Signalis is Horrifying and Beautiful

Something twisted lies underneath the planet of an off-world mining base, and stranger secrets rest deeper still...
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-- Credits song: a boy named fox | Grianstad aboynamedfox.bandcamp.com/tra...
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:35 Layer 01 Opening
00:10:59 Layer 02 Surviving
00:20:41 Layer 03 Universe
00:30:30 Layer 04 Alina Seo
01:00:44 Layer 05 Ariane
01:29:56 Layer Sixnalis
01:55:32 Conclusion
01:59:17 Credits and Q/A
02:03:37 Secretalis
Attribution:
Nerf Darts - By joho345 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Sierpinski Triangle - By Beojan Stanislaus, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Kim Portraits - By Nicor - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Lilium candidum - By Zachi Evenor - Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/zachiev..., CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
it only occurs to me whilst uploading that i am only mostly sure signalis is pronounced sig-nah-liss, but frankly sig-null-iss just sounds silly.

[@PowerPakGames]

I Am (Not) Insane. This is the SHORT version. EDIT: There is a high pitched noise accidently included in the first 16 seconds due to a CRT sfx clip I used. I physically cannot hear it, but viewers who can may find it uncomfortable and should skip it. There is no noise like that after the first 16 seconds (at least added by me). Also apologies for all German words I mispronounced. I can hardly speak English good...

[@codex8678]

the fuck you mean the SHORT VERSION

[@PhoenixOfOrion]

If I sub to your Patreon do I get to see the long version? Genuine question, I'd love to watch the long(er) form version

[@2dheethbar]

_S h o r t._

[@d3athandr3birth69]

Played this on stream and there was definitely an hour plus where I just talked out loud about it after the game. I'm sure the long version is probably 6+ hours. Glad you had this on your radar and I'm excited to hear your take.

[@DarioPardo]

Don't worry. I'm sure Pyro will make a video on this too and 4+ hours. He loves doing that.

[@stasissoup3094]

As most steam reviews say, "average lesbian relationship"

[@iameverwere9572]

I mean are they wrong?

[@frateranpvbail-shm6912]

LMAO

[@cursedcat9557]

An honest review

[@theshadowherself]

@@iameverwere9572 As a lesbian: no they aren't

[@iameverwere9572]

@@theshadowherself as a fellow one yeah I was joking

[@captainwolfbane3707]

I think one of my favourite interpretation of Signalis is that it IS the King in Yellow. Not the Book, but the play itself. A story that drives those who experience it, insane.

[@interestingusername306]

It's a triple meaning of sorts and I love that. You have the literal supernatural book in the game world, the king in yellow is a parallel to Ariane's memories (a story of sorts) driving everyone insane AND there's the reading you mentioned.

[@chrisheartman9263]

I actually love this interpretation, and this is because I hate how everyone says "The King in Yellow signals how you can't trust what you see" about signalis and how it ties to the book, I feel like it's the biggest red herring that I've ever fucking seen in a game; let me explain a bit, I'll try to keep it short. Disregarding what we see, and keeping it as not true, or as something to reinterpret, would serve more harm than good. This is a heavily obfuscated game that needs decoding, reading or research for even what is canon and 100% real and happening, so taking everything at "face value" is the best. It depends though on what you mean with "face value", since you can't be on different planets from one moment to the next. Unless we have massive waves of bioresonance permitting said transportation and transmission, which we do, since Arianne might've even gotten The Empress in the mix of The Dream Reality. So, I see The King in Yellow to be a key on how to read the game, but as if it was mirrored: The King in Yellow makes your reality distort in it's canon, but in this canon it sharpens the maddening picture into something you can understand. Like in the scene where Arianne's mother listens to the radio with the same book on her lap.

[@warren1078]

Psssh that’s a dumb theory *returns to mumbling incoherently in a dark room about the number 6*

[@Drewer]

i read your comment, now im curious about the game

[@blazeburner303]

I always had the idea that the empire was repressive because the gestalts were aware of the greater cycle and how every time it happens they suffer a massive loss, the revolution may very well be a part of it as we have seen that every similar passage has some kind of grand conflict leading to mass casualties… So it may be less a tragedy of lovers and the necessary tragedy of a species lock into hell because of 2 selfish individuals of great power

[@TheActualMrLink]

45:41 for those wondering: Gestaltzerfall is a cognitive phenomenon where complex patterns start to “break down” and lose their meaning after being focused on for too long. An example of it would be if you were to write the word “wow” over and over and over again, eventually it would devolve into nonsensical scribbles.

[@june_005]

i've experienced this phenomenon many times just staring at a singular word for long enough, it's genuinely such an abnormal feeling of something you KNOW that's on such a fundamental level, familiar to your brain, get reduced to meaningless shapes and lines

[@pooptank11]

wowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwowwow

[@Sh1ranu1]

wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

[@Fox_RZK]

So Jamais Vu, the opposite of Deja Vu.

[@jaybirdrosewater-holmes7071]

Huh.

[@TwistedMecha]

After the fakeout ending, if you try to quit the game using the menus it will forcefully open the game again instead of ending. Found out because I fell for the fakeout. It's a nice touch, since I probably would have missed it.

[@conormullins4900]

Same here, was very glad to find out that the ending wasn't as anticlimactic as the fakeout one

[@ST3FF3]

I love the detail that Elster says "I can hear the sound of the ocean" when interacting with Vineta on the solar system since her gestalt served there

[@aaronatkinson177]

You see it's the little things that make signalis so special 😊

[@redacted144]

even better, after artifact end, you realized her gestalt used the artifact to save her love. Thus make the game a mobius strip focus on the artifact.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

@@redacted144 That sounds sort of like conjecture, but it's plausible. What's the indication for that? The Alina Seo connection?

[@redacted144]

@acceptablecasualty5319 in artifact end. The cutscene implies this is not the first time the artifact is used. We knew the Unit12 Elster was on Vinetan fight. And there're pictures of her and her lover together. It is conjecture. The game is a big pile of conjectures. Melding (or joining) together the main theme of the game.The lore left us a chance to make one for ourselves and still completely correct. The only thing solid is the artifact had been used many times. And there is a first time.

[@lazy_termite]

​@@redacted144I'm not sure that it was used many times, but rather lilies is the first item needed for the ritual.

[@odolowa1]

Look, if the developers are going to put in an extremely obtuse way to get the equivalent of Silent Hill 2's rebirth ending it stands to reason that there is an even more obtuse and undiscovered way to get a dog ending.

[@aperson6505]

It's me, James. I'm the author of all your pain

[@hekirb3382]

The search for the caulibri ending begins

[@xkavarsmith9322]

Are you issuing a challenge to the devs? Because I feel like they'll read this and say "game on" leading to some future DLC.

[@SumeaBizarro]

There will be a silly song compromised of woman pronouncing 5 and 6 in german to a funny organ.beat

[@chriskaufman5214]

😮li

[@treysimpson6581]

Another weird place that the number 512 shows up: For the 3xd Keypads that show up on the Penrose and in nowhere, there are 512 possible combinations. 2 possible states for each key, with nine keys in total, meaning there are 2^9 = 512 possible combinations. I was on a discord call with a friend who was starting the game, and he asked how long it would take him to brute force, so I calculated it. When it game out to 512 I felt like I was going insane.

