I played Signalis and really enjoyed it, I actually found it a bit inspiring, if a truly tragic game. The core gameplay was fun and engaging, the puzzles never felt grating or frustrating and completing them or figuring them out was quite rewarding. Although never obvious and requiring some thinking, they never felt like total moon logic like so many puzzle or adventure games. The combat was a good mix of resource management and brought just enough tension without interfering with puzzles.

The story and aesthetic was probably the highlight though, it wears its cultural influences on its sleeves, classic cosmic horror, evangelion, ghost in the shell, 2001 a space odyssey. It brings some new elements to the mix as well, notably an East German aesthetic and the existential personal dread of living in a totalitarian surveillance state. At once dread inducing and tragic, but also beautiful. I’m very curious to see more from the duo who made it, and am curious if they’ll do more in the setting or move on to something else.