Dead Signal
- October 20, 2023
- Reflect Studios
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam"Dead Signal" is a first-person shooter horror game where players must navigate through a mysterious research facility filled with deadly creatures. Using various weapons and stealth, players must solve puzzles and uncover the facility's dark secrets while avoiding being detected. The game features a "reflect" mechanic, allowing players to record their actions and replay them to manipulate the environment and outsmart enemies.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Incredible atmosphere and engaging gameplay that combines elements from 'Welcome to the Game' and 'I'm On Observation Duty'.
- Great replayability with a fun challenge, especially with the new Noir mechanics and the adrenaline rush during gameplay.
- Accessible for newcomers while still providing a rewarding experience for veterans, making it enjoyable for a wide range of players.
- The game suffers from performance issues and bugs, making it frustrating at times, especially with random deaths and slow elevator mechanics.
- Some players find the gameplay repetitive and tedious, with a lack of variety in events and mechanics leading to boredom after a few playthroughs.
- The RNG elements can lead to unfair deaths, making it feel more luck-based than skill-based, which can detract from the overall experience.
- gameplay101 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this title is praised for its accessibility and fun mechanics, offering a blend of horror elements and noir mechanics that enhance the experience. Players appreciate the simplified gameplay loop, which reduces complexity compared to previous entries in the series, making it more approachable for newcomers while still providing a challenging atmosphere. However, some critiques mention an over-saturation of enemies and repetitive tasks, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
“Great replayability, fun gameplay with the reports, great horror aspects, the new noir mechanics are a massive upgrade, and it's challenging.”
“Incredible atmosphere, fairly easy to understand mechanics (with some trial and error), awesome visuals, nice variety of gameplay, and it runs at 4k/60 max settings on a 4070s.”
“The gameplay loop is extremely enjoyable, and the game feels pretty polished.”
“The game is a little too dry, with the only mechanic being repetitive watching of cameras and delivering packages, while there are enemies randomly spawning.”
“Despite being set in the same universe as Welcome to the Game, core gameplay elements from the previous entries are completely absent.”
“The skill ceiling is also way lower than Welcome to the Game II; in fact, it's probably the easiest game Adam has made so far, so it's pretty accessible for those who don't want to have to learn a bunch of mechanics or get overwhelmed from the sheer amount of things to do.”
- graphics34 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning visuals and atmospheric design, particularly when played on high settings, with some players achieving impressive frame rates. However, there are significant concerns regarding optimization, as many users report performance issues even on lower settings, leading to unplayable experiences. Overall, while the game showcases beautiful graphics, it suffers from technical shortcomings that detract from the experience.
“Incredible atmosphere, fairly easy to understand mechanics (with some trial and error), awesome visuals, nice variety of gameplay, runs at 4k/60 max settings (DLSS balanced) on a 4070s.”
“Don't get me wrong, Dead Signal is like playing a top thriller or horror movie with its outstanding visuals and graphics.”
“This game was clearly made in Unreal Engine 5 and is beautiful; the graphic settings scale well, though I would like to see a way to remove motion blur without needing to turn post-processing down to the lowest.”
“I would definitely recommend this game, but do be warned that you'll likely have to play it on lower graphic settings.”
“I put the graphics on the lowest setting with no shadows and no detail to the point where it looks like a GMod map and still the game only runs around 30 fps, completely unplayable.”
“Put it back in the oven until it has completely standard options like ultra-widescreen resolution support or, at the bare minimum, resolutions that make sense and fill empty space with black bars to preserve screen ratio instead of squishing and stretching the visuals like a PC game out of the 1990s.”
- optimization29 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 34 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many players reporting severe performance issues even on high-end hardware. While some users have experienced smooth gameplay, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, leading to problems such as low frame rates, texture issues at lower settings, and inadequate support for non-standard resolutions. Many players are calling for urgent fixes to address these optimization shortcomings.
“Some substantial performance problems, but maybe those can be worked around?”
“As a side note, this game is not particularly well optimized, and does not work well on weird screen resolutions such as my own (2560x1080).”
“To reviews about low performance, go fullscreen and cap fps at 60, vsync off.”
“It's cool and all, but I wish these developers would pull their heads out of their ass when it comes to optimization and proper fixes; they never have.”
“Horribly optimized game. I have way above the minimum required specs, got 16GB of RAM, an RTX 3060 Ti, and a Ryzen 7 CPU.”
“I don't know if this was just a case of poor optimization or somehow the game is just that demanding of specs, but it is a big issue, especially when lower settings mess with textures of things, making it sometimes really hard to tell what you're looking at.”
