And realized this might be the first "proper" survival horror game I've played?
All my experiences with horror games have been through stuff like Paratopic, Iron Lung, and the works of Kitty Horrorshow (play Anatomy if you haven't) -- the sort that forgo any of the "survival" aspects in favor of pure vibes. Makes engaging with the specific mode of play survival horror deals in very... different.
I'm finding the tension coming mainly from play so far. The spaces and the mystery surrounding them and the general vibes are good and unnerving (the area I just got to is deeply unsettling), but it's mostly been trying to navigate rooms without drawing the attention of monsters (wasn't expecting to play this like a stealth game), how much of any one thing I should be carrying in the six inventory slots I have, or constantly worrying about making every item I use and every shot I fire count that's making me anxious. Been trying to avoid fighting as much as possible because I don't know when I'm really gonna need that ammo, but it gets hard to proceed sometimes by just quietly side-stepping all the enemies everywhere.
I figured the kind of friction inherent to these games was going to be effective, but I'm kinda surprised by just how much it's been the driving force, let alone that it would be so effective. Was prepared to be annoyed by it all given how much it seemed very much not my thing based on what I've heard about these sorts of games (particularly the potential to effectively softlock yourself deep into a playthrough). I understood the appeal, but actually playing it myself is making clear precisely why it works and can be good. Probably not going to start playing a bunch of more horror games of this type (that I've been sticking with Signalis at all is more than I expected), but it is nice to have a better understanding of the genre now.
