SIGNALIS is fascinating and hypnotic, just like a dream. Join our Community Discord: / discord Check out our Merch: rdbl.co/3c7D2Gs Subpixel Twitter: / subpixelteam Jake's Twitter: / _jaketheriault
This is the best interpretation and explanation of the dream theory I have seen yet, and even if you don't subscribe entirely to the dream interpretation this is the best analysis of the symbolism and themes and external references I believe will ever find of this game. Thank you for making this, it deserves so much more than 500 views. This game is immensely important to me, and a love letter like this stirs my heart, I will be showing this video to everyone who plays this game.
Glad you liked it, and thank you so much for the kind words! I’m glad folks have been so receptive to this kind of abstract video idea I had after playing through the game for the first time!
Ayyy finally mentioning the number stations in one of these Also I love how this is a game where two people can have very different interpretations and both of them feel completely valid. Love it
Like I've seen two RU-vid videos today on this, each with their own interpretations and yet I have MY OWN interpretation that is also different yet I consider all of these interpretations with a level of validity because... Signalis is written in a way where I don't think there is SUPPOSED to be one true interpretation. And I love that
@@Subpixel Honestly your video gave me some more thoughts and ideas that play right into my own analysis and it's like... I LOVE how there are so many different potential ways to analyse this game and all of them have validity. Interpretation from different directions, on different levels, different perspectives. My interpretation is very metafictional in its design and it's just... God when I finally came to the conclusion I could call my interpretation, I just lay there, going "This it is, this is my interpretation, this is my read. It is uniquely mine and like everyone elses, it's valid in its own special way". Signalis is an absolute master class of fiction to allow for something like that
@@AstralPhnx this is exactly why this game is so freaking amazing. Every unique interpretation is both flawed and insightful in its own way, and there is no one true reading of the text. As such, every interpretation helps prop up and elucidate the nuances of the others. I love this game SO much!!!
When you said Signalis becomes a journey of only descent at the elevator, you reminded me that as Elster we *did* ascend towards the surface one last time and it's entirely optional too. Before going down, we can choose to rise towards the first/ground floor. There we meet a fairly calm floor with Isa sitting nearby. She's resting, we're quiet and strangely the floor is incredibly peaceful and normal. If you wanted, you could probably close the game there and stay in that content peace. But you can't or at least, Elster can't. On the bench is box of shotgun shells. Trying to walk out the screen into the surface yields nothing. The elevator stays open. Calling to you. Isa too states she's basically taking a break before truly going down again. In your last chance to resurface from your dreams and your lover's and your chase for a fleeting moment, all you recieve are ammunition, a dead-end and the temptation of the unknown calling to you from that pit. You're past the threshold. Moments later you'll be diving into the nightmare again to be Orpheus.
Signalis is trully a singular and unique game. Thank you for the video, because I know some freinds of mine would have doubts, and I would have to try to at least help then out. Great video 😁👏🔥
At last, finally got through this video in full. This has been a fantastic analysis of one of my new favourite games - thank you so, so much for creating it. This deserves more attention
Signalis is my favorite game of the last 5 years its so good and intriguing I don't think I'll ever get over it. I hope Rose-engine makes more games also 2 people making this master piece of a game is a very amazing thing.
This is an amazing video essay, great job @Subpixel !! I loved the editing style, voiceovers, and the re-use of the in game fonts/typeface to expand on the literary influences in the game was such a clever, poised idea. I also love that the video focused on explaining the overarching themes of the game, as opposed to theorizing the literal "what happened" in the game. I don't think the player is meant to know, as we are likely dealing with some overarching lovecraftian entity/force here, but the themes of Love, Perseverance, and Time hold steady throughout. Overall, amazing work I applaud the effort it took to put this all together, and I hope the algo hits to where other people can appreciate this video and game more.
Thank you so much! It’s been very exciting to read all the positive reception to this video, which I was worried might be a bit too “out there” for most folks. Glad you enjoyed it!
It's rather fitting that your playtrough of this story had Loop Hero as its constant background. What a beautiful generation of indy games we've had of late!
I played signalis in december and havent been able to stop thinking about it since. Every once and a while I check youtube for more analyses to keep thinking about the fascinating world. Thanks for the great video!
I was not aware of the relation between Die Toteninsel, Das Gestade der Vergessenheit and Wilhelm II. Good stuff! Loved the essay, anyone covering Signalis gets my subscription for sure.
Excellent editing and research into this. I've done a lot of my own research into the meta aspects of this game but never came quite as close as you have here. Well done. I sincerely hope this video swells in popularity because it helped me to appreciate everything I loved about my first Signalis playthrough: the unknowable and uncertainty of what lies ahead, trying to remember who it is you're actually looking for and wondering whether you'll find them or not. And if you do, what state would they be in? What state would *you* be in by the time you get there?