[@markhaus]

Yeah working with software and electronics you tend to know many of the powers of two numbers. The number 512 being the 9th power of two. In games that makes you take notice because game devs are going to be more prone to use that number in the work.

[@ridleyroid9060]

Oh my god, that is actually insane, I can imagine you going lke "OH MY GOD, NO FUCKIGN WAY" and your friend being confused asfk.

[@thebatman1646]

So one thing he does miss is that the pattern of sixes is *even deeper than he thinks.* The song in the first “red desert” cutscene is called “Die toteninsel (emptiness)” and is named after the island of the dead painting repeatedly used for imagery. This painting was repainted several times by its artist… 5 times and then 1 more. The song itself is in 5/4 and repeating 5 measure sequences. Except when it’s 6. or 2

[@eliasr7279]

It uses the exact same motif as The Isle of the Dead by Sergei Rachmaninoff, which was written for the painting. Once more playing into the theme of "redoing", like the painting, like Elster.

[@narackanick]

Signalis: germans colonized space And its not good

[@chillyavian7718]

@@narackanicknot only Germans, East Germans

[@AlexK-sk4qb]

@@chillyavian7718 God help us

[@firestorm5371]

​@@chillyavian7718 and japan it seems to be a fusion between those 2

[@ArcLyn]

Love how Signalis's artifact ending is an irl manifestation of the idea of many many Elsters coming together to bring Elster and Ariane together again. Like a bunch of people had to work together over multiple playthroughs to collect the information to get the artifact ending, and by following their instructions you're becoming part of a long chain of Elsters in real life same as in the game. I think that's kind of beautiful.

[@blindedjourneyman]

its definitely nice to see more games take a page from neir.

[@four-en-tee]

@@blindedjourneyman I was gonna make a Dark Souls comparison, but that works too

[@themotorfreak1]

I've followed the twitter for quite some time, and I've loved the art they posted there. There is a very good chance i will never play the game, mostly due to the.... Trauma(?) I endured watching Akame ga Kill. Been hyping myself up to try and read it, but god i don't want to endure that again.

[@86Corvus]

There are a lot of atempts to complete the mission by many replicas and then theres many universes.

[@WobblesandBean]

I'm the 999th like. Whoever comes next is going to have such a satisfying experience, lol

[@demitrischoenwald1436]

RELEASE 👏 THE LONG 👏 VERSION 👏 POWER PAK 👏

[@_BirdOfGoodOmen]

#ReleaseThePowerPakCut

[@OrangeExorcist]

#ReleaseThePowerPakCut

[@doginthedark]

On one hand #ReleaseThePowerPackCut on the other though, that video would be 20 hours long and he might go actually insane

[@Orphanmaker666]

I NEED TO SEE THE LONG VERSION

[@literallyjustastockphotoof532]

Imo, if he was wanting to make a 20 hr long video on this game, I would 100% watch it

[@wiiblewobble]

Elster: I’m sorry that I took so long. That I’m not the same person I was. Ariane: You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you.

[@oligb1469]

Stop it I'll cry

[@wiiblewobble]

@@oligb1469 I’m already crying 🫂

[@oligb1469]

@@wiiblewobble I just want to hug Beo again... Big waifu deserved to have her teddy bear at the very least

[@koalabro6118]

47:36 to be fair, as someone who never viewed any of those three materials, it felt like it all fit for the tone of the scene.

[@Baiswith]

I have - but I only caught one, ghost in the shell, and that was a case of 'I wonder if they'll do...oh, they actually did, cool.' I think maybe it's to increase the chances of someone catching at least one.

[@ericgrimes341]

Im an evangelion NERD, even in my old age. If you love this, please watch it. Inspirational, eye opening, heartfelt. Crazy to think Evangelion is 20 years old.

[@thrillsekr2606]

Yeah, I only caught the Evangelion and Ghost in the Shell references, and I think it added to it, because I knew that the Ghost in the Shell reference was a visual one, a la the Akira bike slide, and that the Evangelion scene was meant to convey the feeling of disassociation. I think it worked well.

[@kvol1668]

Well I only knew one reference, from 2001, and my mind jumped to RE with the eyeballs prominently featured. It didn't diminish my experience at all.

[@sci-figameguy8241]

I watched all the references and I actually didn't realize those were references

[@archivalzone]

Nothing quite like the feeling of settling in to watch a longform review of a game, only to realize 10 minutes in that you absolutely can't watch the video because you absolutely have to play the game yourself. Well, see you in like... 50 hours or so.

[@JohnDrop]

Happened to me with Tunic

[@robloxian935]

hey! so hows the therapy goin 😁😁😁

[@moron0000]

Here to ask how that went.

[@connormcclendon5091]

Also here to ask how it went.

[@SaintJames14]

It's just robot lesbians and liberals telling us they're people, you can skip it tbh

[@Mecheres]

Signalis has always been a story of violence, for me. It is brutal and gory and tragic and rends you piece by piece-tearing you apart and wearing you down mentally and physically-just for you to achieve an end that is *not* a fairytale ending. There is no smiles or confetti or pats on your back, it is a desolate ending for an equally as desolate story. But, just because it is violent doesn't mean it is evil. Even when Elster can't face her lover, she accepts her fate to try again. Even when her lover does not remember her, she stays by her side. Even when faced with the act of *ending* it-of taking Ariane's life, because it was asked of her-she obliges. Around Elster and Ariane are symbols of loyalty and failure in various ways: if you look to Falke and Adler, Adler writes of Falke like she is a god. He respects her-loves her, even-and wants to cure her. To bring her out of her illness and make her well again. It is obsessive and selfish and *angry*, and he blames others for things he cannot have. He cannot 'have' Falke, whether that be her lack of reciprocation or because her illness. He has the motive to seek his goal out, but it is impossible to reach for him. What happens when he fulfills his purpose? In tandem with Falke and Adleer are Isa and Erika-sisters torn apart from each other. Isa scours high and low for her sister, going through every single struggle possible to find her. When she does? It is null. It is already too late-there is nothing left. They both have been dead a long, long time. She had a goal, but did not have the strength to carry on after realizing how futile it all was. She lost her purpose-stark comparison to Adler, who simply cannot complete his. Adler loses his skin-the phrase 'no skin off my nose' means it makes no difference if you tell something to someone, because they do not care. Falke does not care for Adler in the same way he cares for her, thus it is *all* of his skin. *He* cares. He is the facsimile of an Elster who wants so badly to be there for the one he loves at the cost of not being recognized for what he has done. He is the 'Memory' ending. Isa melts away. She becomes boneless-without the courage to face the truth. The ghost of an Elster who doesn't have the *strength* to push on-to keep going even after remembering all that lead up to it. She is the 'Leave' ending. If Adler and Isa are facets of Elster, however, who is the 'Promise' ending meant to represent? I think it's simply Elster herself. The easiest, metaphorical symbolic showcase of Elster being *tired* of always searching. It is something that, while seemingly incongruent with my next statement, is accepted by Ariane too. There is no... afterwards, when they die. Elster does not need to keep searching, and Ariane does not need to keep calling. Both Elster *and* her counterparts lose an eye, at some part in the story. For Elster it is during the endings-there is a sacrifice that was made; a piece of herself lost in the pursuit of her goal. Except, in the secret one. I personally view the artifact ending as the... 'embodiment' of it all. The true meaning of the promise they made together. It takes more effort than you would think necessary to achieve, and is the hardest one (if you don't read guides, of course) to figure out on your own. But, there is no sacrifice here. It is instinct. It is instinct that drove you here. You want to see it through. You will break every rule that has been set in place, you will split reality *itself* in half, because-*God*-you WILL get your happy ending. You don't care about the consequences. Ariane and Elster made a promise to one another; to find each other again and again and again. To love each other again and again and again. They have loved each other from the very start; from atoms to atoms and until their bodies turned to dust and were no longer theirs. They have fallen back to the earth countless times, and yet still find each other despite it all. *That* is what their promise was to me. A simple promise that has been said over countless generations, in countless stories, and countless lifetimes. "I will love you forever". And so they did.

