For fans of old-school survival horror games - we're talking PS1 era games - the new sci-fi horror creationSignalis from developer rose-engine is here. Packed with all the terrifying enemies and troubling themes that made retro horror games so memorable, Signalis also makes use of modern animation techniques and more complex weaponry and puzzles to craft a truly special gameplay experience, just in time for Halloween.
The retro nature of Signalis means that mechanics like a fixed isometric camera, scarce resources, and text-based storytelling will be a major part of the game, and they mark the biggest departure from modern survival horror design. Another major factor is the game's limited inventory. Players will only have a few slots that they can use to carry items - six slots, to be specific - and knowing how to maximize the use of this very small inventory can make all the difference.
The Standard Setup
Signalis stars Elster, a "Replika" (i.e. an android) whose spaceship crash lands on a barren, snowy planet. She eventually discovers an abandoned facility located near her crash site and ventures inside. However, as she plumbs the depths of this facility, she encounters a host of zombielike androids that are very eager to end her visit prematurely. The zombies aren't the only foe Elster will face as she ventures ever deeper, as the mysterious alien presence that seems to have buried itself deep beneath the ground begins to reveal itself.
Elster will have a selection of weapons with which she can defend herself, as well as various ammo types that those weapons can use. There are also Utility Items - such as a Flashlight, Flares, and more - Healing items, and Key items. Healing items are fairly self-explanatory, and Key items are essentially Quest items. They're tools that will help players access new areas of the map, progress the narrative, and more. Outside of Elster's six inventory slots, the majority of these items will reside in the player's Storage, which can be found in the same room as the game's save points.
The best inventory setup to be prepared for most situations is as follows: Players should carry one weapon and the ammo associated with it in their first two slots. Combat is difficult in Signalis and enemies don't stay dead forever, so saving ammo whenever possible is always the best course of action. However, sometimes stealth simply won't be viable, and shots will need to be fired. Having a weapon on hand for such situations is essential.
In the next two slots, players should carry one Utility item and one Healing item. Healing items are included for obvious reasons: to prevent Elster's death. Utility items are more open to player experimentation. The Flashlight is useful for seeing in the facility's many dark rooms, but won't be much help in the better-lit areas. Flares, on the other hand, are an extremely scarce resource, but players can use them to burn the bodies of enemies they manage to kill, ensuring those enemies don't get back up. Flares are the only way to get the game's basic enemies to stay dead, but there aren't many of this item available to use, so determining which enemies need to stay down will be a challenge for players to sort out.
In the final two slots, players should either carry two Key items or leave those slots open to pick up Key items. These items are progression tools. They will help unlock previously inaccessible areas, provide solutions to the game's various puzzles, or advance the narrative when given to NPCs. They don't provide much in the way of survival assistance, but they're crucial to progressing in the game. Key items can be interchanged as needed from the player's Storage, so it helps to determine ahead of time which items are needed. Or, if players are still looking for the item they need, they should leave a slot vacant to be able to pick up that item once it's found.
The Boss Fight Setup
The reason players should strive as much as possible to avoid combat with standard enemies - besides the fact that it's a mostly futile effort since they'll just get back up - is that the ammo and items used to kill off the standard enemies will be much more valuable against the game's bosses. Boss fights in Signalis are unavoidable and can't be completed by using stealth or running away. The only way through it is to fight through, and doing that will require a stockpile of ammo and weapons.
This also means that players should re-orient their inventories to suit the situation. There isn't much need for Utility items or Key items in a boss fight, so vacate those slots. Instead, players should employ some combination of weapons, ammo, and Healing items, and be prepared to use every last one of them.
The best inventory layout for boss fights is typically to run with two weapons and two slots used to carry their ammo, and then use the last two slots for Healing items. Boss fights in Signalis play out similarly to boss fights in a Soulslike game. That is, their attacks can be avoided with careful observation, and they will often reveal their weaknesses if players step back and observe them for a moment. Once players become aware of what weapons will work best against a particular boss, letting themselves get killed and restructuring their inventory setup at their last save point to take advantage of those weaknesses can make a big difference in how long the boss takes to defeat.
Signalis was released on October 27th, 2022, and is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.