Game demakes could well be some of the most exciting content on the internet – the idea of taking our favourite games and simplifying them down to handhelds they should never have been able to run on just makes me feel like a kid dropped in a retro game store with a credit card and no supervision. I remember when Halo: Combat Devolved arrived; my day was pretty much written off after that, and even though there were only two levels to play I went back for more again and again, soaking up every part of the Master Chief Game Boy Color experience. The same can be said for the Fable demake I covered recently too; it takes a lot of patience and imagination to bring these creations to life, and they champion a simpler time in the process.
Signalis: Shortwave Transmission is a reinterpretation of the award-winning Survival Horror game Signalis from 2022. The actual game originally dropped onto the Switch, PS4, Windows, and Xbox One winning multiple awards over the next couple of years from Best Debut Game to Best Indie Horror. This demake aims to translate the general experience we first soaked up while watching the original demo, focusing on a vertical segment of the game that was showcased in the video.
The demake comes from JayJay-1992 and can be run straight from the projects itch.io page or downloaded to play on emulators like Delta or original Game Boy hardware via a flashcard. Now you can enter a dystopian world and escape from terrifying creatures that make the weird tiger thing from Another World seem like a housecat no matter where you are, all in classic 8-Bit monochrome gameplay that you used to enjoy back on the Game Boy Pocket. The sound effects are so distorted just like the games of the 90s – it takes me back to playing Navy Seals on my DMG while on holiday with my parents!
This Signalis demake is currently in development, but you can get a feel of what the finished project will be like by downloading a playable demo now. Head to JayJay-1992’s itch.io page for more details!