Great video! This got me thinking, if this is a dream, and it managed to crack through reality, then who's dream is this? Maybe the Red Eye is a red herring here. After all, it's a folklore from another planet. Aside from the Red Eye which may or may not be real, we do know of two entities who were dreaming in the game: Ariane and Falke. Ariane might not be "alive" at this point, and we never know exactly how strong is Ariane's bioresonance power. Maybe she only have a little bit of bioresonance. So that left us Falke, the commander of Sierpinski, strongest known bioresonanator on Leng, who have a lot of classified information in her head in the first place. SO here is my theory: We are not playing as Elster at all. When people say "No Elster was ever deployed at Sierpinski", they are speaking the truth. Elster was never there and cannot physically be there. We are Falke. Or rather, we are Falke who embodied a character of Elster in her own dream. This whole situation was the result of Falke's dream leaking into reality. Falke went out into the snow and found what's left of Penrose-512. The bioresonance residue from Ariane influenced Falke just like how Kolibris can mentally drag each other down. Falke went back and got "sick". She got trapped in her own recurring dreams of Ariane and Elster. She knows what Ariane wants, and tried to end the dream by fulfilling the promise. So she created Elster as her avatar in the dream. Adler who is closest to Falke, got corrupted by Falke first. He started to share a dream with Falke, and ran into Elster in his dream. This is how Kolibrie saw an Elster in his memory. This is also how Adler remembered his Gestalt past, by influence of Falke. Adler tried to resist the corruption by killing Elster in his dream over and over, hence the elevator shaft. Unfortunately Falke's dream only went deeper, and with each recurring dream, her creation of Elster gets stronger, more independent, and more real. To the point her psyche effectively split and "Falke ended and Elster began". When we the player started the game, it was the last straw. The dream fully merged with reality, and we the dream character of Elster took on physical form, or rather is finally visible by all other survivors at Sierpinski, not just Adler. And not just us, other dream characters also came out, like Isa Ito. By the time of fake ending, Adler realized who Elster really is. Which is why in that scene at the threshold, Elster replaced Falke's position. When Elster walked through the threshold, Adler lost all hope, knowing his beloved Falke have "changed", changed into Elster. Hence his "I hate everything" statement. This is also why, in the fake ending, in the scene where a line of several Elsters turn their heads, the first in the line is Falke; When a line of Ariane, Ito, and Alina turn their heads, the first in the line is also Falke. Falke is the host of this dream, and these are all effectively her dream characters. And you know the saying about meeting yourself in a dream is a sign of inner conflict? By the end of the game the Falke who became Elster run into Falke herself, or "return" to herself. The "we are incomplete, let us become whole again" is a very literal statement.
I also want to point out. That when we start descending, I couldn't help but to notice a bit of Inferno (Dante) influences You start in a space familiar, but different. Purgatory And then go go down... Into Hell itself
you could've flaunted your video game knowledge by likening elster's descent to james sunderland's descent in the silent hill historical society. but i jest, you really show a lot of stuff i wasn't aware of here, like rachmaninoff's piece on isle of the dead. incredible video.
Your interpretation is marvelous. Even I have played many rounds in order to get all achievements, I never thought about dream but kind of reincarnation that Elster keep reborn when she failed to find Ariane. Thank you for making this video!!!!
I personally won’t ever play signalis however I can admit it’s a great game and after watching reviews for two days this vid gotta be top 3 in depth reviews keep ur thing up gang just gained a subscriber if u continue to do essays such as these my mind running and writting music now lol appreciate you gang; CHIA!
as much as I appreciate people pointing out the oodles of eva and silent hill references in the game, I also felt like it that all was just scratching the surface. It's a rare treat to get something so dense with homage that doesn't feel derivative in the slightest. This game's going to be stuck in my head for years and I'm glad you added yet more context for ways to consider it. really well done video, shame you're not getting more traffic on it. Of course, it's a shame how little attention this game is getting all thing's considered.
Loved this - great editing, narrative, voiceover and pacing! This videos tone and atmosphere matched and complemented the games in a way I've seen very few others do, it was captivating
Great and indepth Background interpretation and connections to art, music, and literature in this one! *takes off hat* I definitely would like to hear what you think /connect to the bigger picture of signalis, and if you think there is a 'reality' framing these dreams or if there is none.
i can tell you, if you arent prepared you may feel like you are going insane, if you can somehow trigger the same dream it will feel the same, but as all dreams are, it will change Unless you have a lucid dream, it will force you to change it, and unless you had started it as a lucid dream, you are unlikely to continue it with as much lucidity as you need to keep the dream's structure
I thought our Elster is a copy of a stranded Elster from Penrose program. It was stated in found documents the original pattern was lost. That would mean our Elsters never met Arianne, the events of the game could be happening centuries later.
Something you may not know as i did it. When you get that fake out ending, it doesnt matter if you choose to quit out actually. Something console players may not know (me being a former console only player myself) when quitting out of a game console players rather than quit out through the actual menu usually just close the application altogether. But on PC its different. Anyway on the PC version there is an option to quit out of the game, and when you choose that it will take you back into the game. I remember clicking quit and checking my phone or something and when i looked back up i was back in the game. I remember thinking "i thought i quit out." So in my naivete i quit again and quit out altogether. And my mind was not satisfied with this ending, so i looked up "Signalis Endings" and lo and behold ofc i come across "fake ending". And that's when it hit me, i had clicked quit but the game was trying to tell me "we aren't done yet". I think this goes directly to the theme you are talking about, dreams and the unsuredness of them, did i click quit? Was it my imagination? Whats going on here? This game really might be as some people, myself including up there with Silent Hill 2, possibly surpassing it, as the best survival horror game ever.
