The Signal State
- September 23, 2021
- Reckoner Industries
- 8h median play time
Get on Steam"The Signal State" is a narrative-driven cyberpunk thriller game. As a hacker, uncover a global conspiracy by manipulating data and infiltrating systems. With multiple endings, your choices and hacking skills will determine the outcome in this immersive, atmospheric adventure.
Reviews
- The game offers a unique and engaging approach to logic puzzles, utilizing a modular synthesis theme that is both fun and educational.
- Puzzles are well-designed with a good difficulty curve, providing a satisfying challenge that encourages creative problem-solving.
- The visuals and UI are polished, creating an enjoyable atmosphere that enhances the overall gaming experience.
- The game is relatively short, with many players completing the main campaign in just a few hours, leaving them wanting more content.
- Instructions and objectives can be unclear at times, leading to frustration and confusion during gameplay.
- The scoring system is criticized for being overly simplistic, as it combines multiple metrics into a single score, making optimization less interesting.
- story70 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story in the game is generally viewed as underwhelming and disconnected from the gameplay, with many reviewers noting its lack of depth and engaging characters. While some appreciate the narrative as a backdrop to the puzzles, others find it convoluted and poorly integrated, leading to a sense of dissatisfaction. Overall, the story serves more as a minimal context for the puzzle mechanics rather than a compelling element of the experience.
“The story is a nice backdrop to the puzzles.”
“I had a great time working through challenging puzzles, and the story was decently engaging.”
“The story is interesting dressing to the puzzles, and the puzzle progression has been absolutely perfect.”
“The story itself and dialogue didn't work for me unfortunately, with characters having little to no flavor and the scenario felt overly contrived.”
“The story is kind of a mess; it's got heart but it feels very disconnected and distant from the gameplay.”
“I found the story rather annoying and completely unrelated to the puzzles, or logic basics, or synth basics, so it just seemed like a random aesthetic that was forced into a puzzle game with no creative effort on integration.”
- music48 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its relaxing and chill qualities, while others find it repetitive and distracting during gameplay. Although the soundtrack is described as serviceable and fitting for background ambiance, many users express disappointment that the game does not fully embrace its musical theme, focusing more on mathematical puzzles than music creation. Overall, while the music is generally well-received, it lacks depth and variety, leading to a desire for more engaging musical elements.
“As a huge Zachtronics fan, and someone who wants to learn more about music synthesis, this game has a lot of appeal.”
“It's bright, colorful, and vibrant with nicely drawn portraits for all characters and a fantastic soundtrack that's relaxing and never gets tiresome.”
“A wonderful mix of logic puzzles, electronic music concepts, and solar punk aesthetics.”
“Furthermore, the music in the game is uninspired and quickly becomes repetitive.”
“The game's poor controls, uninspired music, and repetitive gameplay make it a title that I cannot recommend.”
“You cannot create any kind of sounds or music in this game; the modules are just a skin for blocks of code that you use to change values around.”
- gameplay27 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay is a mixed bag, featuring solid mechanics and enjoyable puzzles reminiscent of Zachtronics titles, but it suffers from a lack of polish, poor controls, and repetitive elements that lead to a monotonous experience. While the game introduces interesting concepts and builds on them effectively, many players find the execution lacking, with unclear mechanics and unnecessary dialogue detracting from the overall enjoyment. Despite its shortcomings, the game may appeal to fans of the genre, particularly those who appreciate modular synths, though it may not provide extensive replay value.
“It introduces the core concepts in simple scenarios so you can understand the mechanics of the environment, then builds from those into more sophisticated exercises in applied thinking.”
“Good zach-like with gameplay based on modular synths.”
“But the puzzle mechanics are 10/10 great!”
“As for the gameplay, it's a strong effort and I can see how people enjoy it, but I feel it suffers from a lot of fundamental game design missteps.”
“This lack of variety only further adds to the feeling of monotony that plagues the gameplay experience.”
