The Signal From Tölva PC Review

A planet pans into view. An information broker announces that the signal presenting interest has been found. Moments later, you’ve hijacked one of the Surveyor drones on the ground and you’re set to discover what’s going on with The Signal From Tölva. There’s no flash, or grandiose intro sequence with booming scores when it comes to Big Robot’s latest game. The Signal From Tölva may come off as a first person shooter if you look at screenshots, however, gunfights represent just a portion of the game. A good portion of the time will be spent wandering in between locations of interest, trying to make sense of what it is that brought you there. Tölva’s atmosphere is that of an eerie, forgotten planet with an added bit of mystery. As you move from one point to the next, in what end up becoming pretty lengthy treks, you’ll see remnants of events from the past, however, expecting voices to describe exactly what happened, will yield disappointment.

The Signal From Tölva’s approach at exploration simulates being dropped into a world you don’t know much about very well. The only source of explanation comes from scanning certain objects in your environment, then reading the information when inside a bunker. When near an object, a colored bar fills up on top of a symbol in your HUD. This means that you’ll be dividing your time between going from icon to icon on the map, searching from these often hidden scannable objects and, every now and then, fighting opposing factions.

There’s no cover system in The Signal From Tölva. If you want to shelter yourself from gunfire, you have to effectively break line of sight with the enemy. This makes it so that scouting prior to battles and marking foes is instrumental to your victory, as it makes enemy movement easy to track. Even then, accuracy and managing your shield, while making sure there’s something to hide behind, make what would otherwise be rather simple combat feel very tactical. Weapons have infinite ammo, but reloading at the wrong time, can cost you a good chunk of health. You also have access to a nice variety of area of effect abilities, ranging from direct damage, to healing and making enemies run away, that change the way fights can be approached. Taking cover behind objects is needed, as it can prompt a repair sequence. This is not a game where you can take on 6 enemies while running in open fields. You have to make use of distance, to make enemies pop their shields early so by the time they close in, their shields run out. The AI acts by the same rules as you do, having an AoE attack requiring shields to recharge when depleted and will retreat when the situation demands it. That being said, on several occasions, the AI started doing all sorts of silly things, like running around in circles, or not going for cover once it was clearly close to death. Unrelated to the AI, there are also collision issues in certain areas, making the slightest bit of texture block your character.

The Signal From Tölva attempts to play out as a territory control game. On the ground, you’ll encounter two hostile factions. They roam around, protecting certain points on the map, whilst, supposedly, having their own agenda. Bunkers act as save and respawn points, while also spawning friendly drones. When death comes by, or you decide to act in a different area of the map you can quickly hijack another drone from the map screen. Apart from this, bunkers allow you to change your loadout, or read the different transmissions you can uncover while exploring, thus making sense of what’s going on. I mentioned territory control because the AI does seemingly act on its own. Fairly early on, I received a prompt that a bunker was now under a friendly faction’s control, without having even stepped near that area. This only happened once more, afterwards. At the same time, after reaching the halfway point and getting into the more difficult areas, I had to go back to re-take bunkers that were lost. Apart from this, while wandering, you can bump into skirmishes, as the hostile factions do attack each other. These situations offer interesting choices: do you wait it out and pick up stragglers? Do you intervene, adding a new dynamic to the fight? Do you simply walk around, leaving them to their business? Any of these choices can be viable, depending on how you’re prioritizing where you have to go.

For the most part, enemies tend to attack your bunkers after killing the drone you control. It’s understandable why overcoming an enemy would warrant a push, but the in-game context makes it so that, the drones shouldn’t really know that it was “you”, the player who was downed. For most of the other time, the AI tends to stick to the places you have to go through. It would have been great to see more interaction, more fights, more movement on their part. One of the greatest moments happened while attacking a checkpoint. A three Bandit patrol would have been easily dispatched as I had plenty of cover. Before I could attack, four Zealots came in, wiping them out. Upon attacking the Zealots, two more popped up, making me retreat. As I was close to dying, two stray friendlies came in to help, winning the battle. Attempting to make a “living” world where the AI does takeovers is a balance that’s not easy to strike, as it can leave the player frustrated or feeling left out. The Signal From Tölva sets out on the right path, but parks itself by the roadside a little too soon, in this respect.

