SIGNALIS

Yo wtf. That was a good time!

A morbidly-depressing survival horror game with glimpses of bittersweet moments scattered throughout. Having not played much survival-horror games beyond the first two Dead Spaces, let alone ones with more traditional gameplay and perspective, I was definitely nervous about SIGNALIS - especially when I found out that there was an achievement tied to the -Survival- difficulty as well as -Classic- inventory. The gameplay, while pretty simple, can be immensely stressful thanks to the purposefully-clunky controls and gunplay. That said, there is something very oddly-satisfying to planning my route on the map, organising my inventory, and solving the (I personally find) brain-melting puzzles. Had to use a guide to solve some of those puzzles and help expedite some backtracking - All in all, I recommend making notes whilst playing if you don't have the best memory like myself. It helps keep track of what item is needed where, which door is locked and how to open, etc. The PS1 style graphics, while not personally nostalgic as I never had or played PS1 games, definitely helped me accept the gameplay's jank and clunkiness - especially when it comes to more fast-paced combat such as the [spoiler]final boss in the game[/spoiler]. The background lore surrounding [spoiler] Eusan, Gestalts, and Replicants [/spoiler] are pretty damn intriguing (though I can't help but recall another way older game [spoiler] Nier Replicant [/spoiler] with how similar in concept the [spoiler] Gestalts and Replicants [/spoiler] are in this game compared to the former). The flavour text scattered throughout the levels paint a pretty grim world outside of the already horrific setting of the game. The story is somewhat left vague and slightly convoluted with the idea of [spoiler] Replicants inheriting the memories of the Gestalts they were based off, with each cycle causing them to confuse actual and inherited memories.[/spoiler] The appearance of [spoiler] flesh infection [/spoiler] especially as the game progresses is something I'm still not sure about - with regards to how it ties to the [spoiler] main disease of the Replicants going mad.[/spoiler] I look forward to viewing all the endings and better understanding the narrative surrounding SIGNALIS with the help of YouTube. [b]Steam Achieve-ing[/b] Might be the first time I unlocked all the achievements for this game simultaneously whilst beating the game.