o-u-e-vessa-aki-signalis-1

What, all the same, signalis?

So, the question: which work can be called “deep”? There are many answers. Probably the easiest: “This is a work that gives food for the mind. The more ideas are in it and the stronger they are able to change your worldview, the deeper it is ”. In order to make their work “deep”, the authors resort to different methods. Some quote the work of famous thinkers, declaring themselves receivers of their ideas. Others – breaking genres’ templates, forcing to look at the disgusting myths under a different perspective. The most creative ones – they give out innovative solutions exploding the brain, about which for decades they will give interviews. Well, someone … goes at the same time the easiest and most difficult way: makes the work as personal as possible. Such work may well not contain any innovative ideas, not to exploit someone else’s philosophy, to carefully get around with the genre and speak of, it seems, to all the long -understandable things, and this … it will not prevent them from smiling you into the snot, leaving a trace for the rest of their lives if the personal experiences of their creators coincide with your. For me, this work was Signalis.

Clarification

Firstly, this is not a review. This material is intended for those who have already passed the game and are trying to understand: “What was it at all?”. If you decide now whether it is worth trying to try the signaling at all, then yes, it is worth.

Secondly, the game has a fake ending. If you opened the door behind the six plates, saw the KAT-scene, did not understand anything and turned off the game, then you missed it a third. In the main menu after the screensaver, you had to click “Continue”. The most interesting thing awaits you there.

Thirdly, I will not waste time retelling the plot. I am going to illuminate some unobvious nuances of history and explain why the holes in it are not a shortage, not a product of the inexperience of the authors, but a meaningful part of the general concept, the central role in which the setting plays. With all my desire, I will not be able to explain the meaning of all “why”, “why” and “how” in this work, but I will try to convey to you that these explanations, in fact, are not needed.

Plot

The plot of the signaling is one of those wonderful things that after passing has to be read on the Internet in order to make up at least some whole picture. It is worth understanding: kneading telepathy, temporary loop, divine power and dying hallucinations to Shaker, the authors did not believe that the history of the story received in this way should have a clear interpretation. Having tasted this wonderful Cockingal, you can consider it piles of schizo abstractions, and I am sorry that someone caused just such sensations, because I believe that the game has a very bright leitmotif, to which all its elements are subordinated, starting from the base itself-from the genre. Signalis is Survival Horror’s, because his leitmotif is fear … but not generalized, but before a specific feeling.

But let’s in order ..

At the time of the start of the game, Ariana EN and her synthetic partner Elster already, consider that, are dead. Their ship crashed on the surface of an unknown planet and will no longer be able to fly up. They have no supplies, and EN is affected by radiation disease. Of the last forces, the captain of the ship leaves the ship and goes back along the black steps left by someone who lived here thousands of years ago. Someone who is now deep down, appeals to her, beckoning her to become one with them. As if a moth, seduced by fire, it goes down into the crimson abyss, where reality, emotions and memories merge into the agonizing mass of the flesh, becoming part of which you can no longer return to itself. However, for the mystical strength of bioresonance, even time is suppressive material. There is still another way out for Ariana – a fateful promise that LSTR -512 gave its commander: to interrupt her suffering. Kill her with one’s own hands. But for this she needs at all costs, find her ..

So … who is Alina Seo? Why in the game a character who never appears in it personally? Why is her image after a prologue replacing the image of Ariana EN, but at the same time leads the heroine to her? The answer gives this photo.

This is the very reason why Elster cannot show photos of the military. Alina Ceo is a memory of a friend whom Elster lost while still a man, and, at the same time, the starting point of her personal history. The protagonist, when she was android, most likely never saw this image, because before the start of the service, Ariana sent him by mail to her mother. From their correspondence, we know that Ariana and Alina have a clear external similarity, which aroused memories in Elster. In fake ending, we personally observe how the image of the CEO is blurred and transformed into the image of YN, showing that for the main character they are equally valuable and … equally painful. Purely metaphorically, their relationship and separation can be called the first iteration of a temporary loop, in which Elster was in.

What does the sisters nonukcasinosites.co.uk/100-free-spins-no-deposit/ of TOU have to do with it? They are also connected with the memories of loss, but not Elster experienced, but Ariana. The sisters of Tou are her friends from the rotunda, probably the only ones. It was in them that the girl found consolation, suffering bullying at school. With them, she managed to divide her freedom, addiction to painting and literature. Unfortunately, the game does not reveal how and when exactly they died, because of which it is not possible to talk about them more deeply. Iza probably became part of a temporary loop because she felt the same grief because of separation from her sister that Ariana and Elster were experiencing because of separation from each other.

