(PAX West 2017) Signal Decay

I’m always in the mood for stealth. I’m even more excited when I can play with my friends. Enter Signal Decay. Now, from what I played, I was not able to extrapolate the story, but apparently there is some sort of mind control device that I think has taken over the world and a computer calls you into action to stop it. Why? That’s a good question! I have no idea, but I believe solving that mystery is what the game is about. So naturally you need to go around and break into places, sneak around and break things. I’m not fully sure how it all plays out, but the action itself is fairly solid.

Signal Decay is on the right track to being a very welcome addition to my library. It has some more work to be done for sure, but the core mechanics are there and fun enough. You can peek through doors before you open them. You can sneak up behind baddies and use your taser and then assassinate them or simply use a gun to finish the job. The game is all about stealth though so I felt the guns (since they had no silencers) would be counterproductive to sneaking. That’s the gripe I’ve got though. For a game about stealth, there’s only one real stealthy weapon and only one of you can take a single weapon with no duplicates. If one takes a pistol, then there are no other pistols. It’s an ok mechanic, but I think at least two melee weapons would be more fitting or maybe be able to put silencers on the guns.

As it stands, it is fun enough and I would say that it’s worth supporting. However, depending on how far the developer decides to take the multiple melee weapons approach and tweak the alarm system, I don’t think I would fully classify Signal Decay as a completely stealthy game. Alarm levels will rise (including when you open the elevator to leave every level every time) increasing the number of guards and things that are trying to stop you. With the game working as it is currently, you wouldn’t really be able to complete the game without a gun (or maybe it would be really super hard). Some of you may not mind that, but as I stated above, I think it would be more proper if you could clear out a level without raising the alarm to begin with. Currently, I don’t see a well-designed method of doing that. If that never comes or until that point in development arrives, remember to pack some firepower and hide the bodies. Nobody likes a messy work environment!

Further Reading on Signal Decay: Facebook / Official Page / Steam Greenlight / Twitter

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