some broken-down machinery, or receive a password from a radio transmission. These puzzles are all unique and offer a fun challenge, as well as a welcome break from the fear. With the game relying more on anxiety than jump scares (though I did jump once or twice), your resources will run thin as you explore your environment. Once you make the horrifying discover that no enemy dies [i]permanently,[/i] you have to decide if you want to defeat an enemy and waste your ammo, or just avoid them. And, if you defeat them, do you enter the room again and risk having them wake up, or do you take a detour? The only way to permanently defeat enemies is to use a flare, an uncommon item that will burn corpses. Intelligently choosing where to use these flares is vital to making rooms you frequently visit permanently safe. In the early game I started by trying to defeat all enemies I encountered, but near the end I was too afraid of running out of items, and chose a combination of stealth and maneuvering to make my way through the game instead. In the end I had more ammo than I needed, but the fact that I severely overestimated the danger ahead shows how well the game did creating a tense, horrific atmosphere. There are no "good" emotions in this game. You'll feel scared, anxious, depressed, sad, and disoriented. And I love this game for doing that. You, the player, have no emotional incentive to continue, but you do it anyway. Without giving away too much, I'll tell you that this idea is core to the story of Signalis. If, as you play the game, you find the story to be vague, just remember: [spoiler]THIS SPACE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK[/spoiler]