[@donutkirby7816]

Amazing writeup, holy shit. I never thought of Adler and Isa as representations of the Memory and Leave endings, but that's another valid way of reading things. This fucking game, man. No matter how long you think about it, you keep coming away with something new. My favourite thing about the "promise" is that nearly everyone just assumes it was for Elster to mercy-kill Ariane, but while all logic points to that being the case, we never ACTUALLY know for sure. I've always loved the idea that it was secretly something else entirely. I read another theory that what the two really promised was to dance together again, like they used to. An impossible promise, considering Ariane's condition, and looking at it from that lens makes Falke's line - "She'll never dance with us again" - even more devastating. The Artifact ending, then, is Elster (through the player, and really the whole community coming together to solve the puzzle) going through hell to, against all odds, make the impossible come true. Of course, the "kill Ariane" ending being called the Promise ending might kill that theory, but I still love it. And your interpretation about it even just being a simple declaration of love ... wow, that might honestly be even better. God, this game's story is so good.

[@anti-mate407]

@@donutkirby7816 there could be an argument to be made that its only called the promise ending because thats what that elster thinks the promise is OR the elster accepts the truth that she just cant fufill the promise of a dance

[@anti-mate407]

thats the best interpretation of the promise ive seen

[@Mecheres]

​@@donutkirby7816 I think what majority made me connect Adler and Isa as representations of Elster's struggles is the fact that we see them both lose an eye; plus, the photo we see of the supposed Gestalt of Elster-Lilith-also is missing one. I thought that was a very clear mirroring of the struggles. Otherwise, the fact I considered their death's was completely pulling it out of my ass. There is no definitive proof that they are meant to line up with that sort of metaphor, and I can guarantee someone could prove me wrong. I apologize for the proceeding wall of text. :^) Another very loose theory I have that is definitely a bit off the rails is the idea that every character we meet, excluding Ariane, is literally just Elster in some way. You have the most obvious, which is the fact that every single Replika has blue eyes and black hair. There is also the subtle thing about half of Erika's face being missing, which, if interpreted like I did with Adler, Isa, and Lilith, could mean that Erika was "missing an eye". I have literally zero evidence otherwise for Erika, but there is *some* evidence for the Replikas. Look at the descriptions of every unit. Eule's love to sing and dance, Ara's love socializing and gossiping, Kolibri need company and unity, Star's need control and reassurance of their purpose, Mynah's are doting and gentle and motherly, Storch's are protective and stalwart and hot-headed, Falke's offer guidance and meaning. They all have personalities and hobbies and little quirks or flaws that make them thrive in their little ecosystems and have their own little society. What does Elster have? She's written as just... a loner. Somebody who's good at a few things but should be left to her own devices. She is a person stripped of what makes someone a human. She is described as one, if not *the* most, "stable Replika unit". Why is everyone else allowed to love but she can't? What about her is different to the point she isn't allowed to have friends or be able to indulge in creature comforts? Elster with Ariane, however, is offered all of these things. Ariane teachers her how to dance and listens to music with her, she talks to her constantly and bonds with her and, eventually at some point, they fall in love. I'm not going to "assume" anything, but during the sequence where we see the memory of them falling asleep together... Ariane's clothes are, aptly, "different". She isn't wearing the black bodysuit anymore, and seems to be wearing a nightgown instead. This, in at least how *I* personally saw it, was that Elster and Ariane maybe were... intimate. It was a relationship between the two of them that clearly started as just an emotional attachment, but ventured into physical. There was a bond they had that was extremely different from what I can only assume other Replika units could experience (I am not going to let my mind linger on robot sapphic sex) considering presumably Replikas cannot have sex at all. I think, in the grand scheme of it all, the units we see are each personality trait that Elster eventually 'learns' once she falls in love. She's allowed to like things, to love things, to feel angry, to feel gentle, to be cared for. She effectively, becomes human. The endings, also, all have statistics for "Leave", "Circle", and "Death". For the 'Leave' ending you have to be very conservative, talk to everyone, explore everywhere, etcetera, etcetera. Doing those things is a naturally human thing to do. That's why, at the end, it is almost like you're *too* human to face your fears. People do that all the time with loved ones who are dying. For the 'Memory' ending, your ass is speedrunning. Games done quick, if you will. Literally just beating the game under 6 hours will score you thing ending, as well as if you ignore all the NPCs, taking little damage/not healing often, and avoiding dangerous situations. You are someone who simply wants to see if anything changes if you're faster about it-someone who thinks you can get a different ending if you just did things sooner. The 'Promise' ending is DOOM. Kill everything, get you ass kicked, get slapped around; the steam guide for this ending literally says leave you PC running overnight to rack up hours. It is literally self punishment. The 'Lily' ending isn't any of that. It's just... preparing yourself for when it all ends. Elster allows herself to feel the stages of grief, and, thankfully, gets one last dance with Ariane. That is enough for her-for them. There is no fighting the clock or going absolute rage mode on enemies, it's just remembering the little things and spending time with the one you love. It is 5AM when I finished writing this. I am so sorry for theory braining you.

[@herpderp9854]

🤓

[@Chauzuvoy]

Bioresonance, thematically, is I think one of the most beautiful parts of this game. Resonance is when two signals overlap and build on each other. It grows stronger the more synchronized those signals are, and the longer they resonate together the more they can build on each other and the longer and more powerful their reach. In game, bioresonance can override reality itself and calls Elster from across thousands of Replikas, years or decades of time, and untold distances of space. The authoritarian state is terrified of it, possibly because it is inevitably and necessarily above their control and ties people together in ways that aren't state-approved. It's a power that can, unchecked or repressed, corrupt and destroy the orderly world around it but, apparently, can under other circumstances enable truly incredible things. The empress' bioresonance allowed gestalt-kind to see the universe, and what is the Replika program if not a kind of immortality? I can't see this as anything other than a reference to love itself. With Elster being endlessly copied and Arianne locked in stasis sleep eternally, those signals that resonated so strongly were destined to find themselves again, no matter the trauma they had endured and no matter the consequences for everyone and everything else. Their resonant signal was powerful enough to override the signals around and between them and to rewrite the world around them. Those signals floating through the universe for God only knows how long, but destined to find the one that would resonate and grant them meaning. I think it's worth keeping in mind that we know neither the distance between all these events in space or time. We can see that Elster has been replicated time and time again, and we can infer that Arianne has been in stasis for a similarly very long time. But we can't say how long passes between LSTR-512, the immediate prelude to the game in the mining facility, and the game itself.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

Very good point. Physics makes no difference between destructive and harmonic resonance, and it's impossible to know exactly how far or how long apart events are in the game.

[@shrinkwrapsupreme5569]

1:01:56 the blanket. is a penrose tiling.