- atmosphere24 mentions
- 79 % positive mentions
- 8 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and eerie qualities, effectively enhancing the horror experience with creepy sound effects and visuals. Players appreciate the game's ability to maintain a consistent and memorable atmosphere, which contributes to replayability and keeps the gameplay engaging. Many recommend playing at night to fully appreciate the chilling ambiance that the game offers.
“The scares are good, and the atmosphere is incredible.”
“The atmosphere is, as usual, really immersive.”
“As always, the atmosphere will make you feel so uneasy, especially when you get lost checking the cams.”
“This game is constantly accompanied by a windy, droning eerie atmosphere sound effect that sets the tone as you're constantly looking either for small reports on your cameras or, more dangerously, for threats around you, with it only seemingly ceasing on the rooftop.”
“Very creepy atmosphere and the RNG factors always keep the inevitable replaying fresh.”
- music11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise for its impressive quality, particularly the title screen and main menu tracks, which are noted for their unexpected intensity and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere. Users appreciate the seamless playback without any freezing issues, contributing to a positive auditory experience.
“Amazing atmosphere & music!”
“It also has the best title screen music I've ever listened to!”
“Main menu music had no reason to go that hard!!!”
“I live for the safety of elevator music.”
“Music/sound.”
- story10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The game's story is engaging, featuring a dark web worker premise that ties into the broader universe of "wttg," which excites players for future developments. While the storyline and worldbuilding, including recurring antagonists, are well-received, some players find the ending lacking and desire a more conclusive resolution. Overall, the narrative effectively enhances the game's horror elements and replayability.
“I like the storyline and other elements related to the worldbuilding, like the continuity of some of the antagonists like Lucas.”
“This game also starts to tie in the world of WTTG, so I'm super excited to see where the story goes from here on out.”
“The ending is a bit meh, wish there were more to conclude the story.”
“It's fairly stressful and tense, usually delivers well on the horror factor, it's replayable, and the story works well with it and how the game tries to rationalize in-universe everything that's going on.”
- stability8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with frequent crashes and bugs that render it nearly unplayable. Players report persistent freezing and glitches, particularly with certain characters, leading to a frustrating experience that often requires playing on easier settings to manage the problems. Overall, the game's stability is a major concern, detracting from its enjoyment.
“Keep restarting my computer and uninstalled the game and it still freezes my whole screen.”
“Only issue is Delfalco is incredibly buggy and has killed me after he left the premises many times.”
“I had played this months ago, so I forget about specifics with this game, but I remember it being a buggy, unplayable, unfun, and unfair disaster that I could only bother to do it on easy mode after a few attempts of normal.”
- humor8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted as particularly amusing, especially in relation to a character known as "the elevator." However, some players express discomfort with the developer's past actions involving trolling streamers, which may overshadow the comedic elements for those concerned about privacy. Overall, while the humor is appreciated, it is met with mixed feelings due to the developer's controversial practices.
“But the elevator is so damn funny.”
“I wrote a funny review but I have to change it so that people can be enlightened.”
“Funny”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, often feeling overwhelmed by the search for events rather than engaged. This repetitiveness detracts from the overall enjoyment, making the experience feel more laborious than thrilling.
“Really wanted to like this, but it's just tedious and ridiculous.”
“It makes it tedious rather than scary.”
“I know there are more than enough events, but often it feels tedious to search for them.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game boasts excellent replayability, enhanced by engaging gameplay, effective horror elements, and improved noir mechanics. Players find it challenging yet rewarding, with a well-integrated story that encourages multiple playthroughs. Additionally, its affordability adds to its replay value, making it a worthwhile investment.
“It has great replay value and is not expensive at all, so get it while you can.”
“It's fairly stressful and tense, usually delivers well on the horror factor, it's replayable, and the story works well with it and how the game tries to rationalize in-universe everything that's going on.”
“Great replayability, fun gameplay with the reports, great horror aspects, the new noir mechanics are a massive upgrade, challenging.”
“The game lacks significant changes in subsequent playthroughs, making it feel repetitive and less engaging.”
“Once you've experienced the story, there isn't much incentive to replay, as the outcomes remain largely the same.”
“While the initial experience is thrilling, the limited variety in gameplay mechanics diminishes its replayability.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is not heavily emphasized in the reviews, with players primarily focusing on the fun gameplay experience rather than any deep emotional engagement. Some users express a reluctance to explore more challenging modes, suggesting a preference for a lighter emotional experience.