What does the S-23 “Serpinski” have to do with it?

And here it begins interesting. Pay attention to two factors. Firstly, Ariana was unlikely to be at this facility: she would have gone to him if the Penrose program refused to her, but, you see, this is a rather weak relationship. The station is associated with Elster. Why did I decide so? It’s simple – on her we are looking for Alina Ceo. We find her notes, from which we can understand that Elster was already at this station, but disappeared somewhere. Adler also hints to us that “it seems” Alina works at their object. Secondly, as we know, the self-awareness of replicas is a product of bioresonance technology, so it will not be stupid to assume that people who were predisposed to this bioresonance became the basis for their personality. From a note in the caretaker’s office, it becomes clear that they found such a person at the station – a girl named Anna Juang. Found … and no one else saw her. We add these observations and it turns out that the same person was Elster. An additional confirmation of this theory is the list of names of the military attached to the photograph of girls: the first of these names was recorded by Juang Anna. At the Serpinski, they worked with CEO after the war. It was here that fate for the first time separated the heroine from a loved one. Well, the most interesting thing is that everything can be absolutely wrong … and absolutely spit.

I could talk for a long time about what role Adler and Falke play, how really what was happening and whether the zombies were at all, but in fact, it is pointless. Signalis scenario of the script that it should not be integral. If the developers added explanations of all plot nuances and episodes, then all that they would achieve is distracted us from the main essence. The game uses his narrative not to tell a clear, meaningful story, but in order to convey emotions … and make a social commentary.

Antagonist

You might not notice, but the game has a pronounced antagonist. Cynical psychopath. Obsessed with mania of greatness. Manicly obsessed with their obsessive ideas. Condemning people to suffering and death with a hypocritical smile and an endless arsenal of self -justification. Of course, this is not Falk, and not Adler at all. The signaling antagonist is a dictatorship. All passage we find evidence of her crimes against morality and human dignity. We are not fighting her. We play for a small, lonely creature that is simply trying to find a loved one lost to him. Confront such a monster as the cosmic superpower we have neither money nor even the reason. Think: in the most extensive first chapter, we will find almost nothing about Ariana, although it seems to be the most important character for the plot. In fact, the S-23 Serpinski plays an archive role-it immerses us in the setting. Setting whose crushing anti -utopicism penetrates through and through. The premises of the station are depersonalized and ascetic. Through the ubiquitous forms and profiles, we feel the severity of the bureaucracy reigning in the society. Even agit parakates, singing praises about greatness, do it as if unemotional: because they should, and not because they want. In these gray walls, we learn a lot about replicas – creatures that are an embodied analogue of the Soviet superman. They perfectly correspond to the social templates presented to them. They are proud. They are set as an example. Their status is higher, and the living conditions are more comfortable than that of simple Gestalt employees. But … of the classified documents, we understand how much they are all in fact fragile. As I have already claimed, the self -awareness of replicas is read from people prone to bioresonance. Ordinary, living people with their affection, weaknesses and vices. Because of this, all remarks must exist in a certain “comfort zone”, and if they do not provide them, or provoke the awakening of human memories, then their ideal personality begins to crack at the seams. And now, these Androids are already seen not those who were born ideal supercarcas, but those who were forced to be, taking away their own “I” from them. But okay the ballerina “Olya”, forced to be an eternal servant. Elster the system condemned a much more terrible fate: each of them is forced to lose the person with whom she spent the last ten years. Every time to see how he dies. How to go crazy with despair. Each time, to fulfill the same fateful promise, killing the only close creature and each time recalling, as Alina Ceo once lost. This is her hell. Her endless temporary loop ..

Cardiac affairs

The history of Ariana is the story of a single, deeply unfortunate person locked in this anti -utopia. She is not just an outsider. She is an outsider in a society that despises individuality. While the dominant majority refuses the entire personal, finding the consolation in the formation of part of the social biomass, she has nowhere to look for this consolation. Unable to withstand the pressure of society, she tries to escape from it to the other edge of the galaxy and finds her salvation in this. But … the same decision becomes her death sentence.

Here I cannot help but talk about the most burning topic for Russian society. So, homosyatin.