[@WarLore]

I feel like the Artifact ending is kind of a weird meta-ending. Like, it could only happen if the community comes together to do datamining and puzzle-solving, and it can only happen when you (the player) spends all this time to make it happen. All the time spent giving Elster's journey meaning. Giving it the attention and care and love that she and Ariane never had from their world. It's as if the players are resculpting their very existence, making the Artifact ending possible.

[@ineedabetterusername6789]

I actually really like this, never thought of it like that.

[@colt1903]

The players awaken their own bioresonance in an (vain?) attempt to force the world to give these two lovers the happy ending they deserve.

[@LamantinoElettronico]

So basically the devs saw that for every franchise with a bleak and dark narrative some fans will make happy flowery fanfics and made it a canon ending, I think that's beautiful

[@kragn0n485]

oh wow, reading this shot me back to when I played through ending E in Nier automata. that game and signalis gave me the same deafening peace feeling funnily enough.

[@WarLore]

🥲🥲🥹🥹🥹🥹@@LamantinoElettronico

[@colt1903]

"This *document* is on a different CHAIR... What does it meeeeeean?!" First off, mood. Second off, they knew what they were doing.😂

[@H4zZ4rDGaming1]

that gripe at 47:00 was just not a problem for me. if you're immersed in the game, you don't pick up on these 'references' while watching the cutscene

[@piotr78]

(Before even reaching that point in the video) GITS arms ripping of scene is iconic and was instantly recognizable. Didn't bother me but I can see how it bothers others

[@cryptidcorviid]

hard agree. there was stylistic choices through the game that made those visuals make sense. honestly is more of a love letter to the other stories to me.

[@ericgrimes341]

Haha the whole red sea looks like the ending of Evangelion.

[@RevolutionaryLoser]

Personally, I cannot help picking up on these references. There are a lot on references to the monogatari anime and I have that anime etched into the back of my retinnae and that's in no small part in one episode of the anime, for probably no particular reason, you could see the back of the real house I was living in on the other side of the world. So that left a very big impact on me and I can't help noticing a reference to it especially since they aren't particularly common.

[@ridleyroid9060]

That entire desert cutscene is reference bonanza, although I thankfully never watched Eva or GITS.

[@Pheresome]

The artifact ending giving the player what it wants to see yet with a heavy burden and possibly unleashing something even more catastrophic on its world is such a great contrast to something like Nier Automata's ending E in which similar methods are used, yet the ending is more hopeful in breaking the cycle.

[@john_michael97]

1:46:12 “This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours. The danger is to the body, and it can kill.” This is a direct reference to actual attempts at coming up with warning signs for long term nuclear waste storage. It’s pretty interesting and I would recommend looking it up! I recognized the pattern of writing immediately, Kyle Hill did a good video about it a while back.

[@lithiumion168]

It's an interesting connection for sure. The red desert always reminded me of the intentionally hostile landscapes designed for the long term storage

[@upsetcupofoj294]

I had a reaction of rolling my eyes at 1:22:13 when you mentioned “can such things be” because I knew you were about to send me down a month long rabbit hole of reading and obsessing over yet another book. I still haven’t fully recovered from “house of leaves”

[@fireemblemistrash75]

The game that broke my heart, had me in a “lay in bed, think, don’t wanna go out”. But also enlighten me in the end. This game is an experience everyone HAS to witness

[@EUI_Nulltype]

Elaborating on some stuff. 512, at least in my theory, is a representation of Elster's persona degredation, how memories are bleeding from her Gestalt former life as Lilith Itou. Yes, that Itou. As she was part of the *5th Unit, 12th Division*. And on the topic of biblical references, it was also quite literal if you look back to the Vineta flashbacks. A falling star, an explosion that wiped out the life in the sea...you can guess what its insinuating. The main logo of the game is the Artifact from the artifact ending. The Artifact ending also mirrors a funeral scene, if i remember right. If you brighten the screen to an absurd level, youll find that there is a circular light pattern across the entire game overlayed on the game. With exception of the Promise ending. And thats the only time. The Red Eye itself represents Ariane, which is also a representation of the Big Red Spot on Juniper. Then again, my headcanons and all that. I subscribe to the double dreamer theory. Sierpinski is in Falke's dream. Rotfront is Arianes. Nowhere is the overlap between the two dreams. The mirroring is funny, if you overlap the cryo room with the vacant dreamer room in nowhere and Falke's room, they're all the same. Not only that, Isa, Falke, and even Alina can be taken as representations of Ariane's in various forms. Im gonna add things as i remember them. As Sierpinski and Rotfront are dream spaces made by bioresonance, they only make as much as the dreamers know. Hense, theres trash everywhere. Everything is falling apart. Like the ship. The flesh is like cancer, the symptoms mirror radiation sickness. Or, most notably, Erika. Its stated that Ariane didn't get to know Erika and Isa very well during their school years and could never tell each of them apart. However she remembers Isa from her time being bullied, as someone who helped her. Which is why Isa manifests in the dream, but not Erika.

[@raistlin1357]

Thank you for this! I have the same ideas about the game and I'm glad to see someone else made the same or similar connections!

[@M1ndblast]

"However she remembers Isa from her time being bullied, as someone who helped her. Which is why Isa manifests in the dream, but not Erika." She did not. That's just it. Erika stepped in to help, Isa did not. It always pained Isa that she didn't act. She was too scared. She only watched as it happened. Ever since then their friendship changed. Isa hated how she acted(or lack thereof), and felt useless. I think this quickly flashes by in German right after you see Ariane getting bullied in the classroom.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

I think there's an eldritch Entity, possibly within Jupiter, possibly within that Artifact, which bioresonated with Ariane, and then Falke, and eventually everyone, attempting to bring Elster and Ariane back together. Re-creating the universe over and over again using trial and error, with mistakes gradually mounting with every attempt. My Headcanon is that Ariane and LSTR-512 were actually selected for the Penrose Program, however, they ended up on an exteme elliptical orbit around the sun, crashing on Leng again after some years, unearthing and communing with the artifact in the process. AEON ended up recovering the body of LSTR-512 to replace the lost Neural Pattern. (Perhaps of an Itou? That theory doesn't fit with the Remote Radio Station Memory, though. Far is i remember, the letter talked about sending a daughter to Rotfront? Wouldn't that make LSTR a derivate of the Daughter; as the Mother would have stayed behind there?) So we've not only got the original Gestalt's Memories interfering, but also those of LSTR-512 specifically. Which is why LSTR units remain the focal point of this neverending Fairytale that the Red Eye is telling everyone. That still leaves the question of S-23 Sierpinski and why it is so important to the story.

[@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd]

Definitely my favourite story based game of all time. Its like the only game that pulls the "up to player interpretation" trope without using it as a cheap copout. You can have a completely logical idea of what happens based on the in universe lore and story themes, while someone else can have a complete opposite and it be just as believable. Some argue the games events are the final loop, the ending you get is the true end to things, and that ARTIFACT is a meta-narrative for the player, a literal "you've gone to such extreme lengths trying to find a 'good' ending. You're trying to recreate a better time from dead ghosts and decay, its time to stop." My personal take is a loop of LEAVE > MEMORY > ARTIFACT > PROMISE, with ARTIFACT being what triggers Ariane's memory of Elster. The theme of holding on to someone your love and how far you'd go for them. But its not concrete. People argue MEMORY is the worst because it definitely doesn't end the loop since you take that Elsters armour, while strategically ignoring Elster dies in the same position on PROMISE. Either ending fits the loop. I've seen people argue the opposite order to mine, that the game is about letting go. The promise can't be kept, Elster is torturing herself, that the MEMORY ending shows her acceptance that Ariane is long gone, or that the LEAVE ending is a rejection of memories of another Elster, ending on her dying in the sun on Vineta as she reverts to her gestalt memories. Theres so, so many ways to interpret it, and I love that your interpretation can be taken from your own personal perspective fused with the huge amount of actual lore in the games documents.

