Signalis

In endless factories, sleepy and covered in hundreds of meters of smog, workers without a family and a nation process minerals from neighboring planets. At research institutes whose corridors look like honeycombs, scientists are preparing discoveries that will make people even more productive, and their dreams of hegemony over life itself are a little closer.

Over-smart primates who have long forgotten about the torn and abandoned Earth will never stop dreaming of great achievements. It's as if in a collective madness they're driving spaceships to the ends of the universe, moving further and further away from their own self and the simple order that raised man out of a monkey.

Psychological horror “Signalis” It originates on an unexplored planet covered in snow from one pole to the other. In the midst of this freezing desert, a small spaceship crashes. Although loose snowdrifts soften the impact, this does not save the ship — it turns into a twisted pile of scrap metal that grinds hysterically under its own weight.

Other than Elster, no one survived the fall, so she is the first and probably the last intelligent creature in this part of the universe. She has absolutely no place to wait for help. The ship won't take off, not a single living soul will hear the distress call, and at best there will be enough food to kill you suddenly. In addition, the icy wind freely walks through the gaps in the cladding.

The main character has minimal choice: either to take refuge in one of the compartments with the rest of the provisions, or to get outside in search of an impossible hope. Elster may give up or die on her own terms. She leaves her shelter and moves through a blizzard until she meets a man-made well that goes deep underground, towards the unexplored fear that Howard Lovecraft dreamed of.

With the conquest of space, humanity has not given up its addictions. On the contrary, the hardships that go hand in hand with traveling through cosmic darkness have exacerbated misconceptions that have been blooming since time immemorial. Thus, a revolution took place in Elster's native system: the population got rid of the protectorate of the vast Empire in order to live at its own behest.

But history played a cruel joke on them. Instead of freedom, they have plunged into totalitarianism, which is desperately holding on to power. Cities are a utilitarian mess that, by their mere appearance, deprives you of all imagination. Even the most inconspicuous alley hides several surveillance cameras.

Real art is being replaced by straightforward propaganda. Campaign posters on every suitable wall strive to eliminate any desire for the individual, because great achievements require collective sacrifice. Those who oppose the regime are being watched by replicas made of metal and the likeness of human flesh. Like Elster descending to the bottom of the well.

A discovery in the middle of a lifeless planet leads the main character to a factory experiencing her own tragedy. An unknown virus destroys all life it can reach. Infected people decompose right before our eyes, and some remarks, thanks to the strong metal frame, lose their minds and begin to hunt others.

Signalis is based on classic survival horror in the spirit of the original “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill” parts. Most of the game time is spent solving puzzles and finding the items you need to do this. Direct conflict with the enemy is always a last resort, because ammunition is running out, and over time, even enemies who are knocked down come to their senses.

However, “Signalis” has an unusual genre-specific solution: Elster can only carry six items with him, including weapons, repair kits, and story items. This turns the save rooms from a place where you can take a breath and change equipment into key locations around which all logistics by level, and therefore the gameplay cycle, are built.

The constant rotation of equipment leads to the fact that you have to explore the environment in stages, regularly returning to the conservation rooms and planning further actions. On the one hand, this makes the gameplay repetitive, on the other hand, it forces Elster to walk in circles, as humanity does, which has been making the same mistakes for thousands of years.

At the same time, the game resonates as if “Evangelion” was deeply desperate, and with the debut “Metal Gear Solid”, primarily a non-trivial way of interacting with the player. She's not afraid of being misunderstood and intentionally misleads, juggling mechanics and visual perspective that transform both storytelling and gameplay.

Today's society sees the conquest of space as a great victory that will help overcome differences and put behind a heap of accumulated problems. But “Signalis” says the opposite. It is highly likely that Earth is the only place in the universe that will allow humanity to remain itself. Make mistakes and suffer, but maintain imaginary freedom and individuality.

Elster, on the other hand, exists in a world of totalitarian collectivism, which prohibits not so much dissent as personal space and comfort as such. Space exploration and planetary colonization require sacrifices every second. People are surrounded by an extremely functional space, from which the very concept of a person has been deleted.

Houses are like boxes of the same type, spaceships are as tight as possible, and the state thinks last of all about the psychological balance of citizens. The descendants of primates who lived freely in savannas and lush jungles are reduced to function. They are like a tool in the hands of progress—no less powerless than their mechanical replicas.

Despite their widespread use and high efficiency, replicas have several fundamental problems. The main thing is that most scientists don't fully understand how they are created — only a small group of bioengineers know this secret. The problem is not even the concentration of power in the hands of a minority, but the monocentricity of industry and the economy, which rely on irreplaceable support.

The second drawback is the nature of the replicas. Despite the abundance of high-tech elements, they are not self-sufficient artificial intelligence. Each replica is based on a personality digitized decades before the events of Signalis, with a past full of joys and regrets.

But recording the same memories repeatedly leads to instability. Events hidden from the remark inevitably make their way out, through their own individuality. It would seem that science has given humanity immortality, but in fact, its perverted form is much more like another slavery — the oppressive and deforming reality of Elster.