Editor’s Note: The following demo review opportunity came courtesy of Tribeca Games. This title and other worthy competitors are vying for awards in the first-ever games category at the long-running festival. Please keep in mind that these reviews are based on demos, all of which vary in length from 20 minutes to an hour, and are not necessarily fully representative of the final, finished game. Our intent is to give you a sense of what makes these games unique, how well the games executed the developers' vision, and to put them on your radar before everyone you know is playing them.
It’s not every game that getsan introduction from contemporary horror aficionadoGuillermo del Toro. Sure,Death Strandingmay be the only title that comes to mind in that very specific list, but the new and upcoming titleSignaliscan now count itself in good company. Del Toro introduced the rose-engine title as part of the ongoing Tribeca Games Spotlight, focusing on the psychological and “cosmic” horror that’s part and parcel of the top-down, pixel-art, sci-fi survival game. And after getting my (increasingly sweaty) hands on a 20-minute demo, I can’t wait to see how deep the mystery goes and how dangerous it really gets.
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Described as “a classic survival horror experience with a unique aesthetic, full of melancholic mystery,” inSignalis, you’ll “investigate a dark secret, solve puzzles, fight off nightmarish creatures and navigate dystopian, surreal retrotech worlds as Elster, a technician Replika searching for her lost dreams.” Fans canwishlist on Steam right nowif that’s enough for you, or you can read on to see why it’s worth your time and attention.
All games on Tribeca’s shortlist want to tell you their unique story in interesting ways. Some of them walk you through it in what amounts to a point-and-click “Choose Your Own Adventure” or more of a gameified visual novel. Then there’sSignalis, which opts to throw you right into the thick of things without any explanation save what you bring in from our real world. With that in mind, it might be best fo you to go into the experience as cold as possible so that you’re left to fend for yourself and survive on your wits, reaction speed, and ability to solve not-all-that-difficult puzzles (at least, to start.) But if you want a bit of a safety blanket, keep reading.
From the outset,Signalisfeels both foreign and familiar. You’re in tight quarters that are a far cry from our daily experiences, but you know a high-tech bunker/spaceship when you see one. You may never have seen a stretched-out shadow jabbing at you with its pointy appendages from dimly lit corners in the real world, but you know that you should probably avoid it at the very least and maybe even shoot if if possible. And if you’ve ever played any sort of horror survival game, you know that scraps of paper with random words and numbers will absolutely come in handy later, even if you can’t take them with you at the moment for whatever reason. It’s all familiar mechanics in a deadly and mysterious setting.Signalisabsolutely nails the creepy horror aesthetic while leaving just enough threads dangling to unspool a compelling story.
The only thing that took a bit of acclimation for yours truly, taking up precious time in the short demo, was the perspective. It’s top-down, three-quarter view, but with its pixelated anime art style and its dim but dynamic lighting, sometimes it’s hard to see the depth and dimension in a scene, at least until you get used to it. Beyond that,Signalisis lovingly designed in its fluid character movement, intuitive combat mechanics, and relatively easy menuing systems, depending on what platform you’re on. The enemies are few and far between to begin with but more than threatening enough to keep you on your toes. And they leave you with more questions than answers. That person with the knife who was trying to kill me? Did I know her? Were we once friends? Was she the one who broke out of cryo upon crash-landing?
Unfortunately, my brief demo time amounted to little more than a tutorial, so yes, I left with plenty more questions that I would love to see answered on a full-release playthrough. Still more questions poured in once I left the tutorial bunker/craft and emerged into a hostile and icy alien world. But to what end? The one thing I’m sure if is that I’ll absolutely be picking upSignaliswhenever it’s available.
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