[@gobomania]

I might be a cynical bastard, but my intrerpretation is leaning in into the most cynical take, that the loops ain't literal bending of time, but just Ariane bioresonance making everyone (all replikas) at the sierpinski station "loop" mentally. That Adler thinks he is living in a loop, but it is just him mentally affected by Ariane. That every Elster that comes to the station are a brand new model that gets drawn to the place whenever an old one fails throughout the station as they are all based on the LSTR model that was on the Penrsoe with Ariane. That Elster doesn't love Ariane, but her personality imprint of Lilith Itou seeing Alina Seo instead of Ariane. One of the main reasons for that, is that Ariane is heavily eluded to having the same high level of bioresonance as the Grand Empress herself and basically being a nuclear bomb of such, especially as she is radiating away in a death/alive state.

[@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd]

@@gobomania The one major piece of lore I've never really wrapped my head around is the location of the PENROSE. There's documentation explicitly stating the LSTR template was based on a model recovered from the PENROSE, which helps to explain why you have memories of Arianne, but it seems like a red herring. PENROSE-512 had passed beyond the Oort cloud years before they both died, it was moving at a fraction of the speed of light. Recovering it is simply impossible, there is no way it crashed inside the solar system. Why would they not just base the template off an LSTR on another PENROSE? The wiki description notes that Leng refers to a lovecraftian "place where different realities converge" and that's where we first see the ship crashed. We could be seeing parallel universe PENROSE programs merging into Arianne's. There's lot of lore supporting parallel universes, like Adler having memories of working with LSTR that never happened and obviously aren't gestalt memories. The fact the game takes place in Serpinski, a location Arianne would have ended up working in a parallel world is telling. The start of the game could be a parallel world where the 512 did crash on Leng and that was the recovered LSTR model, while the main world had them lost in deep space. Or maybe an LSTR sabotaged a different PENROSE sabotages the program to crash on Leng due to Arianne's projection, which explains how LSTR keep getting to Leng in the first place. Its definitely the biggest hole in the lore that I've not seen convincingly explained by anyone yet. Really need to take a deep look at the documentation some time, see how the cosmic horror element factors in.

[@gobomania]

​@@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd My assumption is that they turned the ship around, to try to get back to cilvilization again, hence why Ariane was put into the cryropod, it was a slim chance to make it back alive, but also the only one. It also makes sense that the game takes place on Sirpinski, on Leng, which is the furthest in the solar system and the first one the PENROSE-512 would reach on the travel back. Think it makes sense in the sense that they were away for 6 years (3 years out, 3 years back) and crashed on Leng, with only Elster leaving the ship to try to get help, but succumbing to the harsh enviorment of Leng. It can be reasoned that the Eusan Nation have no intrest in salvaging the PENROSE-512 itself as it just broken and highly irradiated, but explain why Elster was taken in to re-use her imprint as her model was made only for the PENROSE program so the Elster units might not have been in great numbers and the archive with her data got destroyed while she was gone. So the Eusan Nation basically took what they thought was a normal LSTR and reintroduced all of Elsters personality into all of the furture LSTR models :) Hope that explains my reason a little. So in short: - Arianne leaves with Elster - Elster gets "corrupted" during the travel. - 3 years (or so) pass and they get the last message from command. - They try to return, putting Arianne in the crypod to maximize survival for Arianne. - Between those years, the archieve of Eusan Nation gets blown up and LSTR models basically goes of out commission for that reason. - 3 years (or so) later, the PENROSE-512 crashes onto LENG, due to Ariannes critical state she cannot leave, but Elster tries to seek out help, but succumb to the harsh enviorments. - Elster body gets found, but due to either the lack of intrest or knowledge of the whereabouts of the PENROSE-512, Arianne is left to cook in her bioresonance/radioactive soup, building up as stronger and stronger bioresconance in holding on to the last promise of Elster. - That Bioreconance fucks up Sirpinski as it is close enough to the vicnity of the PENROSE-512, but more importantly, Ariannes bioresonance calls out to any new LSTR units with Elsters imprint in it and starts awakening them one by one.

[@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd]

@@gobomania That's actually pretty viable, although I'd question whether they could just "turn the ship around". Always got the impression the PENROSE was a case of "were going to launch you out of a gravity canon and you hit the brakes and steer once you find a planet, but you can't speed up again" kind of situation. Oh and the programme didn't take place over 3 years one way, the 3rd phase ends at 3000 days (~9 years), and the incomplete notes we find on the Penrose indicate they were surviving until at least 15 years into the program. The wiki has a really disturbing entry as well. Someone took the missing values in the notes and used it to create a cipher, calculating that the final note is written 200,000 days after the start of the program...700 years.

[@gobomania]

​@@DisorderedFleshAutomata-sm8cd Think (been a hot minute since I played a playthrough of SIGNALIS), that Elster comments on the PENROSE's auto-pilot feature in the flashback after the fake-out ending, so I assume there is a way to control the ship, remember motion in space does not ebb out, so small adjustments can turn the ship around with the same speed towards the solar system again :) But yes, for sure it was not meant to be able to return, but don't think the Nation really bothers if people try, as normal people wouldn't survive the trip back, but Arianna is a demi-god level bio-resonator, so she can do a little above and beyond. But yes, I misremember my years, it is 9 years each way, not 3, thanks for correcting me, but considering that you have the cryopods and Arianna's bio-reconance powers, it makes it is plausible she survived 15 years into the program (9+9=15) and her and Elster were only 3 years away (as of writing of the notes) to be back at the solar system. I'm not quite sure about the validity of the cipher effort, as it comes across a little too speculative for my taste, but not impossible I guess. Also a extra note, as I said, I think that Arianne is a bio-resonator on the level of the high-empress which power is descriped as: "But every once in a while, some are born that cannot only hear and play this music of the worlds, but who can conduct it. Gifted individuals capable of manipulating the essence of the world around them." So if Arianna REALLY wanted to get home, she'd find a way, but sadly it could only carry her that far before the radioactive matter broke her mind down.

[@Jovisstfan]

I met my Ariane 11 years ago. I lost her 5 years ago. What you speak of at the end, when we love someone that we become entangled, sharing their memories and experiences, and our self drifts into theirs.. That's exactly how it was. Still to this day, I express myself in her ways. Still to this day, I find myself use her cadence sometimes. I think this video you made brought me some closure with that ending conclusion.

[@lilylohmann614]

My heart dropped when I saw the lilies. My name is Lily, so I know a bit about the flower. Most types of lilies mean something like “innocence” or “purity,” with lily-of-the-valley symbolizing new beginnings and starting over. While Tiger and star lilies fall into that category, calla lilies are associated with death. White ones are often present at funerals. Due to the purity symbolism, other types of lilies are included as well. This is clearly a game about going through hell to get back to when you had that purity and innocence, trying to find your way back to before it all fell apart. But much like the blood you end up spilling, eventually the petals will wilt. The bodies will drain. No matter what you wish for, Death comes for us all.

