u/StabiloFox

I recently finished Signalis for the first time and oh boy was it something else. As a native speaker I played it in German (PS5 version).

The atmosphere and the way the world was presented were unique and very captivating. The aesthetic reminded me of Neon Genesis Evangelion. From a creative standpoint, this game does what many triple AAA titles don't: It has its own identity while clearly grounded in classic survival-horror. Judged by that alone, the game would be a straight 10/10, but I have some negative things to say.

As someone who grew up with the classic survival-horror titles, I'm not a stranger to limited inventory. But in this case, only six slots hurts the game more than it should. Especially when you have to collect that many key items. The backtracking to the item-box became a bit annoying. Imo eight slots would work out way better without ruining the experience. But that's only a minor thing.

Another thing I didn't like was the map design. Most areas lack any individuality - everything looks the same. Maybe that was the intention, given the feeling of loneliness and emptiness, but a little more details to the environment or slightly different colours (to keep the areas a little more distinct) would have been nice.

My biggest gripe with the game was the aiming. I played on PS5 and the aiming felt just bad. Switching between targets rarely worked out for me and if there is a group of enemies, it often doesn't lock on the closest one, which leads to very cheap hits. I don't mind unreliable combat in survival-horror (it should be that way), but in this case, it felt more broken than difficult.

And finally, the game is a bit too long. I think after the fake-ending, the game drags a bit and is about an hour or so too long.

I probably sound more negative than I intended to. For me, Signalis was a very well-made game. It's creative, has very good puzzles, and feels like a real vision. 8/10

Just finished it the first time (on PS5) and I really, really enjoyed the exploration and atmosphere in this game. The amusement park is a unique location with an excellent map-design. Navigating it felt very satisfying and natural to me. The individual sections are also very creative.

The story was interesting and something different. I liked to read all the notes, but there are imo a little too many of them, and you can't access them through your menu (only in the save rooms) which was annoying for me. The puzzles were overall fine with a few bad ones in between.

The combat was a little annoying. The game wasn't too hard in that regard, but the way the camera flings behind you when you aim the guns (or use tank controls??) messes with the view so that an enemy that was just visible the moment before dissapears behind a sign or something. I played on PS5 with a controller. I guess the aiming was designed with mouse controls in mind.

I think the traps in the game are a neat idea, but there are just too many of them, and they appear in rooms that you have cleared before. I don't think they make the game harder but more annoying.

All in all, a very solid survival horror game. 7/10

I'm a little late to the party, but I recently finished Tormented Souls 1 for the first time. It's a fantastic survival horror game. My only minor complaints are the combat (which could have been a bit more fluid and less stiff) and the length. Imo the sewers-section is a bit too long.

The story was fine. The twist about the identity of the twins was obvious for me, but the revelation about how Caroline lost her eye was really well executed.

The best part was the puzzles. They were pretty challenging in a good way. I even need to look up the solution for three of them: the monkey thief puzzle (I overthought the solution and got confused by the additional monkey pictures), the clock puzzle (in my country we celebrate Christmas on the evening of December 24th) and the vinyl record puzzle (I just wasn't able to recognize the notes correctly).

I definitely recommend it to all fans of the genre. But it is on the harder side of the difficulty spectrum (the saves are really limited at the beginning, and the puzzles are tough, as I mentioned). Overall a 9/10 game for me.

Crow Country is next!