By Emma Nichols and Hannah Peterson
Warning: This article contains massive spoilers for SIGNALIS.
What memories come to mind when you think of a loved one? In your memory of them, are they laughing at something you said? Perhaps they’re teaching you how to dance—after all, they always made a effort to share their favorite things with you, even when that meant having a dance partner with two left feet. Truly savor the moment, what they were wearing, the scent of their hair, the warmth of their smile—now wake up.
None of those memories belong to you.
For the protagonist of SIGNALIS, this nightmare is a reality. Inundated with memories from a past Replika1 model, LSTR-512 (Elster) is unable—or unwilling—to find a reason to live beyond the one assigned to her. The person in Elster’s memories, Ariane, longs to be freed from eternal pain, a fate she was promised but later denied. Both of these characters struggle to obtain that which has been stolen from them; for Elster it is love, for Ariane it is death. Love and death are two of the most sought-after things in SIGNALIS, because without either of them, life becomes devoid of meaning and purpose.
The Hopeless World of SIGNALIS
SIGNALIS is a single-player horror game set in a dystopian universe ravaged by war. Players accompany Elster as she embarks on a mission to locate the unidentified woman in a photograph by exploring a seemingly abandoned government facility. Throughout the game, players can learn more about this Cold War inspired world by interacting with NPCs in addition to reading journal entries, propaganda posters, emails, and more. In addition to analyzing confusing memories that do not belong to Elster, unraveling mysteries in SIGNALIS requires players to find and piece together clues from the environment. It is through these scattered diary entries and medical files that the horrifying secrets of S-23 Sierpinski2 unfold.
Welcome to Eusan Nation!
Ariane and the original Elster met and fell in love after being assigned to the same Penrose-512 ship, with Ariane functioning as the pilot and Elster as the technical officer. Established by the Eusan Nation, the Penrose Program was developed to find more planets to colonize. Unfortunately, for Gestalts3 and Replikas that do not succeed in this mission, there is no return trip home. Instead, they must live in the middle of space until inevitably dying from dwindling resources or radiation poisoning.
Though players only get to see a sliver of Eusan Nation, the memories collected throughout the game make abundantly clear how little this government cares for its people. Additionally, as Elster uncovers more details about Eusan Nation’s National Ministry for Work and Education (AEON), the abusive treatment Replikas and Gestalts experience at the hands of their nation becomes too difficult to ignore. Interrogation reports from the office on level B2 of S-23 reveal the severity of punishments distributed to workers for crimes such as trespassing or radio usage (see Images 1, 2, and 3). Information like this suggests that even if Elster were able to bring Ariane back from the brink of death, there would be nowhere for them to build a happy life together.
In SIGNALIS, death is portrayed as the only escape from a disintegrating and violent world. Stuck in a Lovecraftian dream loop, Elster cannot rest until her promise to euthanize Ariane is fulfilled. When she gets killed, another Elster model takes her place. Similarly, the corrupted Replikas encountered throughout the game do not remain dead unless burnt with a flare. Like most “enemies” in survival horror games, these infected Replikas serve to scare and inconvenience players as they run through narrow hallways with limited ammo. However, like Ariane and Elster, they too are victims of the time loop. Both Replikas and Gestalts are tethered to a life that, even in its prime, was only designed to be exploited and controlled by a totalitarian regime.
Visual Representations of Dying in SIGNALIS
Throughout the game, players encounter two puzzles that incorporate the painting featured below (see Image 4). This painting, titled “Isle of the Dead,” was commissioned by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin’s patron, Marie Berna, after her husband’s death in the late 19th century (Zaczek). Though he refused to share his personal interpretation of the piece, he did mention that it was “a dream picture.” He created six versions of the painting, many of which are featured in SIGNALIS. The one featured in the game’s keyhole puzzle is his third rendition of the piece (see Image 5). Besides the obvious allusion to River of Styx, “Isle of the Dead” encapsulates the calm, peaceful darkness that eludes characters in SIGNALIS. For Ariane in particular, the road to the afterlife is anything but serene.
Ariane’s letters and diary entries depict a horrifying sight: a body suffering indefinitely from radioactive poisoning, kept alive only to live in constant agony. Despite her godlike Bioresonant4 abilities, the one thing she is unable to do is die. The story depicted in this painting represents her countless failed attempts to cross the precipice of death, and Elster’s failed promise to take her there. A note left by Ariane that describes in horrific detail her physical deterioration aboard the Penrose-512 (see Image 6).
Unlike Ariane, the original Elster is unwilling to accept that it is time for Ariane to die. It is clear from player-controlled Elster’s actions that she is willing to die over and over to be by Ariane’s side, but whether she is brave enough to let her die is dependent on the ending players receive. Only in the “Memory” ending does Elster complete the mission Ariane set her up to do from the start. In the other three, she either dies outside the ship, dies next to Ariane, or joins Ariane in an endless dream.
SIGNALIS: Not a Love Story
Amongst the SIGNALIS community, love is agreed to be one of the driving forces behind Elster’s search for Ariane. However, the nature of the relationship between Ariane and the LSTR models is arguably not born out of love, but rather limerence; an infatuation so intense that it causes obsession with another person, who is also known as the limerent object (Tennev, 23). Though limerence is not always a negative expression of affection, in the context of Ariane and the player-controlled Elster’s relationship, it definitely is. Ariane deliberately manipulates Elster’s memories and turns herself into the limerent object, driving Elster as well as the world around them deeper into insanity.
