>>64600229Signalis is happening in our solar system but in alternative universe. Time is ~2150s. Some individuals posess powerful psychic power, dubbed Bioresonance. Whatever the individual can think of - phisically manifests in reality. This is how Empire was created, this is how replicas are made, this is even how ships are traveling through space - by bending it.
Then there's this loner bullied girl, living on Europa, she's sick of everything around her and wants to escape, what awaits her in her future is more misery and work in the mines of Pluto. Until one day she sees the poster for "penrose deep space exploration program". That's the escape - she enlists and escapes her miserable life. There's only her, books, painting and solitude, the robot companion is equally introverted and doesn't want to be bothered either. But after years and years(cycle is a day, so 1500 cycles is like 4 years) they grow attached to each other. Everything is great until the transmission(Signal) of 3000th cycle is decoded - it's a one-way trip, the ship is not made to travel indefinitely, rations will run out, reactor will start leaking. Living human on board has 3 choices - try to prolong her suffering, pointlessly, ask her replica to kill her, or freeze herself in the cryochamber(used in case of medical emergency). Ariane doesn't give up, and she manages to keep herself alive for fucking 5400+ cycles, but in the end, radiation still almost kills her, slowly but surely. When she's in the cryochamber, frozen, asleep, dreaming, Elster ceases to function. So, now she's just there, half-dead, half-alive, in her coffin, powerless to do anything.
Thing is, Ariane was bioresonant, and it seems like she was pretty powerful too. From this dream state she conjures up a new reality - ship crashed on some unknown planet, the blizzard, the hole in the ground, the gate. And that gate is connected to some space beyond out understanding, to some lovecraftian shit.
Now, back in solar system, in the mines of Pluto(Leng), Serpinski complex, they dug up something down there that is ALSO connected to that space beyond space. They found the gate. And Falke went there, and didn't come back the same. Because she connected to that space where the crashed ship was, memories of Elster, Ariane and Falke all tangled up and merged. Falke is a powerful bioresonant individual too, so tuned out in her quarters and unconsciously amplified this signal or fucked up dream to the rest of the complex.
That's the loop. How much of it is real, how much of it is made out of nothingness is up for debate. But if we take this bioresonance magic as fundamental part of this setting, then dreams are real. Whatever those dreamers(Ariane and Falke) think of, becomes real. Like Isa, who's been dead for years. But in the game she's a supporting character, actively participating in the loop, guiding the hero towards her goal.
And the more loop repeats, the more things change and twist, degrade, become senseless noise. More radiation leaks, the more or Ariane's body dies and psyche becomes more unstable.
So, first time we see Elster, when she's putting on a suit and goes out in the snow, that's the start, but the Elster we see staring at the mirror is countless loops later, the elevator shaft was filled with previous attempts, and Elster that has the white armor is after countless more loops, up until the final one, where the decision is made. Because "This world can't take much more". Or something.
This is just bare bones, I'm omitting a LOT of other stuff.
>>64600752The secret one, I guess? Elster overwrites reality that Ariane created. She just dances with her in the ruins of the ship, forever. It's a very selfish ending.
