You Should Play The SIGNALIS Demo

Survival horror is such a fun genre to me. Growing up the Resident Evil series was a big reason why. I still have a lot of nostalgia-fueled love for the earlier entries simply from a presentation standpoint. Yes, the tank-control movement is a part of that, although I do appreciate modern control schemes a lot more. What makes me the happiest is managing inventory space, reading files that drop hints for puzzles, and worrying whether I have enough ammo for whatever encounters are in my future.

Naturally, the appreciation of these elements has kept SIGNALIS on my radar ever since it was announced in 2020 and then shown off at the Tribeca Games Festival and Gamescom in 2021. While the game sports an aesthetic that mixes anime-pixel visuals with sci-fi that’s inspired by cold-war retro-tech (which I apparently love), the development team has managed to take a lot of influence from popular survival horror games. I’ve been wanting to get my hands on it for so long, which is why I was ecstatic when I read a tweet by Yuri Stern, one of the two developers, that the game had a demo on Steam.

To put it into simple terms: if you enjoy old-school survival horror games, you should absolutely download this demo. You play as a replicant named Elster who wakes up out of cryosleep on a ship marooned on a planet.

There isn’t a whole lot to glean about the plot from the demo, aside from horrible monsters trying to kill you and unsettling dystopian overtones. It’s a very short demo that took me about 30 minutes to beat the first time, but I was giddy with excitement the entire time.

For those that are apprehensive when it comes to tank controls, the demo does start with the settings screen that can also later be accessed during the game. Plenty of gameplay aspects can be modified, including the choice between tank or modern controls, automatic reloading, multiple aiming types, and general difficulty options.

Alongside those are some simple graphic options and some optional ones to suit your ’90s taste such as film grain and a CRT filter. I’d recommend adjusting them as best you can and then again in-game to better see the differences immediately.

One of the big influences that noticeably aren’t the same is the camera. Instead of different fixed camera angles, almost every room I went into was the same angled camera that would scroll with me in bigger and longer rooms.

This still managed to keep the game feeling tense as creepy enemies would sometimes be almost off the side of the camera’s initial view. The only moments that were different were the occasional first-person views in certain areas that were used for puzzles and some point-and-click moments.

As uncomfortable as everything felt, what really kept me on my toes was the lighting. The main ship location where the demo takes place has a lot of dark areas. It is easy to briefly lose track of yourself or enemies at times.

None of the enemies felt cheaply placed in the shadows though and when you’re aiming there is a red lock-on box that appears over them anyway. Overall I felt the lighting pulled a lot of weight when it came to the atmosphere without detracting from the retro pixel visuals.

On the topic of visuals, I have to talk about the inventory screen that looks like an old-school Resident Evil game inventory flipped on its side. The game fully embraces older mechanics too. Weapons and tools have to manually be equipped on the screen and items can be inspected and turned around for potential clues.

A separate screen features a map, and another is filled with files you’ve read, a retro-diagnostics screen, and a radio receiver that ticked another box for me for reminding me of Metal Gear Solid. The diagnostics screen seemed to be just an extra visual for showing the state of your health, but it was interactable and could change to a separate screen showing a body layout. My fingers are crossed that this serves more of a purpose in the full game.

I’m a big fan of the way the game sounds as well. When it came to music it seemed to rely more on the overall atmosphere outside of a track that played during combat. To its credit though, the atmosphere does sound amazing.

A lot of small sound effects made me reminisce such as hearing a page flip when going through files and or hearing the pop of the pistol. Whether you’re sifting through radio static and discovering ominous morse code beeps or hearing a monster scream because it heard you running, there are a lot of sounds to put you on edge.

Going back to the enemies, it’s hard to explain what they are because I’m not entirely sure myself. What I can say is that they look disturbing and they disgustingly writhe on the floor after you take them down with some well-placed bullets. Similar to Silent Hill, this is your cue to go over and press the interact/attack button to stomp them dead before they get back up again.

It’s also possible to run past them to converse your ammo since the enemies won’t follow you through doors and will eventually reset to their default positions. For those that want to strategically retreat and avoid feeling too overwhelmed, I imagine this will be an appreciated mechanic.

Combat in general feels nostalgic yet modern enough to not turn away those who aren’t fans of the more clunky mechanics from the late ’90s. As mentioned before the game utilizes an automatic lock-on system when aiming. It’s possible to quickly aim and shoot, although the longer you stay locked onto an enemy the stronger your shots will be. I found it to be a great way of letting the player know they’re aiming at something but still incentivizing them to not just shoot wildly.

Another very welcome mechanic that’s modern for the games it’s emulating is being able to move while aiming. It wouldn’t be a talking point for most other games, but I do think it’s worth mentioning because it does slow you down enough for enemies to reach you. I enjoyed having to reposition myself a couple of times in between my walking shots, especially when there wasn’t a lot of space and I needed to reload. It’s just something else that tickles that familiar itch.

I could go on about how satisfying the demo felt to play. Older survival horror games have a lot of quirks to them that are staples of the time they were made. Some find those quirks to be charming while others find them to be far too clunky in an age of more responsive and intuitive mechanics. Both are valid opinions as far as I’m concerned, which can make recommending older titles a bit difficult.

SIGNALIS feels like a love letter that’s a lot more digestible than its influences. The development team behind this (rose-engine) has shown a great understanding of how to showcase the charming attributes without them feeling like major inconveniences. Whether you’re a fellow fan of survival horror or have wanted to experience what it was like to play games from that sweet time between the ’90s and mid-2000s without the shattering experience of improved mechanics, this demo is well worth a look.