Signalis: Super Panromancing Robot Elster-512

[Fyonn]

Signalis is an extremely stylish classic survival horror game published by Humble Games and made by a two-person team named Rose-Engine. If you've played a classic Resident Evil or a Silent Hill before, Signalis is for you. It's got human people, it's got robot people, it's got eldritch themes, it's got a shotgun with a firing cone the size of Louisana, it's got pansexual romance, it's got six item slots, it's got radio, it's got Caulibri, it's got everything! What else could you ask for?

Honestly, I didn't expect to have to be the one to make the thread for this game. Ya'll should already be swarming over this. Here's some unsolicited advice:

• Enemies that are thrashing on the ground can be killed by running up to them and pressing the action button. If you don't, they'll get back up very soon. You can also shoot them, and if you're shooting something else with a shotgun blast, it'll usually finish anything on the ground off, too. In short, KICK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN KICK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN KICK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN KICK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN KICK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN KICK 'EM WHILE THEY'RE DOWN
• Enemies are slow to move and slow to attack. They have touch-damage and wide attack arcs, but you can ignore almost every enemy in the game if they're anywhere but the narrowest endgame hallways. Enemies will start getting back up after a while, so don't use bullets unless your only other option is taking a bunch of damage. Game is flooded with repair patches and sprays, so taking a little damage might still be optimal.
• So long as you're not running and not in direct line of sight, enemies have pretty small awareness ranges. You can get into stun rod range before an enemy notices you, and that means that many rooms can be navigated without alerting enemies at all. Don't attack unless you're already under threat by aware enemies.
• Once you've met an Ara, assume empty rooms have Aras in them.
• If you wait until enemies are in melee range, trying to shoot them will make Elster push them. This is 100% free, and is excellent for stalling until enemies clump up for single-shotgun-blast room clears.
• The shotgun is not significantly more powerful than the handgun, so don't waste shotgun shells on single enemies thinking you're going to deal more damage.
• Picking up items does not pause the game. This shouldn't stop you from ignoring enemies entirely, but it does make it dicier.
• Once you have thermite flares, save them for enemies immediately outside save points. Don't waste your bullets on thermite kills - Elster can jab those into an active enemy just as well as a downed one.
• Inventory trouble? Here's the list of items you should be taking with you out of save rooms if you don't have any key items or know where they go yet: 1: Flashlight (once you get it), 2: Handgun, 3: Shotgun if you know you're headed to a room with four+ enemies or you don't have the flashlight yet. A couple stun rods are also a good second weapon to take, since they're self contained and you can free up an inventory slot just by using them.
• Don't carry ammo. Because your inventory is so tight, by the time you should be running out of the ammo in your weapons, your inventory should already be full of newly found items anyway.
• If your inventory is full, but your guns aren't, you can "take" ammo boxes to reload your gun straight from the box. Any ammo not used for this purpose will remain where you found it.
• It's often very viable to just top yourself off with Repair Patches you find along the way.
• If you don't have the Revolver in your inventory, do not use the Administrator Key on B8 yet. You want that Revolver. It's not Resident Evil Magnum strong, the main reason you want it is the 20-30 Revolver rounds in the game that you otherwise can't use.

Alright, now go buy the game and play it to completion. I'll wait.
...


Back? Confused? I'll fucking bet. I had to play this game twice to piece it together, and I put some effort into doing so. Here's the plot, as I understand it:

Spoiler: Signalis Timeline of Events

Using my original understanding as a framework, I paid close attention to everything I could comprehend happening in the game. I might still be lacking some context that having read The King In Yellow or being able to read a language other than English would have granted, but here we are. I think anything else that I missed is probably just minutia and nuances. This game is right up there with Silent Hill 2 for me, so I'm sure I'll grasp those in future playthroughs over time.
The original Elster that went on the Penrose-512 journey with Ariane will be referred to as Elster 1, and the Elster we play as will be referred to as Elster 3. Elster 2? We'll get to her.

