How to understand Signalis

– … you heard about such a disease – Siberian fever? […] In general, peasants are sick in Siberia. […] Here you are a peasant, you live alone in this Wild Siberia and every day in your field will be hunching. Around – no one, how enough the eye. Wherever you look, the horizon is everywhere – in the north, in the east, in the south, in the west. And nothing more. […] Every day you see how the sun rises in the east, how its path passes through the sky and goes in the west beyond the horizon, and something is torn in you. Dies. You throw a plow and stupidly rush west. West from the sun. You wander the day after day as obsessed – do not eat, do not drink until you fall dead. This is
Siberian fever […]

– But what is there, to the west of the sun?

– I don’t know. Maybe nothing. Or maybe there is something.

At the very curtain of 2022, a little-known indie studio from Hamburg, Rose-ENGINE, consisting of only two people (Barbara Wittman And Yuri Stern), introduced her brainchild to the public, to the brain of the bone, Oldskupol Survival-Horror in the style of cyberpunk called Signalis . Today I want to steal a little of your free time to tell about why Signalis – The most important event of 2022 in the world of interactive horror, and even more so, throughout the gaming industry.

For your convenience – video version of the article

The developers do not hide that their game is inspired by classic horror seers, like Resident Evil And Silent Hill. From the first here, almost all gameplay mechanics and gamemeraduer solutions, from the second – history, its presentation, design of opponents and some locations. And claustrophobic setting of dark space stations may well inspire memories of Dead Space.

But, of course, these are far from all references that can be found in Signalis. However, about everything in order.

How is the world of the game?

At first glance, nothing new. Humanity entered the phase of interplanetary colonization and actively masters the new celestial bodies, sucking out of them all minerals. People learned to digitize and create with their help reasonable androids specializing in the necessary types of work. All living people are called Gestalts, And robots – replicas. Well, as the Cyberpank-Production of Cyberpank, replicas can slightly change their data, getting out with certain modules.

Humanity is united under the rule of a certain Empire, omnipotent octopus squeezing all subjects in his grip. So, studying documents and notes, we learn that in all corners Empire dissent is condemned, collectivism is always above individualism, the manifestation of creativity and freedom of expression is equated with serious offenses, and objectionable for any reason the work of art is removed from the turnover.

The most brilliant boat -plate reads: “Enter notes! Remember, if you didn’t write something, then this was not!”And his genius is that he not only tells us about the promotion of denunciations in the world of Signalis, but also addresses us directly, warning that there is no auto -preservation in the game

The rule is six. Carry no more than 6 items with you. Private property – privilege

Pictures, music, literature and “other nonsense”

Moreover, as befits any totalitarian state, Empire It is easy to punish people for violation of the law, which at the time of accomplishment was not at all. The most indicative case is the ban on the radio at the underground station “Serpinsky-23”, planets Lang – Workers gained access to the wave on which the administration (protectors, as they call them in the world Signalis) transfers data on codes to wall safes. Any adequate person understands that this is a clear oversight of protectors, which should be responsible for such an omission, but to “Serpinsky-23” They think differently. The station introduces the strictest prohibitions on wearing radio transmitters, and those who managed to take possession of the information that were not entitled for his ears are brutally tortured in the dungeons.

It would seem that the standard set, but the further we are moving around the plot, the more we notice the differences from the template genre canvas.

If there is a totalitarian regime, then there will be those who will resist him. As in the relatively recent The Observer (compare with it, t. To. This is the only cyberpunk capable of the degree of gloomy and hopelessness to get closer to Signalis) There is a conditional resistance that received a catchy name EUSAN nation.

The catch only in the fact that by joining local resistance, you only change the oppressor. EUSAN And Empire They are not very different from each other in interaction with the population controlled by them and by the isolation of the privileged elite from the rest of the people.

And the most beautiful game in the game is that we are not allowed to understand this from the very beginning. Already at the start of the game, we are gradually encountering all new and new propaganda units that call for a certain struggle, revolution, war, but the side simply does not go to take someone’s side, since both the Imperials and the separatists are practically no different in their slogans.

A few more posters

In the first pairs, the player is simply not clear in these political intricacies, and after a few hours of studying intra-game documentation, when the disposition of forces is realized, it does not become easier, because there is no desire to empathize with one of the warring parties.

But not only political clashes is overshadowed by the world Signalis – The society itself is in deep internal contradiction. All replicas are created on the basis of partial digitization of gestalt consciousness with strictly defined abilities. Not every gestalt can serve as the basis for a replica. Therefore, in the world of the game there are only a few variations of replicas.