[@jammywesty91]

I JUST added this to my wishlist about 60 seconds ago... Guess this is a sign.

[@mcbill7352]

BJY IT signalis is peak

[@badasson8825]

They are watching you my dude, be careful. Jk just spreading a little paranoia on the internet, cheers

[@lorenzooliveira1157]

Remember your promise…

[@jlaw131985]

Providence.

[@thesidneychan]

It's a signAL.

[@sawyervuorensyrja4703]

“THE NUMBERS, ELSTER! WHAT DO THEY MEAN?!” “I don’t know anything about any numbers!” “What about Ariane? Do you remember your promise?”

[@chrisheartman9263]

There's a small detail of this game that has been making me go crazy since the moment I finished this video. There is only one part of the game that is neither English, German or Japanese. It's the title and it's in Latin.

[@maybemablemaples2144]

Yeah, no, what is up with that???

[@strvmpet]

you see if you remove t, the one letter in the word "signalis" you get lain, the 1998 anime (real)

[@maybemablemaples2144]

@@strvmpet omg 😲

[@ryuuichiwu3662]

Is it japanese? I thought it was chinese. Considering there weren't any hiragana anywhere in the game Especially in one of the transition screens that say 鹊神女核心 makes more sense in chinese

[@cynthiacrescent]

@@ryuuichiwu3662 It's very clearly Chinese, and the game draws direct connotations and inspirations from the communist block of the cold war (china / east germany). So many people mistake it for Japanese because Japanese has a much stronger cultural export, and these people refuse to consider their ignorance.

[@masterzoroark6664]

"Happiness must be fought for" (also god dammit, Sol's theme while you go full battle Elster is golden)

[@yama627]

The title drop in this game alone can be considerate for one of the best game out there

[@raydaug4633]

To me, the Pareidolia memo that comes conspicuously close to the end of the game is Signalis showing its hand. The pattern recognition parts of our brains are hardwired to make connections, even when none actually exist. But just because those connections don't exist doesn't mean they can't be meaningful. The Red Eye of Rotfront is literally just a storm in Rotfront's atmosphere, but the Red Eye people saw in it became an important symbol and part of the culture of the people of Rotfront. Likewise, what a person takes away from Signalis isn't meaningful because it's necessarily literally true. It is meaningful because of what it reflects back on to them and what it reveals to others. What symbols stood out, what references carried weight, and what feelings all those things evoked.

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

When your mind can literally shape the Universe; Pareidolia becomes real connections.

[@wesleyeberly228]

Love that when he gets into the book there is also house of leaves in the frame

[@konstantinsuvorov2570]

Man, I remember playing the game and I REALLY loved it. I also researched the different endings etc. And now, thanks to you Pak, I love this game even more. I remember being at the "Deutsche Computerspielpreis" (German videogame award) and the game was nominated but sadly didn't win a prize. I wanted to meet the devs so badly, but I couldn't find them after the show. I hope they know that they created something extraordinary and thank you Pak for sharing it with your community and the YT audience! You did a great job! Now drink and party for six days and relax on the seventh day (Sunday) as it is the will of God 😝

[@acceptablecasualty5319]

They Won "Best Debut", "Best Audio Design" and got 30k for being nominated as GGOTY.

[@datguyuno98]

Within the first 18 seconds I feel so validated for my intense -obsession- dissection of Signalis I have bought multiple books because of this game Edit: Something I've thought about endlessly, the "decommissioned LSTR unit" that Elster is copied from is one from the Penrose program. However, all of the Penrose Elsters are, presumably, stuck in space a mind bogglingly far distance, how did they get one back?

[@fatalbert2055]

Signalis is a game that's impossible to be normal about, I get it

[@ariannanightingale4054]

What books did you buy? "King in Yellow", obviously, but what else? I'm just being curious cause I'm looking for something to read

[@datguyuno98]

@@ariannanightingale4054 Just one other, a collection of HP Lovecraft's stories that includes The Festival

[@WibblePips]

i think the penrose Elster that they say they copied to all future Elsters was the one from the penrose 512, which seemingly crashed on a planet that they could have recovered the body from at some point. it would also better explain why all the other Elsters in the cycles specifically remember Ariane and the 512.

[@123here]

Glad to know I’m not the only one who bought books because of this game

[@Olivia-pj9wy]

Man, I love Signalis videos. I need to play at some point, I’ve spoiled myself many times over but I never stop adoring hearing people talk about it

[@four-en-tee]

Much like Silent Hill 2, Deus Ex, Shadow of the Colossus or Metal Gear Solid 3 (for me at least), Signalis is one of those games that just keeps drawing you back no matter how many times you've experienced it.

[@rigorm136]

If I had a nickel for every time there was a game that took heavy inspiration from a much older video game that had a secretive narrative about homosexual love I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[@AnOriginalBreakfast]

and were talked about by Power Pak

[@wonkixote_lives]

"And I still wouldn't have enough to order a sausage roll..."

[@brokenlotproductions]

Thank you so much for making this video. I just beat the game today and was so depressed with the ending and the need to want more. You helped me make sense of the whole game. It’s such a masterpiece and it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played, not just with the story, but with the atmosphere and music as well

[@d3athandr3birth69]

I think I disagree with the too many references in the false ending cut scene bit. For me, it felt like the King in Yellow, a play that doesn't exist, but is written about and affects the characters within the physical book. I saw the references as a modern version of The King in Yellow, stories of internal growth beyond perceived bounds that in a very metafictional way had an impact on the game's creator and therefore have an impact on Elster. The stories of our world become these eldritch influences on the Elster unit's world, all of them combining to create a painful rendition of growth.

[@andylawlzz]

this, him insinuating that the inventory being unlimited wouldnt change how people play the game, and him chalking the promise ending up to the bury your gays trope stops this video from being a 10/10. really frustratingly bad takes in an otherwise exquisite video

[@bbcarrioncrow]

it's kind of collage art, or that webweave thing from tumblr, in a way. taking bits and pieces of other art and making something new with it. the fact that it's made from other art doesn't make it any less valid. all art is derivative, anyway, whether the artist consciously realizes it or not. signalis's developers embraced that, it seems.

[@carlosfred8673]

Scary Robot Lesbian Game

[@paulshumilin]

Brain damage

[@Azrael1st]

Phsycological torture

[@NotADolphin]

your in-depth coverage of media will always make my day. you hooked me in with myhouse but all your work i've seen since then has fully kept me invested for the long-haul. as always, i'm gonna wait eagerly for what you make next

[@Apocrypha135]

For all the clear inspiration the game takes from from Silent Hill, I can't help but think there's some parallel between Ariane and Alessa Gillespie. Both had traumatic upbringings. Both manifested powerful reality-twisting abilities. And both had said abilities manifest thanks to a horrible fate - being tormented by the Order for Alessa, and being left to suffer in the void of space for Ariane. I'm sure there's more similarities beyond that if you keep digging. Anyway, phenomenal video. The opening minutes had me immediately hooked, and it only got better from there. You should be very proud.

[@elilass8410]

Love that you let the intro/title credits just play--they're so evocative on their own, they don't need much commentary at all.

