The Signal From Tölva
As I get older I am finding that I am liking more minimalist games. Games that get to the point of what they are about without so many extra bells and whistles. The Signal From Tölva is such a game.
The Signal From Tölva begins with you investigating an odd signal from an old forgotten about planet. You are working for someone only known as the Broker and interact with the world via remote control of the aforementioned robot drones. If you do get blown up, no big deal you just jump into a new robot back at one of the bases. In fact the concept of hijacking these drones allows you to perform all sorts of fast travel from point to point as you unlock beacons around the map. They never quite take you exactly where you want to go, so there is always a bit of a walk but that's quite fine as there is usually some small thing missed that I wanted to investigate.
The core of what you are doing in the game is exploration. Walking around a very well made, beautiful landscape (though does lack a bit in variety), through a surprisingly rapid day/night cycle looking around for various story specific points to scan and learn more about what is going on in this place. From crashed spaceships, beacons, bunkers, military outposts and underground facilities there is quite a bit to see on Tölva. Some of it pops up on the map as points of interest or story objectives, others you have to find on you own. Every time I found some hidden bit of the world I was pleased by what I uncovered, some small detail that further enriches the minimal game world and story.
The main conflict in the game comes from the three factions on Tölva, the side you are on made up of research drones, mercenaries looking for whatever they can scavenge and a force of zealot drones whose programming seems to been infected by whatever is happening on the planet. These opposing sides will attack you on sight but you are not defenseless - as you complete missions you are offered an array of weapons, shields and accessories that can be bought from facility terminals. Combat is satisfying but often quite difficult as you are usually outnumbered and even at best still a little fragile. One of the more interesting pieces of equipment allows you to recruit other drones of your faction to follow you around as an ad-hoc squad.
Each piece of the mystery is presented as a readable document from various sources on Tölva. Some of it from previous drones long past, others from outside forces that you know little about. The Broker character will comment on some of these, giving you further information. Largely though you are left on you own to determine just what happened and what is going on. Unlike a lot of games you are not on Tölva to save the day or fix some great problem, you are just investigating an event that has already happened (more or less).
I really liked The Signal from Tölva. It gave me some nice landscapes to travel through, entertaining combat, a good soundtrack and a mystery that was doled out in just small enough bits to keep me wanting more. Sure it could have been a bigger more encompassing endeavor but sometimes more is just...well...more. The Signal from Tölva doesn't waste time distracting you with unnecessary things. It's a tight well crafted experience that kept me engaged beginning to end.
PS: There is a really good lore/art book for the world of Tölva that is available as the PDF manual from Steam if you want to know more about it after finishing the game.
Also there is a free small expansion coming soon allowing you to walk your hijacked drone through a snowy landscape. Wee!
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