A person who has not imbued with a game can confidently say that the authors made the main characters with lesbians to top up Western tolerasts. Когда на меня вывалили этот ВОТЭТОПОВОРОТ я и сам так подумал, однако порассуждав, я решил, что причина глубже. This reason is honesty. The creators wanted to be as honest as possible in their judgments. The game is not about how poorly lives gays in the conditions of totalitarian oppression. Ariana and Elster were not killed because of her connection-she had nothing to do with. The game mourns any victims of totalitarianism. Developers share the fear of dictatorship as people of art, because it is they always crushing them first. From Ariana and Elster, it was possible to make characters of opposite sexes – this would not affect the story. But … see what their leitmotif is: Ariana finds happiness where society forbids her to do this – in love for android. This is an obvious metaphor for quite real forbidden relationships, among which homosexuals are the easiest and most understandable example. If they were not in the game, this fragment of the plot could be felt … bashfully undercontinued.

Feeling

So what, after all, the game? See what I noticed. The first character we meet – a replica of the Star series – is not going to die.

She uses a repair patch and dumps from the station. The following unailed replicas are frightened and lost. They are afraid for their lives and understand that they have a little chance of getting out, but still the hope that they will have time to save them are warming in them. Adler behaves completely calmly, as if not particularly important to him, he will survive or not. Having met a replica from the Hummingbird series, we will learn that it is most oppressed by the proximity of the death, but the loss of telepathic contact with the relatives. She, as it were, honestly admits that she would be easier if she also became infected, turning into a grotesque piece of biomass, but having received the opportunity to “sing in unison” again with other adroists of her series. Finally, going down to the mine, we can meet two remarks who have come to terms with our imminent death. One of them comforts the crying girlfriend, behaving as if nothing bad is happening and she should not be upset. The other – it calms the heroine, assuring that it makes no sense to worry about the death of the instrument. That is, the closer the protagonist is selected for a bottomless hole, which ultimately jumps, the closer it is to the awareness of the inevitable.

As I said, at the time of the start of the game Ariana and Elster already, consider that, are dead. They die and move towards the awareness of this. All elements of this work, whether it is a genre, setting, plot, and even gameplay are subordinated to their general feeling. A feeling of doom … and fear in front of him.

Let me draw an analogy. In any of the parts of Silent Hill there was a Happy end, and at the first passage, as a rule, I received it. No matter how terrible and terrible the work may be, the happy ending strongly discharges you, but in the signal, each of the three main endings is crowned by the fact that the heroine turns off with a kalachik and sobs from hopelessness.

This is an uncompromising tragic story. The story of loneliness, happiness found beyond the framework of social norms, and a meaningless painful death by the will of a soulless regime. It was not just decided to twist the plot into a temporary loop: this thing is designed for at least two runs, because, in order to understand the game, when you pass, you need to know its plot obviously. In the first race, many of its elements cause you bewilderment. The game asks questions, does not give answers, then it breaks off expectations, however, when repeated passage, you can relax and just … penetrate the atmosphere. To be imbued with the experiences with which the authors filled their work to the edges, and to understand what exactly in them was the essence of history. Scenes in the subway car and on the seashore, which, for the first time, forced me to shy shoulders, they simply smashed me.

I stuck in the cardboard scenery of the city and a shaveled snowball for three minutes, sincerely enjoying the melancholy of the recreated moment. The scene on the beach makes his way to the very bones. You need to spend five minutes on it, which you can’t discourage. The soundtrack and color scheme are crushed at you. You try to delve into the text of scattered notes, but in order to collect this literary cacophony, it seems, you need to go crazy. You are completely alone before the endless ocean, and you have no choice but to wait until he will absorb you … and these two scenes bought my soul.

Why do I think that the holes in the plot were made intentionally? Follow your hands: a story that condemns dictatorship and following templates does not have a single interpretation. Calls for disputes and discussions. Flirts with your personality. Well, this is … just brilliant.

