References to other media

Videogames[edit]

Silent Hill (especially the second one) can be recognised inside many points of the game:
- The red screen save system
- How the game evaluates which ending you get based on how you play
- The Leave ending is present in both games
- The story is highly influenced by SH2 and the nature of the "promise" parallels James' arc in the game
- "Jump down the hole? YES/NO"
- Similar enemy designs (enemies under the floor and the Kolibris)
- "Nowhere" is a very clear reference to the Otherworld from SH series
- "Parts of this game may be considered violent or cruel"
- In both Signalis and Silent Hill 2 you're looking at yourself in a bathroom mirror at the beginning of the game.
- The pattern formed on the floor when the Mynah "throws up" is very similar to a SH3's scene
- Isa's story is similar to that of another NPC in SH2, Angela Orosco.

Resident Evil is another obvious reference. Similarities can be seen in the technical parts of the gameplay and in some puzzles. Included:
- Eyeball menu screen (RE1, RE1R, RE2, CV, Outbreak)
- Item boxes (All Classic RE+7/8)
- 6 item slots (RE1, RE1R)
- Stun gun single-use defence weapon (RE1 Remake)
- Moonlight Sonata plays in the piano room (RE1, RE1R, ORC, RE5)
- Burning corpses so they can’t reanimate (RE1R)
- The water equalization puzzle (RE2R, CV)
- The Fuse puzzle (RE0)
- Inventory key item combining
- The STAR(s) are an elite special force in the game.
- The mining elevator (RE2, RE2R, ORC, Outbreak)
- Fine/Caution/Danger status (but not their colours)

Dead Space has slight similarities to the game, such as:
- Mining colony comes across an all-consuming hivemind that mutates, weaponizes and ultimately absorbs humans into a collective entity
- Stomping mechanic (to finish off enemies)
- Industrial design of some segments, especially in the early game.

System Shock has a single funny reference. The code of the very first safe in every system shock game is always "0451" and this sequence is also contained in the code of the first safe in Signalis, being "2 0451 2".

Paintings[edit]

The beach memory sequence references the painting Shore of Oblivion ("Gestade der Vergessenheit") by Eugen Bracht.
The Isle of the Dead ("Die Toteninsel") by Arnold Böcklin is the island painting appearing multiple times across the game.
Both of these paintings can be seen before Falke's boss fight hung next to each other in the same manner as Emperor Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, displayed them. The artists of both paintings created multiple versions of each, with "Shore of Oblivion" having 8 versions and Isle of the Dead having 6.

Isle of the Living painted by the same artist as Isle of the Dead can be seen for brief seconds during cutscenes.

Saturn Devouring his Son by Francisco Goya is the painting next to which the Key of Eternity can be found.

Total Eclipse of the Sun by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot appears for a split second in the cutscene where Elster regains her Gestalt memories.

An extremely zoomed-in image of the Wanderer above the Sea of Fog appears during the same cutscene.

Florizel and Perdita

Passing Song

Books[edit]

The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers is quoted and referenced multiple times throughout the game.

The "great holes secretly are digged" quote in the intro cutscene is a direct reference to H.P. Lovecraft's short story The Festival.

The planet Leng is a reference to the Lovecraftian Leng Plateau, a place where different realities converge; described as a cold, arid plateau whose location seems to vary according to different accounts.

An Inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce is referenced in the notes found on the Shore of Oblivion and in Nowhere.

Films and Animations[edit]

Neon Genesis Evangelion and in particular The End Of Evangelion. The red landscape with tilted black pillars, the death of Falke (Unit-02 getting impaled), the way Isa "liquefies", and the editing of some cinematics (images flashing over a character's silhouette) are reminiscent of the film.

This scene in particular from Ghost in the Shell (1995) is replicated almost identically.

In some of the save rooms, the carpet is identical to the carpet from the Shining.

The "warning" symbol found on mechanical doors is a reference to the semiotic standard from Alien.

Misc[edit]

Sierpiński triangle
Penrose triangle
Mandelbrot set
Conformal cyclic cosmology by Roger Penrose
Communist propaganda from the 70s & 80s

Sources[edit]

Much of the content in this page derives from this reddit post (for most references) and this other reddit post (for the paintings) from the Signalis subreddit. A big thank you to the community.