When it comes to the available weaponry, there are basically four types of weapons. As you progress, more become available to buy with scrap that you collect while roaming around, or from dead enemies. The game tends to have a pretty linear upgrade system, however, when it comes to weapons, there are a couple of variations on the same theme. I fell in love with the Rail Accelerators (basically sniper rifles of sorts). Everything, from their rusted, industrial look to the sound design and the visual feedback of the laser beam connecting with the enemy made me want to use them more and more. This, naturally affected the way I approached encounters, preferring to scout ahead, mark as many targets as I could, so I could keep track of where they were, before I engaged. The assault rifles and the long range beam weapons, I left in the care of my occasional allies. The Signal From Tölva allows you to recruit up to four friendly drones and direct them around, coming in handy, when dealing with bunkers or larger packs of enemies. You do have to keep in mind that having them with you means they’re not defending friendly bunkers, as well as the fact that you’re sacrificing a weapon slot for the recruiting tool.

The AI is competent for the most part, being able to surprise, at times. Three-part skirmishes were relatively few. They were, however, the pinnacles of my experience on Tölva. When it comes to their weapons and abilities, the AI does tend to know how to handle itself. Snipers will keep distance, while drones wielding assault rifles will come in close. Enemies will attempt to flush you out of cover when in higher numbers. When damaged, they retreat in order to allow their shields to reload, however, they might not stick close to their peers. In moments, like those, you’re met with a choice: do you push forward, or do you wait it out, relying on your accuracy for when they come back around? As I mentioned earlier, the AI does have its faults though. I’ve had drones running around in circles for no good reason, or not coming out of cover while peers were still alive, at times. However, the biggest issue I’ve had with the AI is that it’s simply too passive in the grander picture.

Certainly, you could look at The Signal From Tölva and say it’s an exercise in removing what’s flashy and over-the-top from FarCry or other mainstream open-world games. In between the good writing, eerie atmosphere and general barren feel of the planet, I’d say it very much succeeds. But, going back to the AI, there are signs that it was supposed to be more involved (taking back bunkers is an example of that). Big Robot’s previous title, Sir, You Are Being Hunted, also played the AI card in a different manner than most, having the player constantly hounded by a crafty AI opponent. However, as you go through The Signal From Tölva, these moments when skirmishes happen, when bunkers are being overtaken are simply too few (or, so they were, during my playthrough). This is a true pity, as it does take away from what could have been a very unique experience. The bits and pieces of writing you discover while wandering will begin to shape an image of an interesting universe. Should it capture your attention, the manual on the game’s Steam page is, in fact, a lorebook that further expands upon the game world and, by all means, is a worthwhile read prior or after finishing the game.

I enjoyed my time with The Signal From Tölva overall. Tedium did set in, when playing longer sessions, but I always wanted to go back to it eventually. I appreciated the long strolls, the great combat that breaks them apart and the way it gives context to respawning and quick travel. Certainly, the planet’s barrenness will be divisive. Initially, it amplifies the mystery and adds to the atmosphere, however, as you play through the game it does begin to wear one out. The combat aspect, though seemingly basic, is one of the high points of the game, given how it has you subtly considering all sorts of minor details. Certainly, there comes a point where you “know” everything about how a fight should go down, but even then, I enjoyed turning foes into scrap with my trusty Rail Accelerator. There are areas where the title could have done more, particularly when it comes to the territory control aspect. Ultimately, The Signal From Tölva will find its crowd in those patient enough to sink into the planet’s atmosphere, into its silence and barrenness while engaging in the occasional firefight and lore reveal hidden inside objects that aren’t always in sight. It’s a slow paced experience, but one that I, ultimately, found to be worth it.

Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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