[@hood6743]

This was...intricately beautiful the way you told Signalis through your eyes. I probably won't ever have the chance to play it since I'm both broke and my pc is not compatible but this is what I love about you and other channels like you, you have a way of immersing me into stories without having me interact with them (descending into madness and all that). Thank you and please get some rest, you deserve every bit you get.

[@Fallkhar]

I've seen enough. This is already combining so many things I love. I gotta play it💫 Thanks for drawing my attention to it

[@1984Bergeron]

I'm happy you took so long to get this video out. The earlier videos miss the depths of the game you revealed. This is the best one.

[@gumbus6478]

Yesterday I actually thought to myself, "I wonder when PowerPak is gonna come out with a new video." Well here I am, and very happy!

[@PineappleLiar]

Oh for reference about the 3 standard ending, here’s the most broad strokes play style to aim for any one in particular: Leave: basically take your time, and be cautious. Heal when you can, talk to everyone as much as you can, and linger in the flashback scenes. If you are impatient consider taking a bathroom break while at the radio station; easy points towards this goal. Memory: best advice is to finish the game fast, or at least don’t over commit to either caution or aggression. While sub six hours is ideal, I got this one on a normal 8 hour playthrough my first time so don’t sweat it too much. Death: Kill and die, get injured, that’s the sum of it. For this one I’d suggest plundering the optional rooms of the map that don’t have any key items, just ammo and healing items and a lot of enemies. Even if you fail that just helps the run.

[@maelyn199]

this is absolutely fantastic, your analysis and story retelling is incredible. please never stop making these !!!!

[@FoXSKAIP]

This video was beautiful, thanks for the effort and job of doing all of this

[@zeporion6091]

I just started this game and got the platinum a couple weeks ago. I too have been obsessed. I love classic survival horror; and seeing the "real survival" option, togglable tank controls, "CRT mode", hole in the wall with a camera perspective like SH4's holes, enemies standing up after death like Crimson Heads, and the red SH2-esque save square on a cassette-sci fi tv. I said in my head, "this game was made for people like me".

[@SunroseStudios]

we got the Promise ending as our first (and only) ending to this game, and... yeah, it's one of the few times a video game has made us cry.

[@lankstonkent3318]

So many references to Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[@rodrigoclavero6118]

Hi I played signalis after waching the intro, amazing game had me crying like a bich, I got the final promise, thanks for showing me this amazing game. Love your videos :)

[@ColeTrainStudio]

Signalis was fucking brilliant. I love the sort of RE-like renaissance that's happening with indies right now. It has me super excited for CONSCRIPT.

[@WobblesandBean]

Everyone's trying to be RE, while RE is trying to be anything but. What a world.

[@kathradyne6801]

signalis has a unique property i think, and i can't help but think it's intentional. it is the king in yellow, not the book, the idea, it is something that once opened will irreparably alter you and how you think. the game insn't a game anymore, the momement you pick up the checkovs smoking railgun that is the book prior mentioned you stop having elster as the audiences emotional foil, because you aren't in elsters position, your in falkes, and you'll never dance with her again. but you can, even in an endless loop, a dream about dreaming where your aware but inable to deviate, you can dig up memories of love, of sacrifice, and just how endless both can be, and you can find locked away, a speck of life in a sea of decay, a flower thriving and breaking through the concrete ground. you can dance with her again, hopelessness is wrong, and maybe just maybe even in a world literally decaying at the seems, a burning memory is enough

[@philipvargas2605]

Oooo! What a nice surprise! I love this game and I’m super stoked to hear your take on it.

[@KingKnight33]

Im so happy to find someone delving into Signalis as deeply as you have here. It deserves to be loved and remembered as the amazing, breathtaking, heartbreaking game that it is. It was an experience i won't forget and this video was worth every second I spent watching it. I look forward to your future videos and appreciate all the time you spent to make this.

[@wiskerfall4519]

What I love about this game and what makes it so amazing is how even if someone knows fuck all about the lore and barely understanding anything that’s happening the emotional core of the games story about how Elster and Ariane where in love and elsters journey to reunite with her lover one last time permeates throughout the game

[@ectothermic]

The way I interpreted the story is that Ester and Ariane are just the 6th iteration of two people who keep being resurrected, specifically by whoever Ester is at the time. The promise is that when the time came she would kill Ariane and end the loops otherwise they drag out their lives one more time to suffer most of their lives and die tragically again. Ester can't bring herself to do it and revives Ariane once more, sacrificing herself. Then, with no memories of the previous loop or the selfish act, they live out their lives together until that tragic death repeats, as the world becomes more and more unstable each loop. 512 is infinity, but it's a corrupt infinity with each side facing the 1 in the game's font. To me that's the two characters who love each other but are at odds about the end. Ester understands that things have to end but can't bring it about. I can also see the Empress being Ariane's last iteration wishing to be free from all the trouble of being in that position, she's reincarnated as someone fated to go to space and live out in space. Unfortunately for her, she sees what her empire really is like firsthand in this iteration, including the way they sacrifice people by throwing them out in space, like a corrupt granted wish., she lives out the rest of her life becoming progressively more depressed with Ester who can only watch,. That's how I see the story, it doesn't answer most questions, or any, but the final dance in the Artifact ending to me is just the two who still love each other, preparing for another reset with a dance or accepting that the 6th was the final loop the world could handle and it's coming to an end. The eye could be us, witnessing it happen after causing it. It could be Ester, witnessing the happy ending she wanted before waking up in the next iteration, assuming the world can handle another one. It's a lovely game, and it's stuck with me a lot. A lot of thoughts about mortality and how fragile we are have been circling in my head as I get older and this game resonated with me in such a way, specifically the way Ester can't let things go.

[@micheallantler5068]

I really appreciate this analysis. Thank you for doing a video on SIGNALIS! :)

[@Poggy_69]

It's currently 1 am and I just finished watching this video and damn this was just insane. I for sure haven't been this focused and fixated to something like i just have been for the last 2 hours! My brain is a complete mess after trying to understand everything mentioned especially as I was not all too familiar with the game and the lore behind it beforehand. So I can't even imagine what you must have gone through when collecting and summarizing everything more or less yourself. Thank you so much for putting in the effort and time to deliver such a breathtaking video!

[@mrmac2340]

Thank you for covering the game of the decade. This space intentionally left blank.

[@MaxResolve]

You really had me convinced you were gonna make it through the whole video without a single True Detective reference, but you clinched it right at the end. Well done.

[@BaneOfXistence4]

"I know what happens next. I saw you in my dream. You're in Carcosa now with me. He sees you. You'll do this again. Time is a flat circle. Black star."

[@Brawlatron]

Finally came back to make it through the latter half... and I'm glad I did. Signalis is a nightmare I will forever cherish, beautiful in its brutality, and one that I think the world needs to see. Thank you so, so much for making this, and frankly all the videos you do. As someone who will forever struggle with communication, seeing your work, its quality and often its message is frankly validating. I truly hope you can keep doing what you do as long as you can.

