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I played this one on expert mode and this is the most fun I have had with a game in a while.

Aside from the annoyance of unskippable cutscenes, there is very little majorly wrong with this game, and the reviews here saying that the game is "janky" and has "aged poorly" ring false in my ears.

The story is simple, but there are enough interesting plot threads and progressions here to keep things engaging. The game also goes through its perfect roster of worlds at such a brisk pace to where it was impossible for me to lose interest. To be honest though, the combat and side content were more than enough to keep me engaged. I understand to a small extent why some people would label the combat as "janky", but aside from a couple annoying bosses and moments everything here feels tight and punchy. There are a perfect amount of abilities and spells to play around with, and almost all of them feel useful. There are many challenging moments sprinkled throughout this game, but none of them felt like the difficulty was due to poor design choices. As long as I consistently dodged and parried, strategized well, and engaged with most of the side content, the game was smooth sailing. The game forcing me to do the side content would be a problem, if it wasn't for how much fun it is. colosseum fights, collecting secret items, and hidden bosses all feel fun to do and the game never makes these side quests outstay their welcome.

Couple more things I wanted to add at the end here. First, the party A.I. is garbage for anything other than healing, but your main playable character more than makes up for them, and having your party members heal you and serve as meat shields definitely come in clutch multiple times. The A.I. being bad is unfortunate, but it is barely a problem. Second, gummi ships are annoying, however, these sections are really easy and after a certain point you can skip most of these sections entirely. This makes gummi ships more of a minor inconvenience rather than a major problem.

While Act 1 is everyone's favorite part of Inscryption the actual card game mechanics were, at least for me, one of the smallest parts of that. The cards are good throughout, what elevates act 1 is the immense sense of mystery and intrigue, the stoat and stinkbug, clues from previous victims, the feeling that even in your deaths you're building toward a plan to outsmart your captor, stakes being so high that your dude is willing to rip out a tooth for one extra point.

Turns out when you strip all that down and amp up the RNG/roguelike stuff it makes for a significantly less captivating experience. By the end of the core game the story contains practically zero of what initially hooked me, so even though there's probably more lore to uncover in here I'm not really interested in hearing it. Can't help but feel the existence of this narratively undermines the main game a little, too.

It's still good, and I'll probably return to it often enough, but I have to massively disagree with those claiming this is the better version or what the core game should be. On paper, sure, it's the universally-agreed best part of game expanded, but missing all the elements that made that part feel so fresh, made it feel more than just an addictive card battler.

Very obviously influenced by early Resident Evil and Silent Hill, Signalis' gameplay will entertain you and while overloaded with amazing atmosphere, its story and weak last act is nothing to write home about and probably its biggest detractor.

Games don't "need" a gripping story to entertain you, and Signalis is proof of that. You'll absolutely have a good time if you liked games like Silent Hill 2, 3, or the Resident Evil 2 remake. Survival horror and all of its staples are here: save rooms, inventory management, puzzle solving, and it's you versus the nightmare world. With the limited inventory size of a paltry six items, two of which will be your gun and ammo, you can expect a lot of backtracking, unfortunately.

As good as all of this is (especially since, from the credits, I believe this was almost entirely developed by two people?! Extremely impressive), Signalis has a story that will almost certainly disappoint. You can learn about the world and specifics about the androids (such as yourself) that inhabit it, but you won't be learning anything too interesting. Learning about the compatibility issues between models of androids is kind of neat, in theory, but since it never amounts to anything in the gameplay, what's the point? It's worldbuilding, sure, but you never even see any of this, so it seems like a missed opportunity.

When the game really starts to look like it is basically Silent Hill under a different name about 2/3 the way through, that's when it loses a lot of its steam. Comical amounts of enemies (who can get back up) and puzzles requiring you to make several trips to the storage bin back at the save room make this part a slog.

The game has three endings and a secret fourth, but none of them will satisfy you, especially the secret ending which is nigh impossible to find on your own. You go so far out of your way only to get less gameplay and a short cutscene, and you must have played through the game at least once beforehand to even get this possible path unlocked. And while the ending isn't "it was all a dream"... it's pretty close.

All that said: if you're a fan of the old school survival horror, I think regardless of the story/ending, this game is a must for you to try. I really look forward to seeing what this small team can pull off next, this was a great project.

I have been following the main creator and this game's development for many years, and I was so excited to finally get the opportunity to play it.

This game came out just in the nick of time to become my true GOTY. It is extremely funny and well-written and gorgeously rendered and very very gay.

Please, play this game! Experience the epic highs and lows of being a trans lesbian adventurer! Do it now!