One of the main gaps that make the plot of the signal difficult for perception is the fact that we are almost explained to us about the main active power in it: we do not know what flesh is. Considering it as a specific element of the plot, we can understand that this is an ancient collective mind that existed long before the primacy rose on two legs. The signal, which Penrose-512 received at the end of the flashback with Lezbian dance, most likely came from it. The same flesh was excavated on Leng, so it is possible that its units are scattered throughout the galaxy, or even beyond. I can assume that this is a form of life that multiplies with the help of bioresonance, absorbing entire civilizations. In comparison with people, this essence, in fact, is divine and no way to resist it they have. In this situation, it turns out that what we saw on the “Serpinsky” and the Rotfronts of the Zombie Apocalypse is not a product of the inflamed mind, but the catastrophic ending of the human appearance, provoked by the fact that EN had awakened the terrifying cosmic deity. The temporary loop created by EN is nothing more than a way to avoid its insatiable womb. Pay attention to what scene ends the “memory” ending:

We find the same scene after a fake ending, but the capsule with Ariana next to the corpse of Elster is already filled with a pulsating biomass. The heroine could not fulfill the promise and EN went to her thirsty flesh. It turns out that moving to the end, we are moving “back”, returning to the moment when this has not happened, and we can kill Ariana before it is absorbed. It is hard to say whether it will help to save humanity, and, to be honest, I myself am not quite believed in just such an interpretation of events, because the signaling, in itself, is too personal for such apocalyptic proportions.

Flesh, however, can be considered on the other hand – as a metaphor. In the story of a state turned into a gloomy repressive machine, the main enemy is a collective mind – an absolute and all -consuming social dictatorship that takes everything away from you, and in return giving only pain. After all, if you think, this is exactly the form. The dark side of what adherents of the dictatorship is called “unity”. Flesh, in fact, is the embodied fear of depersonalization, the loss of its own “I”.

Fear in the depths

The signaling is a special horror, and a significant part of his success, in my opinion, is due to what fear he causes the player. After all, while 9 out of 10 horror films tell us about evil cultists, terrible mutants and insufficient suffering, competing in who will make the most unexpected screamer and falls into the player’s face the most disgusting ё*An, scares the signaling that you can find it in it, smoking deeper than low-polygonal zombies of the Androides. When you understand that Alina Ceo and Anna Juang are veterans, for whom they were a reward for the horror of the war that they had experienced in Serpinsky, where they were treated worse than cattle;that the signaling setting is the world of an infinite war, where people are tortured to death for suspicions of confusion, and where you cannot hope for any suffering;When you realize how the heroes of history turned out to be in the hopeless situation, and how powerful the highest power is eager to devour them;When you come to the idea that despite the slow death from a radiation illness, Penrose was the best life prospect for Ariana, and the meeting with Aryan herself, which the heroine would have to be strangled with his own hands – was the best that could happen to LSTR -512;And most of the cruelty that the game tells is not a fantastic idea of ​​hellish torment, but completely real manifestations of human cynicism, and social ailments, then you become really terribly. This is a fear that not a single high-budget action-citizen can give you how no matter how much dough was swelled into it and no matter how eminent a designer’s game would be hired.

The endings

At the first passage, I received the ending of the “departure” and … I immediately realized that there were several endings, because the “departure” did not give any logical completeness: Elster could not fulfill the promise and complete the cycle, leaving his next corpse in the crimson desert, and Ariana continues to suffer. “Memory”, in my opinion, is the most sad, because in it Elster not only does not fulfill the promise, but also brings the state of the loop to such a cycle in which Ariana’s collapsing mind cannot even remember her beloved. The only ended ending of the three basic I can name the “promise” in which Elster finally fulfills a fatal request, freeing himself and a girlfriend from the infinite hell. Pearl among endings, I rightfully consider “artifact”. The most confused in receipt. The shortest. The happiest and, at the same time, the most pressing tears. In it, gathering together pieces of decaying consciousness, the girls finally reunite with each other. It will not save them. They are destined to be buried under the ice of the dead planet. Be forgotten by society that buried them alive. But … let them be destined to disappear from this world, they can do it in each other’s arms. The last time dancing in his little paradise ..

The signaling is the dream of its creator. The narrative concept, with which it embodied not only his fantasies, but also the deepest experiences. Creators are afraid of doom. The setting of the work was a totalitarian anti-utopia, and the enemy is a zombie virus, because the dictatorship and the epidemic are the most powerful sources of this feeling. The plot of the plot takes place in a temporary loop, because the creators are afraid that humanity is doomed again and again to suffer from the same evil from which it suffered throughout its existence. I will not explain here why I understood the story of this and why I consider the topics raised by it – this is a gaming site, not a political. Speaking about the signaling as a game, I understand that this is a very niche project. It is specific in gameplay, not fully balanced, and its plot is porridge from references and metaphors, through which only the ended lights can get off. But for myself, I consider it a masterpiece. He appeared just when it seemed to me that not a single game would hook me and proved to me that I would give up very early. This project is copyrighted with a capital letter and I find it very sincere ..

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