• In the depths of a planet that will one day be known as Leng, an unnamed elder god is sealed with six plates representing the planets of the solar system in which Leng presides.
• Centuries, millennia, perhaps eons later, S-23 Sierpinski is founded to mine the bioresonant materials resulting from the dormant unnamed elder god's influence.
• Replikas are created using bioresonance to copy a mental profile of an individual onto a body constructed out of bioresonant materials. Replikas are critical to the war effort against the Empire waged by the Eusan Nation.
• As a side note, the Empire has machine-servants, which can be assumed to also be bioresonant, implying the Empire has been aware of bioresonance for a long time.
• Lilith Itou and Alina Seo serve the Eusan Nation's military together on Venita.
• Lilith Itou's military service eventually results in an injury significant enough that she is no longer fit for combat duty. She returns to civilian life, having two twins, Erika Itou and Isolde “Isa” Itou.
• After her military service, Alina Seo is assigned to the Sierpinski facility.
• Lilith's medical data is used as the basis for the Elster line of Replika.
• Ariane Yeong is living with her mother at a remote outpost, leading to her being culturally different from the majority of the Nation. Eventually, one of Yeong's Aunts gets Ariane transferred to a “proper” school, effectively placing her under the oppressive arm of the Nation.
• Ariane Yeong acquires a photograph of Lilith Itou and Alina Seo through her friendship with the Itou sisters – she associates Alina with a sort of romanticized escape from her current life by means of joining the military.
• Medical data collected from the residents of Rotfront are used as the basis for a number of Replika models, including Ariane. Ariane is suspected of being Bioresonant, and ends up being the basis for the Falke Replika line.
• Ariane gets accepted to be a Penrose expedition pilot – a sort of shotgun-blast approach to finding habitable worlds. She escapes the arm of the Nation, but is largely isolated on the journey, except for the presence of the Elster Replika assigned as the maintenance technician for her ship, the Penrose-512.
• YURI INTENSIFIES
• hey isn't it kind of weird that Ariane is in a romantic relationship with a copy of her high school friends' mom??? best not to think about it
• AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES
• oh wait that means Lilith and Elster are pansexual icons! pansexual representation!!!
• DANCING IN THE GESTALT SLEEPING QUARTERS
• oh my god were Lilith and Alina dating???
• FALKE AND ELSTER HIGH-FIVE ABOUT ARIANE SNUGGLING
• i have decided Lilith and Alina were dating
• Penrose-512 does not find a habitable world during its effective operational range. Its radiation shielding fails, and Ariane develops cancer.
• Elster and Ariane continue on well beyond the Penrose-512's operational range.
• Penrose-512 crashes on an unknown planet due to systems failure, and Ariane is either awake for it, or the cryo system fails on impact. She leaves the Penrose-512, presumably called by the unnamed elder god.
• This is critical – the red planet the Penrose-512 crashes on is not Leng, but is connected to Leng via the gateway and/or the island. The unnamed elder god is on Leng, and is likely the source of Sierpinski's bioresonant material mine.
• Elster pursued Ariane as in the opening of the game. Together, they flee from the unnamed elder god and return to the Penrose-512.
• Unfortunately, Ariane has already been changed, recognized by the unnamed elder god. Ariane loses the ability to sleep under its influence, she is slowly becoming part of it. Ariane asks Elster to kill her. The Leave ending occurs. Elster ends up somewhere on Leng, a significant distance from the danger of the unnamed elder god, before dying. (We find Elster's corpse on the Penrose-512 late in the game that could be the original Elster, but given this would break the rest of the timeline, I think it's more likely just an Elster corpse. It's clear either way that many Elsters have gotten as far as we do.)
• Lilith's medical data is lost in the war with the Empire. The recovered Penrose-512 Elster is recovered, and all future Elsters are based on the Penrose-512 Elster.
• Second generation Elsters like Elsters 2 & 3 are known to be less stable than first generation Elsters like Elster 1. Like all Replikas, there is a danger that they begin accessing their Gestalt's memories, but they have the added danger of accessing Elster 1's memories.
• Falke descends into the depths of the mine and discovers the Plate Door, opens it, possibly unleashing the full influence of the unnamed elder god. Now wholly incorporated with the unnamed elder god, God!Ariane imprints the reality she desires onto Falke. That is, she wants her fucking partner.