Moreover, in view of the imperfections of their neural structure, replicas can be extremely unstable and mentally vulnerable, in case of non -compliance with strict requirements for their content.

Module Elster

Modules Storm and Star

Replicas live without memories of their past life as gestalt, however, these memories in whole or scraps can seep into their consciousness, in case of non -compliance with the conditions of their operation. Over time, scientists come to the idea of creating a special model of replica, generating fake collective memories for the replicas subordinate to them.

Given the close connection of the Androids with the individuals of the once existing gestalt, you can even call a replica to former people … Persons who are devoid of memories or endowed with controlled images of the never -existing past.

And can a person be former? What makes a person a person? Having lost their physical membrane, these people continue to exist in the bodies of Androids, doomed to exist without the future and without the past, strictly obeying the inherent program prescriptions.

The game in some fancy way involuntarily answers the title question of the novel Philip Dick “Do Androids dream of electricians?” They dream, and far from only about it. Rather, they want to dream, but due to their own inferiority and overwhelming control from the outside, they cannot do this. Or still?

One of the main works in Cyberpunk for its https://winshark-casino.co.uk/ authorship

Well, in the air already blows non -proceeding and hopeless darkness? That’s the same. But we have not even concerned the main plot yet.

Plot

History rotates around the replica LSTR (or Elster) who crashed on her ships “Penrose 512” And, waking up in a cryogenic capsule, she began to search for gestalt Arians, to which she is attached and with which she was together on the ship.

This is the plot tie. Talk about him in more detail, with numerous spoilers, we will be in the section “Interior”.

Gameplay

As I said, the game is a clone gameplay Resident Evil sample of the classical trilogy. Almost a static camera, a slow movement of the character, limited inventory, unloading chests and strictly defined places for conservation (although they are just more similar to the Silenthillian saves).

Narrow corridors

Orientation on the map

Resource management

Savrums with unloading chests

There are few cartridges, the enemies are tenacious (willingly rebelled after death, if you do not burn the body, just like in remake first resident), the corridors are narrow and cramped, so often you have to enter into confrontation. However, sometimes the game throws us to more extensive locations and gives us a variant of a certain likeness of stealth process.

In principle, if in such a situation you do not shine with a flashlight and do not rush, like an abrasion, then an open confrontation can be avoided.

In general, all these mechanics were debugged a couple of decades ago, and their implementation in Signalis Almost never raises questions. Even more than that, using cyberpanus setting, the game introduces elements that are not characteristic of the cortexes of the monastery. So, periodically we will need to use the built-in radio module to solve riddles, search for passwords and even fight against certain enemies. Some tasks require consolidating visual images, for which there is a photo module. And sometimes already not the brightest locations are covered with complete darkness and for advancement on them we will need a module-pound.

All this greatly diversifies gameplay, but also gives rise to a couple of complaints to the game design. You see, the game has a single weapon of close combat – yes, again in the remake of RE 2002 – only now Capcom guessed to make this defensive weapon do not occupy a slot in the inventory, but in Signalis They decided not to do such concessions. The same applies to all these few modules that also occupy a place in the applies of the heroine.

No, do not think, the game from this does not become some kind of dental complex and impenetrable-the balance is designed here, I personally were interested in playing personally (I received the call, and there was no time for the same place for hours). Only now, such illumitation is simply unnecessary for some stray. I immediately threw the same photo module into the box, because I have a phone with a camera in my hands-why do I have a close backpack of the heroine to fill with all kinds. I honestly wanted to use this module, but very quickly I realized that to write codes on a piece of paper and photograph on a smartphone some complex visual images is much more advisable.

Two modules, shotgun, cartridges – and the inventory is almost clogged. Carry the whole arsenal with you (and he is very rich in Signalis) will not work

And yes, this could be explained by the very note that states that private property is a privilege, and you can carry no more than 6 items with you, but the game itself makes an exception in the form of the same radio module that always weighs outside your inventory. Here it can be argued that the radio module is a small mechanism that is inserted into the ear and cannot take a place in your pockets, but then just look at the photo module:

It is also completely unclear why in the game there are already 4 types of first -aid kits. I realized that the repair patches are the weakest, the repair spray is stronger, the repair spray+ is even more powerful, and the autoin objector is generally a universal solution to all troubles. But, if we say it is honest, there is a noticeable and tangible difference only between the autoin objector and everything else. The injector cures completely and instantly, and the rest do their work very slowly and the feeling that the degree of recovery from them is generated randomly. You can smile 2 repair spray, and remain in the yellow zone of health (from smaller to larger: red – yellow – blue), or you can use one patch and optimally correct your well -being. And vice versa, this scheme also works. In general, they did not fully think this element.