“The game's poor controls, uninspired music, and repetitive gameplay make it a title that I cannot recommend.”
- graphics19 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 37 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their aesthetic appeal, with many users highlighting the charming analog style and calming visuals that complement the gameplay. However, some players noted instances of graphical glitches and a disconnect between the visuals and the game's narrative. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the game's atmosphere, enhancing the experience despite some minor issues.
“Good graphics, nice music, very calm approach.”
“The music and graphics are outstanding.”
“I love the art style and variety in each component, as well as a plausible backstory to even why you're doing all this work in the first place.”
“There's also a certain amount of graphical jank: the cable plugs sometimes render above other cables, and screen transitions to the puzzle selection screen flicker for some reason.”
“This is literally just a game-ified version of VCV Rack; even the visuals are pretty much the same.”
“I found the story rather annoying and completely unrelated to the puzzles, or logic basics, or synth basics, so it just seemed like a random aesthetic that was forced into a puzzle game with no creative effort on integration.”
- optimization14 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization features are a mixed bag; while some users appreciate the depth and challenge of optimizing solutions, others criticize the loading performance and reliance on a single CPU core, leading to unresponsiveness. Recent updates have improved leaderboard management and made optimization easier, but players still feel there is room for further enhancements and more comprehensive tools. The ability to revisit puzzles with new modules adds replayability and encourages deeper optimization strategies.
“It's not the most difficult game of its type, but it can have you chasing minimum area and wire length optimizations.”
“The span of available modules increases throughout the campaign, and after hitting the end you're able to revisit old puzzles with newer modules that weren't available the first time through, allowing even better optimization.”
“Loading performance seems to be significantly lacking by utilizing only a single CPU core.”
“Your set of tools is never quite as complete as you'd like, so you're always digging deep to find a clever optimization or workaround.”
“Visual representation is an important aid to design, and also a fun way to stylize one's solution, but wire optimization encourages jam packing everything into one corner of the entire rack, wires taut, no spaces.”
- emotional5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that while the game's cutscenes lack emotional depth, the unique "wholesome apocalypse" setting evokes a mix of feelings, from frustration at personal performance to moments of unexpected genius. Players experience a rollercoaster of emotions, often feeling both accomplished and confused by their own creations.
“I rather liked the 'wholesome apocalypse' setting.”
“At times it made me feel like a genius when I know full well I'm not.”
“I build these complex logic devices then I forget what I made does and have to rebuild. 10/10 would cry again.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to the leaderboard system that requires optimizing "wire length," which detracts from the overall enjoyment. The core puzzle mechanics fail to provide genuinely challenging experiences, leading to levels that feel either trivial or overly repetitive.
“The leaderboard system is based on a single score that includes a factor for 'wire length', which is extremely tedious to optimize.”
“Trying to optimize for space or shift modules to make space is very tedious for these reasons.”
“It's a Zachtronics-style game with all the trappings, except that the core puzzle mechanic isn't able to support anything that's genuinely difficult for an engineer like me, so all of the levels wind up either trivial or tedious.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from low replayability due to its reliance on a limited set of premade modules, which restricts player interactions and flexibility. Reviewers express significant disappointment, rating it poorly in this aspect.
“Loses some flexibility and replayability by committing to a small number of premade modules with limited interactions.”
“That's a 0/10 for me on replayability.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is characterized by a chill vibe complemented by appealing graphics and storytelling, reminiscent of Zachtronics games while offering a unique twist in its puzzle design. Players appreciate the immersive environment that enhances the overall experience, making the challenging puzzles even more rewarding.
“Chill atmosphere and nice graphics/story, but the puzzles are top-notch and well worth your time playing!”
“It has the same atmosphere and feel as Zachtronics games, yet it gives its own unique twist in the puzzle premise.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users appreciate the direct control over speed, which enhances troubleshooting by providing clear visibility of the values as they progress through the system. This feature contributes positively to the overall stability of the experience.