• Alina descends into the depths of the mine and takes the Plate of Eternity from the unsealed Plate Door. God!Ariane goes “well I made my partner, but I also want to be with her” and imprints herself onto Alina.
• Note, given the nature of the unnamed elder god, I don't think Ariane has any conscious input into what God!Ariane is doing. She's just dreaming. It's just very bad when elder gods dream near you.
• Given the extreme susceptibility of Adler units to bioresonance, as Falke changes, Adler and the Kolibris come under the influence of the changes as well. Adler's high level of persona stability leaves him largely unaffected, but the remarkably unstable Kolibris start acting like four-foot tall mobile elder god wireless access points.
• The Sierpinski crisis unfolds, most Replikas become monsters as their personality melts into being four to six different people simultaneously, and one of those people is an elder god. They all attempt to fulfill Elster 1's promise, but are not coherent enough to identify who, exactly, they're supposed to be killing.
• Alina descends into the mines along with all the other Gestalts. Alina, slowly, is changed by God!Ariane into a physical Ariane avatar.
• On Leng date 84-21-D, it becomes a stable timeloop. Changes to the God!Ariane persist, as does anything that came from outside Leng (read: Elsters). Everything else resets.
• As cycles progress, Adler, Alina, and Falke all begin remembering “the future” (previous cycles).
• Elsters, likely under the extremely wide-ranging influence of the unnamed elder god, remembers her Gestalt's comrade, Alina Seo. They track Alina down to the facility on Sierpinski, and go to meet her.
• This has happened many, many, many times.
• Given Alina remembers an Elster that is not assigned to Sierpinski, it is likely that one of the earliest second-generation Elsters found Alina and completed part of the journey alongside her. An Elster might even be how Alina got deep enough into God!Ariane to escape the timeloop.
• Elster 2 progresses through her own version of Signalis, but its slightly less meat-y.
• Elster 2 gets the Memory ending. Alina!Ariane does not recognize Elster, and the loop cannot be closed this cycle.
• Elster 3 is drawn to Sierpinski.
• Incidentally, Isa Itou also makes her way to Sierpinski, but since there's only one of her, we know for a fact that Elster 3's journey is the only time Isa has been present for the loop. She's looking for Erika Itou, I think, but does that make any sense? I'm not sure.
• GAME STARTS HERE
• Sometimes Elster 3 flashes to the past of one of the principle characters. Not all these flashbacks are characters she is related to – she flashes back to Isa's point of view at one point, indicating both are already under the influence of God!Ariane's consciousness-blending effects.
• Isa knocks herself the fuck out by using an anti-material rifle while standing up to kill a Silent Hill 3 monster who was tragically visiting Sierpinski on vacation. This isn't super relevant to the plot, really, it's just badass.
• Elster 3 passes through the gate, destroying her body in the process of failing to open the Penrose 512's airlock during the Fakeout ending.
• Elster 3 remembers her time with Ariane in full.
• Elster 3 is awoken by God!Ariane reaching out to her. She finds herself within the Penrose-512, part of God!Ariane's body throbbing where there should just be Ariane.
• Elster 3 will do anything to fulfill her promise.
• Elster 3 salvages parts from the dead heavy combat configured Elster 2.
• UNREALITY INTENSIFIES
• Elster 3 meets up with Isa in the depths and witnesses what God!Ariane does to the majority of Gestalts, what every Gestalt in the galaxy is doomed to if God!Ariane cannot be stopped.
• Elster 3 encounters Falke and a boss battle happens. When Falke loses, she surrenders to Elster 3, granting her the identity and memories granted to her by God!Ariane. There is now no effective difference between Elster 1, Falke, and Elster 3. They're the same person.
• At the gateway, Adler confronts Elster. Adler seems to think that if this cycle completes, it will likely cause all of Leng, if not the whole solar system, to be consumed by God!Ariane. Adler attempts – and fails – to save the galaxy. Elster, as established, will do anything.
• Elster enters the Penrose-512 one last time. Ariane!Alina is now more Ariane than Alina, so she recognizes Elster. Elster kills Ariane!Alina. I would like to think that this ends Ariane's suffering, but there's not much to suggest that's the case. Either way, the Death ending occurs.