Echoes of the Past
It is no secret that the Elster controlled by players is not the original, Gestalt Elster, but rather a random Replika chosen to carry out Ariane’s euthanasia. Throughout the game, players encounters other deactivated LSTR models, alluding to the fact that the player Elster is certainly not the first and likely not the last in the search for Ariane (see Image 7). This discovery makes Elster feel like a disposable tool, a means to an end, instead of someone with significance in Ariane’s life.
While the current relationship between Ariane and the player-controlled Elster is founded on limerence, the relationship between Ariane and the original Elster was definitely love. Players see flashbacks of them slowly dancing together before sharing a romantic kiss, referencing how they used to be before Ariane’s condition started to decline (see Image 8). However, the details of Ariane and Elster’s relationship aren’t revealed to the player until very late into the game; before this point, players don’t know who Ariane is. Furthermore, the flashbacks are of the original Elster, not the one controlled by players. All of the other LSTRs that have come after have no real connection to Ariane besides the memories implanted in their heads and the promise they need to fulfill.
This baseless obsession that develops in the LSTR models coincides with definitions of limerence: “It is an interpretation of events, rather than the events themselves” (Tennov, 25). Players are fed crumbs of the relationship between Ariane and the original Elster, and through their own interpretation, come to the understanding that their romantic relationship is what empowers Elster to keep going. The echo of a relationship that they see becomes the motivational spark to find Ariane, prolonging the cycle of suffering.
Tunnel Vision
Even when met with resistance, Elster never wavers from her limerent obsession with Ariane. Other Replikas who are aware of the endless loop they are trapped in, such as Adler and Falke, take measures to intervene in Elster’s path. Before fighting, Falke says to Elster:
“She’ll never dance with us again, no matter what we do. She doesn’t even want us anymore.”
Despite constantly being reminded that the Elster controlled by players is not the original Elster that Ariane wants, she doesn’t care. Instead, she tramples over every obstacle, overlooking the truth to feed her personal delusions. Ariane may not want Elster anymore, but she still needs Elster in order to carry out their promise. In this case, Elster is so focused on the promise that connects her to Ariane that she imagines her importance to be greater in Ariane’s life. Oftentimes, limerence causes delusional behaviors such as this—the limerent individual will create situations that connect themselves to the object of their infatuation, making themselves more important to their limerent object (Tannev, 63).
Remember the Promise
After Elster’s short reunion with Ariane at the end of the game, the story splits into multiple endings—most notably, the Memory and Promise endings. In the former, Elster reaches Ariane to carry out their promise, yet Ariane does not remember her and Elster dies underwhelmingly next to the cryostasis pod (see Video 1). This in itself shows how insignificant Elster is in Ariane’s life; the model controlled by the player is so unrecognizable that Ariane is incapable of feeling love for her.
Even though Elster was rejected by Ariane in the end, she is still desperately trying to hold on to the remnants of their relationship. Once again, Elster is lost in her delusions, believing herself to be important because of the memories implanted by Ariane, and unwilling to accept the truth that she is just another meaningless LSTR model.
The Promise ending does no better at portraying a healthy relationship between Elster and Ariane (see Video 2). Though the player-controlled Elster finally carries out her promise to Ariane, it is still a duty that was forced upon her. Since Elster’s entire existence revolves around Ariane, it is impossible for her to accept a future without her. She feels lost, vehemently rejecting the responsibility of ending Ariane’s life. Ariane, however, coerces her into fulfilling her promise anyway; and with her death, Elster’s role in her life is complete.
When a limerent person’s feelings are not reciprocated by their limerent object, their feelings face starvation that leads to eventual death of their obsession (Tennov, 167). For Elster, starvation of her limerence leads to her actual death. Her memories are manipulated by her limerent object and become the motivation driving her entire existence. Thus, when the promise is fulfilled and her will to live is killed by her own hands, Elster has no reason to keep going, and she dies passively next to Ariane’s still body.
AEON-ian Repose
In SIGNALIS, death and love are deeply and inexplicably intertwined. The original, Gestalt Elster’s grief in euthanizing her lover Ariane was too great, and she couldn’t let go of her feelings, instead opting to keep Ariane in cryostasis so that she would live. This event is catalyst that leads to the cycle within the game—Ariane’s constant pain made her long for death and call all of the LSTR models to her. On the contrary, Ariane’s manipulation of the LSTRs, despite their insignificance in her life, extends the cycle. She makes herself the object of their obsession, gives them artificial memories of a previous relationship, and instills in them the need to carry out the original promise. In a purposeless world slowly succumbing to madness with every loop, the inevitability of death and the illusion of a love past gives meaning into Ariane and Elster’s lives.
Glossary
- Replika: “Biomechanical person. Synthetic reproduction of a Gestalt. Biological culture grafted onto an artificial endoskeleton an enclosed in a protective exoskeleton.” (SIGNALIS) ↩︎
- S-23 Sierpinski: An AEON facility inhabited by civilians of Eusan Nation. ↩︎
- Gestalt: “A person that is not a Replika.” (SIGNALIS) ↩︎
- Bioresonance: An unexplainable phenomenon that allows Replikas and Gestalts alike to distort reality and manipulate space around them. ↩︎