[@justaguy994]

This in depth narrative is really captivating with your own style of narration. I find it soothing and i cant get enough after the "my house". Maybe i crave for something twisted with a little bit of gentle touch like your videos. In fact i havent found much anyone like your style. One of a kind

[@0001absent]

finally someone talking about signalis, such an underrated game

[@DogeickBateman]

It's been all over the in-depth review channels

[@0001absent]

@@DogeickBateman im french and i never saw someone talk about it in french community

[@DogeickBateman]

@@0001absent Oof

[@0001absent]

@@DogeickBateman tu n’es pas le mec mystérieux un peu sombre que tu crois être lache ça

[@cwtrain]

Underrated by whom? That is not what underrated means.

[@magnusequus]

I was excited for this game since announcement and it exceeded all of my expectations by a mile

[@diabetus1217]

I very rarely comment on videos, this video is art to me, I'm not nearly practiced enough at it to get this deep into taking deep looks into art. This is now one of a very few comfort videos. Thank you for making it

[@SpiritJuiceYT]

Beautiful deep dive video for one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Thank you for this.

[@jacoblynam923]

I actually really like the limited inventory space. I love games that punish you with things like hunger or thirst mechanics, limited resources and weapon degradation. Where you can’t kill every single enemy because there are not enough bullets in the game. I’m a freak like that.

[@OrlandoMGarcia]

I was scared at fisrt but the game actually encorages you to carry the minimal and only the usefull things, some rooms are quite dangerous but if you know how to evade or use the darkness to your advantage you can do a lot with very little inventory

[@discomacabre1]

so quirky and different

[@hypolamb]

I agree, I never had a problem with the limited space. I understand why others would have been frustrated with the 6 slots, but I thought it was a neat way of training you to be efficient in what you carry and what you accomplish - like a Replika. Also, I found it a bit funny that he had an issue with the lore reason for the inventory limit being propaganda. Like, that's entirely the point! It codifies within the game itself how arbitrary, oppressive, and restrictive this entire society is, at least within Sierpinski. Which makes sense, considering what else the facility operates as other than a mine.

[@kazuichikazzie1567]

@@hypolamb YEAH exactly!! Plus 6 is symbolically represented in so much of the game's symbols and atmosphere. Honestly it's probably for the best they updated the game to make it less restrictive as, while I do think the theming is super nice in that regard, accessibility is probably the best approach rather than make the game even more obtuse (lord knows the lore does it for us lmao).

[@hypolamb]

@@kazuichikazzie1567 Oh yeah, I 100% am not mad at the update at all, I think it'll get people on board with the game a lot easier than before! It's such a small change that brings a nice QOL update, so I genuinely appreciate it for all upcoming Signalis players

[@Silmeris]

Ohhhh my god he DID IT I've been desperately wanting to see you in particular make a video about this for so long. Thank you!

[@dandrakearts6324]

Had to give a like IMEDIATELLY when you showed how much you worked on this. After watching another youtuber play this whole game, every ending, i really wanted to see more info, and oh boy, this video is top tier! Congrats on your amazing work!

[@BlueRabbit35]

This is one of the best video essays I have ever watched and definitely the best video made on this game. Thank you for this.

[@supersayainasriel6745]

I remember first playing this at the end of 2022, and the opening hole gave me silent hill 4 vibes and then seeing the king in yellow was a treat, I never read the king in yellow, but the indie game Parsnip introduced me to some of the concepts of it, so It was a really good sign

[@capitalex5422]

Oh hey, I just ran across your channel again yesterday. I went through a bunch of your vids and was just wondering when the next one might be coming. Glad to see it right now.

[@ozzy6771]

Absolutely incredible video man, this is IMO the definitive Signalis breakdown. You brought up things I didn’t even realise or know about, like the number 6 phenomenon. I absolutely adored this game, and am so glad people are STILL making videos about it. It’s just that powerful and provoking. Thank you for making this video ❤️

[@GetTheTables]

Awesome video for an amazing game. Thank you for the tremendous amount of work that had to have gone into this.

[@boopcorn8747]

I'm glad I'm not the only one obsessed with this game. Just like Arienne's memories spread and corrupted the world, it corrupted my mind as well.

[@blackscreenman6117]

I really hope this video blows up. You have a talent for making videos that make you feel like you are falling down a rabbithole. Incredible.

[@dogemaester]

What a wonderfully made video man.. You're really good at explaining stuff.

[@onlyonewhyphy]

I do love short form content. Thanks for keeping it simple 👌🏻 subbed

[@spikes8]

Been absolutely obsessed with this game and everything surrounding it for the past few months. So glad it's getting the coverage it deserves. The emotional poignancy is out of this world and it consistently haunts me since I've completed it. A second playthrough bears an insane amount of fruit. Melancholic, beautiful, harrowing, entirely engrossing. It WILL be a classic for years to come.

[@Braybray93]

Along the shore, the cloud waves break The twin suns sink beneath the lake The shadows lengthen In Carcosa -- Very proud of you for doing this video. I can't believe you were working on this during myhouse.wad! I'm genuinely upset I wasn't already on your patreon.

[@mudkipwithsunglasses7436]

Really good video. I knew almost nothing about Signalis before watching this video. Now I feel as if I've experienced your obsession with the game's story myself through your words.

[@PeaceLoveAndGuns]

I just finished my first and maybe only playthrough bof Signalis and got the Promise ending. What a wild ride. I wanted to see critical review of the game and I'm really glad to have clicked on your video. Subscribed. Excellent stuff.

[@LegendGamer-je8is]

Ok but now i need the long version.

[@moonlightlunacy]

This game is such a breathtaking, memorable experience that has stuck with me for so long. It has changed a part of me fundamentally and how I perceive stories and reality and I think that's beautiful. And seeing so many others so deeply affected by this story of cycles and community and trauma and love and all its other themes is beautiful too. Signalis is truly a 11/10 game and this video perfectly encompasses how deep it is. Amazing work, thank you for making this and making me cry a couple times while watching it, lmao

[@05Matz]

I wasn't expecting this to hit me so hard. Thank you!

[@benruniko]

I loved this video, thank you for making it ❤ I learned a lot about this game and the possibilities and themes than I have anywhere else. Well done!

[@Haikkari]

Signalis is such a profound experience. I kept having dreams about it when I finished it. And now that I've watched this video, Signalis will return to my dreams once again. Thanks for that Power Pak!

[@topler.toto.]

I watched this video 10 minutes ago and I'm still recovering. This was insane. Can't really find words to describe how i felt during and after i watched the video. Concentrating for 2 hours non-stop without breaks... I kinda feel sad watching this video cause i just spoiled the entire game and can't experienece it fully. But also, without this video, i would never know that the game existed. This, was beautiful. Thank you.

[@lolagagginw812lol7]

This is a brilliant analysis of the game's story! Thank you for making this. :)

[@LoveaAKatt]

Thank you for this video. I am in tears as you made me fall further in love with SIGNALIS than I thought possible before. You enriched this experience for me so thank you thank you! Cheers ♡

[@MoonlitWood]

Finally. The true Super Hexagon starts _here_.

[@TRKYBRST]

I just finished this game moments ago, there's no way this video JUST went up yesterday. That's synchronicity for you. I had no idea about the inventory updates and I wish dear that I had.

[@pappy2690]

You have an amazing way of engaging the viewer with the narrative that preserves the intrigue to such an extreme degree, i have not seen on any other channel. First had the thought during your my house video, and this is more of that with intense subject matter. Bravo

[@Yes-iy3zy]

God knows how many analysis video of this masterpiece i've watched but this one if not the most well constructed n detailed one i've ever seen (and is my personal fav now) I LOVE THIS SM