The human mind is a complex, confusing mess. Things are abstract, abrupt, and morphed by thoughts and feelings that sprout from the subconscious. If one were to explore it from the inside, sift through the memories and dreams without proper guidance, they would be lost in perpetual limbo. Or at least they would be currently, until science steps in with the right assistance of AI technology. Imagine a future, where AI allows you to enter people’s minds, look at their memories from the inside without being hindered by the breach of privacy – you’ve stepped into an era where AI is a double-edged sword. This is exactly what Playmestudio’s indie title, The Signifier, is set around. But is it able to execute the concept well? Let’s take a look.
Your mind is the scene of the crime
Think of The Signifier as Minority Report meets Inception – both involve accessing the recesses of our brain to look for clues pertaining to a crime in the physical world. You play as Frederick Russell, an AI and neuro-psychology expert who’s developed a deep brain scanner called The Dreamwalker. And the machine does exactly what it states – lets you carry out the controversial ‘walk’ inside the person’s mind whose ‘braindisk’ is used as the input. In this near-future where AI usage is heavily regulated by government agencies like the TSB (Technology Safeguard Bureau), Russell gets involved in solving the mystery of the death of Johanna Kast, the vice-president of Go-AT (Go Advanced Technologies). Eager to dig dirt on Go-AT, who strive for changing people’s lives with AI tech, Russell is approached by the TSB with Johanna’s braindisk and is requested to find leads on her alleged suicide. The only way to obtain clues is via accessing her past memories, those of which had the most influence on her recent memories and recurring dreams. And thus begins your journey into the surreal and distorted world of Johanna’s mind where real-world physics becomes a downward spiral.
Although based on a similar concept to Bloober Team’s The Observer, The Signifier portrays a world that might actually be feasible a few years from now. The devs have done a great job at world-building via the various newspapers, pamphlets, books, and even podcasts that allow you to immerse yourself in the future where buildings are 3D printed from the ground up by AI. It’s not up to you to take sides – whether you support free AI development or tight societal control to prevent its abuse – as you yourself use such technologies in the pursuit of the truth. The socio-political context portrayed by the various in-game medias is crude, yet even those who are not familiar with today’s technological and psychoanalytical debate can understand it easily if they have the patience to sit through it all.
The world inside the mind
The Signifier is a first-person tech-noir, mystery-adventure that blends investigation with experimental parapsychology. What starts as a typical examination of the crime scene – searching the victim’s apartment for clues – takes a surreal turn when Russell uses the Dreamwalker to witness Johanna’s memories in both her Objective and Subjective states. And this is where you’ll realize what a chaotic mess our minds are. The Objective state is presented as per how the individual’s senses perceived an event, so they are a little more based in reality. The real kick comes in the Subjective state which is influenced by the individual’s feelings while experiencing the same event. This stems from our subconscious and therefore all things metaphorical like a solar system in the living room, human-sized spoons watching TV, and big hands and eyes blocking doors exist here.
All the mental defense mechanisms are present in the Subjective state which Russell needs to crack to progress further. For example, translucent masks born out of self-shame might block his passage in the Subjective state, which he can bypass by switching to the Objective state. Likewise, Russell needs to switch back and forth between memories as well as traverse the physical world as and when needed. Raw data acquired in the virtual world are like missing pieces of a puzzle that impede his progress and need to be further manipulated so that their meaning can be derived. Russell can use the slider to adjust the speed of the raw data distortion to make out its meaning and can also take Evee’s (the AI in charge of the Dreamwalker) help on where to use it. When placed at the right spot, these raw data form a complete picture like a scene, or grant access to new information and blocked memories.
With such an advanced machine like the Dreamwalker, not only memories but even dreams can be reconstructed for Russell to explore. This is where perspective puzzles and timelines come into play, where Russell has to adjust the dream progression timeline from a certain perspective to form pathways, like say, a ladder that gets distorted over time and has to be seen from a certain angle at a certain point in time. Puzzles like this were present in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, (a game which dealt with psychosis), so gamers won’t have that hard a time solving them. In essence, The Signifier is a walking sim where you have to use logical deduction and a little backtracking to solve puzzles because you have to look for clues not only in the virtual world but in the physical world as well.
However, the pacing is mundanely slow. The lethargic character movement and the claustrophobic level design can lead to frustrating moments when you can’t find a solution to a puzzle. The same dissonant sounds and visuals that make up the virtual world can become nauseating when you hear and see the same things over and over in a loop. Because even though The Signifier hardly takes more than 4-5 hours to beat, some of the puzzles might make you run in circles because of their sheer abstract quality. Even with Evee providing hints, you’ll find yourself needlessly jumping across memory states only to accidentally stumble upon the solution. But that’s not all. Just as you might feel the narrative slowly coming to a close, the game ends abruptly, leaving so many questions unanswered. Despite having multiple endings based on your dialogue choices and how you interact with NPCs, they all play out nearly identically. All in all, The Signifier lacks the replayability factor and the frustratingly slow pacing prevents the player from pursuing an alternate ending.
Surrealism meets Futurism
The aesthetic department is where The Signifier shines the most. The virtual worlds are like paintings in motion; depending on the subject’s emotional experience (or trauma/nightmares), the environment can change from warm and fuzzy impressionism to stark and vivid expressionism. The way the memories are reconstructed and rendered feel as if Evee took a 2D photo, stretched and distorted it into 3D, eerily similar to how Google Maps appear when you zoom into the street level. Some memories become an abstract mishmash of objects, like a car’s warped interior appearing in the twisted corridor outside Johanna’s suite, that further leads to a street where it rains in slow motion. Even though the human models in the physical world come off as bland, in the mental world the same lack of details makes it so surreal – voxelated, pixelated, and blurry. Even in dreams, the character models are reconstructed wobbly and grey-scaled as if the world is made of ink. All these coupled with off-key and broodingly soothing ambient tracks may make you feel as though you’re playing a horror game.
Although, the same can’t be said for the emotionless voice acting which makes the game feel more like a documentary (with Russell and Evee explaining every single thing) than a mystery, thanks (sadly) to its slow pacing.
Real Talk
The concept that The Signifier treads upon is well-executed, but it’s not without its flaws. We’re talking about impressive world-building and bizarre, dreamlike visuals versus monotonous pacing and claustrophobic level design. Puzzles in both the virtual and physical worlds require some deep understanding that many may find tough to commit to. However, those who can withstand it will be awarded a narrative as to how daunting unchecked technology can be when it comes to personal data and the human consciousness.