Spoiler: Secret Ending

Artifact Ending
Elster 3 is the sixth and final Elster to sacrifice herself to God!Ariane deciding that she would, in fact, still love Ariane even if she was a worm. In the wreckage of a dead universe, Elster and Ariane live on together forever. Presumably, the solar system is doomed to be wholly consumed by God!Ariane because of Elster's selfish or perhaps selfless act. If the solar system is doomed either way as Adler suspects... Well, what's the harm in finding joy in the face of oblivion?

 

[chud_666]

I loved this game but 6 slots was a drag. In RE you have limited slots, but game is designed to be a mastery of a small area, with some excursions. Silent hill has infinite slots, because it essentially has stage like progression. This game does too. Often you have to make several trips back to box to get all your plates, keys, etc for the next door, puzzle etc. It is extremely tedious.

If slots deemed critical I'd suggest following changes:

1. Shock gun, burning material should be it's own side arm slot, like the defense items in REmake

2. 8 slots minium, or expandable storage like recent RE games

3. Flash light should be own thing that gets equipped, not part of the limited inventory

4. Less useless healing patches. Just have spray and spray + as findable items.

5. No enemy revival at all. Basically rarely used the burn item due to the storage capacity issue. And this feature exasperated by fact that you have to do milk runs back to the storage room with puzzle items etc that you will use !???

Anyway! Loved your plot analysis! Great game despite my griping above. One of the year's best

 

[Fyonn]

Apparently they are looking into ways to lessen the inventory strain without changing it up too much, according to their FAQ in the Steam discussion forums. I would not be surprised to see ammo stacking with the respective gun, equipped items not taking slots, or even just straight up an 8 item slot mode.

 

[chud_666]

It would help a lot. My one issue with the game. The psx vibe here is incredible.

 

[ASandoval]

Apparently they are looking into ways to lessen the inventory strain without changing it up too much, according to their FAQ in the Steam discussion forums. I would not be surprised to see ammo stacking with the respective gun, equipped items not taking slots, or even just straight up an 8 item slot mode.

Oh man, I'll need to keep up with these changes because I stalled out on the game for much of the same reasons as chud (I went into excruciating detailed in the Gripe thread) and I really wanted to keep playing and enjoy it.

 

[Fyonn]

This is the specific quote:

6-Slot Inventory
We are listening to your feedback and are currently looking into options on how to make SIGNALIS more accessible for players who feel the inventory is too restrictive, without negatively affecting the experience for players who enjoy the challenge.

Thank you for your patience while we build and test these options.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

I played this! I'd rank it among my favorite games of the year to date; the atmosphere, story and art design were all top-notch. FWIW, I actually thought the limited inventory added to the game and only occasionally detracted from it. The game is extremely generous with health-recovery items, and I think it would be too easy if you weren't occasionally forced to leave your extra guns and ammo at home to complete certain sections. That said, there was at least one occasion when I couldn't pick up a key item and subsequently forgot where it was, so that was a little annoying.

If I was tasked with making the game a little friendlier, I think there are two things I would change. First, give the player the option to swap an item they are carrying for one on the ground, ideally with a marker on the map in case you want to go back and get it again later. Second, make the flashlight a straight upgrade that doesn't require an inventory slot to equip. If the game let you navigate the dark rooms without it, I wouldn't mind as much, but you literally need it to open the doors and it ends up just permanently occupying one of your precious slots once you get it. Also, making the flashlight optional in dark rooms would be super fun! Those rooms tend to be pretty dangerous, but allowing experienced players to try their luck in the dark would make replays more exciting IMO.

But for the most part, I really do think the inventory system as it stands adds something to the game. Long excursions end up wearing you down, as you use up your supplies and take damage, but that keeps the tension high as you try to make it safely back to the save room. Of course, I'm always in favor of giving the player more options so they can tailor the experience to their needs. So if the developers change the system up, it will just make this extremely cool game accessible to more people, and that's definitely a good thing.

 

[Ludendorkk]

This is an extremely good game

Also it's like the first survival horror game I've played that didn't strongly falter in the last portion, so props for defying genre conventions

 

[air_show]

I'm playing this now. I rather like it, though the part I'm in now (Nowhere) is starting to get stressful as there's no map, a lot of puzzle items I have to collect, more enemies than I've encountered anywhere else, and I'm fast running out of healing items.

 

[Peklo]

Played this. It was excellent, but its adherence toward recognized genre canon in Silent Hill and Resident Evil felt stifling in context of its more unique qualities. The structural and overall game design inspirative texture is central enough that that game wouldn't exist without it, but too many things came off as nods, references, allusions, tributes of any and all sorts in ways that simply insisted themselves in the form of puzzle design, narrative beats, aesthetic themes and tones, boss encounters, sound design, even the very concepts of entire areas or passing individual lines of dialogue. As a recontextualization and composite of all the elements it's working with, it's extremely adept, but even as I was enjoying the general rhythms of routing, enemy evasion and inventory management (six slots works well for this game's needs) I kept wondering if what actually kept me invested--the storytelling and the atmosphere of the presented world--might have been realized through means other than ones that leaned so lovingly derivative. Unlike so many other games that have imitated the "accepted greats" of the genre, Signalis isn't thematically hollow or bereft of its own ideas, so to have it nudge the player's side with its elbow repeatedly was taken by me to be distractingly intrusive rather than partaking in celebration of a shared lineage. Queerness is this game's strength and its lifeblood, and whenever it was content and committed to be about that, the genre has hardly seen anything of its kind or as authentically told.