Fans of classic survival horror might want to keep an eye on Signal Veil, an anime-style survival horror game that makes use of fixed camera sections and psychological terror. Developed by Chilean indie studio Time Hunters and published by Tokyo-based horror publisher Serafini Productions, the game is set to release on Windows (Steam and Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Signal Veil follows Aki Mizuno, a teenage girl whose mother mysteriously disappears. Aki’s only memento of her mother is a supernatural flip phone that vibrates and emits strange sounds whenever spiritual presences or lingering memories born of emotional trauma are nearby. As Nishikawa High School becomes overrun with these monsters, Aki will need the phone to get to the bottom of a series of mysterious disappearances and learn the truth about herself.
Aki’s flip phone has a variety of unique features. Aside from vibrating and emitting sounds whenever enemies are nearby (similar to how the radio works in classic Silent Hill games), the phone’s camera lets you swap to a first-person perspective. Once activated, you can identify hidden clues and signals that point to puzzle solutions.
Combat requires you to detect enemies before provoking them. Once they have been provoked, you must use the phone’s flash function to stun them and reveal their weak points (a feature reminiscent of the flashlight in Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake games). Only then can you damage foes and purge them permanently.
Signal Veil has you managing resources such as medicine, items, and mystical weapons to survive (given its importance, the flip phone doesn’t seem to run on a limited power supply). You must also keep an eye on Aki’s emotional state, as her encounters with enemies, corrupted locations, and traumatic events can cause her perception of reality to become distorted. Go one step too far, and the world around Aki shifts, causing enemies to become more unpredictable and her fighting style to become more desperate.
While the gameplay is inspired by classic survival horror titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, the 90s anime aesthetic takes cues from manga series such as Yukito Ayatsuji’s Another and Gege Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen.
Signal Veil is currently in development for Windows (Steam/Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
