Signal Veil Turns a Flip Phone Into a Parry Weapon

A new psychological horror game is trading the usual pipe and handgun for something far more ordinary: a flip phone. Signal Veil, from developer Time Hunters, debuted a trailer during Insider Gaming's 28 Games Later Horror Showcase, and its central gimmick is hard to miss.

Players control Aki, a schoolgirl with deep, sleepless bruises under her eyes who spends the trailer looking frightened and alone while a fleshy creature stalks her. She is not entirely defenseless, though. Aki carries her mother's dainty, old-fashioned cell phone, and it doubles as her main tool for survival.

The phone works in two ways. First, it acts as an early warning system. Much like the crackling radio in the Silent Hill series, it shivers and hisses when a monster is nearby, which should keep players on edge even when nothing is on screen. Second, it is a weapon. Aki can swing it to knock enemies' heads around, or fire its camera flash to stun them and set up a parry.

The parry idea came from the team's own tastes. Time Hunters told Insider Gaming that it likes games with parry systems, and at some point asked what would happen if the phone could be used for one. The developers admit it sounded strange at first, but said they loved it once they tried it in practice.

Combat is also tied to Aki's mental state. A sanity system tracks her deteriorating mind, and according to the developers, the worse it gets, the more desperate, aggressive and messy her fighting becomes. That means fear is meant to affect how the game plays, not just how it looks.

The studio says it grew up on classic horror like Resident Evil but wanted to push much further into psychological territory for this project. The sanity mechanics and the radio-style monster detection both point clearly toward the Silent Hill school of dread.

Signal Veil does not have a release date yet. Interested players can add it to their wishlist on Steam.