All this, however, is said solely to demonstrate the objectivity of their judgments about the project. There are shortcomings in it, however, they are completely not critical and the pleasure of getting from the game does not interfere. IN Signalis The long -term efforts of the developers and the sincere love of the authors for their brainchild are embedded, which is felt when passing. All other elements of the game are honed to such an extent that you just refuse to believe that this game was created by a studio of two people.

Stylistics

You yourself see everything. Signalis He tries to resemble the classics of video game horror not only gameplay, but also externally. Everything looks nice, moderately detailed, and at the same time combines the elements of the fifth generation of consoles and a Pixel art of the early gaming systems.

Moreover, this is all the same with the mind and sense of measure. The pixel art does not roll up to the 8-bit era, leaving us only the conditional outlines of the characters and objects, and the SAMS under the early 3D graphics is implemented without the “trembling” models that are characteristic of the same PS1.

It is clear that Signalis thought out thoroughly so as not to cause rejection of a gamer … If only you are not confused ..

Yes, the authors consciously relied on anime stylistic, with which, in my humble glance, they did not lose, because the drawing in the style of Japanese animation appears only on some posters, rarely falling photos and cat-scenes with dialogs. A similar approach allowed to decently and beautifully draw all the main characters and save on facial animation.

There are also in the game KAT scenes on a engine with faceless (literally) models, but this is found only where such an approach was quite possible to afford. That is, even if you do not digest anime, the authors tried to do everything so that the clash with this cultural layer has passed for you most imperceptibly and painlessly.

Well, it is also worth mentioning that sometimes the game is diluted with short -lived segments with flashbacks made from the first person. Personally, I really liked these segments and reminded me of another wonderful game of the PS1 era, Echo Night .

Interpretation

As usual, I warn you: beware of the spoilers in this section! If you haven’t played yet Signalis, then I advise you to get through it yourself at least once. This is an amazing experience that every self -respecting lover of classic horror should personally plunge into. Those who are familiar with the game, let’s understand.

Quite often, answering questions from fans and literary critics on how to interpret the plot of one or another of his book, Haruki Murakami Only slyly smiles and says: “There is everything in the novel, read carefully”.

Here is about the same situation. If you love unequivocal and understandable plots the first time, then Signalis, Alas, not for you. If you have experience in interacting with cult video game psychological horror, like the same Silent Hill 2 , then this game … Probably, it will not be for you anyway.

Interpret the plot Signalis the only right way is the task of not fulfilling. The meaninglessness of the absolutely true understanding of what is happening to us from the very start of the game, the name of the ship “Penrose 512”. The name of this cosmic shuttle refers us to a famous British physics, Roger Penrose, Whose job “The new mind of the king” 1989 gave rise to the concept of quantum consciousness.

“The new mind of the king”

If in short, its essence lies in the fact that human consciousness occurs in the process of decogery (the transition of particles from superpositions In one of the states).

But let’s easier. What’s happened cat Schrödingra, I think the plus minus is known to everyone. So, on his example, we will consider. Superposition In this experience, the cat in a closed box has, because in such a position the observant subject is deprived of information about the decay/non -decay of the atom of the radioactive substance, and therefore whether the cat is alive or dead. One of the states we get when we open the box and receive information about the atom/cat. This is exactly this process, the process of decohereence, Penrose and tied to the emergence of consciousness.

This theory from the point of view of the layman sounds intriguing, and, it seems to me, it is it that is the basis of the dualistic concept of history Signalis. Even having gone through the game to the very end several times, we will not be able to give a clear answer whether we are dead Elster And Ariana or still survived, because they are alive and dead at the same time (t.e. are located in superpositions).

And it is from our perception, it is from our consciousness through which this story will pass that will depend. n. Collapse of the wave function (or, as we called it above, Decogery). And therefore, before each of us, the plot of the game will appear in different variations.

It’s funny, only at the time of writing the material, I realized that Ariana herself is in the box, and in the next compartment of the ship there is a leak of radiation. This is an Easter.

Compartment of the ship in which the radiation leak

Ariana lying in a cryogenic capsule

It’s good if you distance yourself from my terrifying and meaningless attempts to physics, you can draw an analogy with the film “Mr. Nobody” 2009, where the hero Jared Summer experiences various mutually exclusive variants of his life, periodically encountering their layering.

