While riding in a car with a close friend, he said to me, "to love something is to let it hurt you."

This is, I think, the final genius of Signalis, because it is a core theme in the story, played out through its characters, made real. In loving it I allow it to hurt me. I can no longer so much as hear the first chord of 1000 Eyes' "Train Ride" or see art of Ariane without feeling a distant heartache.

I'm unsure of how to even coherently order my thoughts about the game. It took me two months after getting the "Promise" ending for the first time for it to stop pervading my consciousness. It is the first game with a universe so compelling that it made me want to write fan-fiction, and the only other piece of fiction that made me want to even read fan-fiction was Mass Effect 2. Even before the first boss I recall waking up from a dream I don't remember, with "Causal Loop" playing in my head and a looming sense of dread that took a half hour to leave me, because the atmosphere of the opening minutes of the game were that strong.

I badly hope that more media comes out in the solar system as Signalis portrays. I also hope a sequel never gets made. It still bewilders me that something like this game can even exist.