Of course, like any complex work, Signalis open to various interpretations and the most crazy fan theories, which have already accumulated a decent amount on the Internet. And I, in turn, urge you to touch this, without exaggeration, masterpiece and form your vision of what we wanted to tell us about Barbara Wittman And Yuri Stern.

In the end, the message, embedded in this frightening and confusing story, is just that you can not give out your individuality, neither under the pressure of public opinion, nor under the oppression of the soulless system. And the epigraph to this article was not chosen by chance, because the main gestalt heroine, Arina, It is removed from the uncomfortable and alien society for her, full of crazy collectivism and the suppression of personality, to master new worlds. Somewhere there, to unknown planets and unknown stars, like a Siberian peasant from a novel X. Murakami, Dreaming to run away, west from the sun, in the endless forests.

Of course, “south of the border, west of the Sun” is based on his own about something else, but a couple of such problems echoing with Signalis can be found in it

Signalis Involuntarily gives the answer to the heroes of the novel by the Japanese author – running away as far as possible from society, no matter how terrible and uncomfortable it is, people gain only a bottomless emptiness, loneliness and doom. A romantic dream of drinking freedom and the release of the shackles of everything so hated, it is broken about a cold, terrible and endless nothingness.

The game is so multifaceted that it affects a whole pile of problems and unconsciously gives rise to such issues that the authors probably did not intend to raise in their work. This is a huge story that affects the aspects of the imperiality of the political devices of society, the personal drama of a small person in a huge soulless world, philosophical reflection on the ethical digitization of consciousness and searching for oneself … but unlike most works of art with a similar theme Signalis Not just does not give clear answers to the questions posed, but quite clearly hints that there are simply no answers and cannot be.

References

This is rather a kind of auxiliary section in the already inflated material, so we just quickly run along the list of catchy references:

At the station “Serpinsky-23” plays in a room with a piano “Lunar sonata” Ludwig Van Beethoven. In addition to the reference to the classical composition, this may also be a tribute to the original Resident Evil, where in one of the rooms of the mansion on the piano it was necessary to play the same Sonata No. 14 famous German composer.

In addition Beethoven The game also sounds the works of such classics as F. Chopin, a. Vivaldi, s. IN. Rachmaninov, f. Schubert And P. AND. Tchaikovsky.

“Swan Lake” will even be needed to solve the puzzle

In a false ending, like throughout the game, you can see paintings by German symbolist artists Oygen Bracht And Arnold Böklin.

A. Böklin, “Self -portrait with the death playing the violin”, 1872.

If you still can’t wait to find out what the authors of the game think about whether the heroines are dead or still survived, then here you have food for thought: the following paintings are taken from the above-mentioned painters: “Island of the Dead” Böklina And “Coast of oblivion” Brakhta. However, in a false ending in a slide show from these paintings, only once, for a split second, the canvas wedges “Living Island” late period of creativity Böklina. It turns out that the patient is more likely dead than alive?

“The island of the dead“, 1883. 3 version

“Coast of oblivion”, 1889.

“Living Island”, 1888.

By the way, if you look closely in the canvas Brakhta “Coast of oblivion”, you can understand that in Signalis They give us twice to take a walk.

Skulls on “Bank of oblivion” Bracht

Skulls on the shores of the subconscious in Signalis

Eunsan uses symbols GDR (Yes, if anyone did not know, all German flags and coats of arms found in Signalis, belong to the fly East Germany). The Imperials are in no hurry to expose the symbolism, but if you translate this word into German (empire – it. “Reich”), it will immediately become clear why the symbols of the opposing side, as they say, were not brought. And this is not a random coincidence, because during the 20th century, the birthplace of developers became a bridgehead for the deployment of the first national socialist, and then communist forces.

Symbolism in flashback from school

And on the tail “Penrose 512”

And here is the original

By the way, the well -known leader Third Reich I loved the picture Böklina “Island of the Dead” and even had one of her originals in his collection.

Böklin repeatedly copied the “island of the dead”, so the picture has several originals. In this photo, the third version of the picture hangs on the wall

In the course of action, the game partially quotes such mystical works as “Resident of Karcosa” AMROUSE BIRSA, storybook “King in Yellow” Robert Chambers And “Festival” Howard Lovecraft. A funny fact is that some artistic images and names (Khartur, Carcosis) were created Birs, but later, having gone through the interpretation Chambercase, became part of mythology Lovecraft.