Step Inside the Surreal World of ‘The Signifier,’ Now On Meta Quest 2 + Pro

Originally released for PC and Mac, The Signifier is a first-person tech-noir adventure that blends investigation, experimental psychology, and artificial intelligence. Which is quite a mouthful, but it’s also a recipe for a story-driven mystery of death, despair, and surrealism. Don’t believe us? Just check out the trailer.

You’ll play as Frederick Russell, an expert in AI and psychology—and the primary researcher behind an experimental deep brain scanner called the Dreamwalker. Its controversial technology allows the exploration of the recorded senses and unconscious realms of the mind. Russell finds himself thrust into a spiral of intrigue when asked to use his creation after the vice president of the world’s biggest tech company turns up dead in her apartment.

We sat down with Creative Director & Writer David Fenner to learn more.

David Fenner: It’s a very long story. The concept has been chewed around in my mind for over 10 years (no joke). It evolved slowly, from talks with some friends that work in fields of psychoanalysis to personal studies of AI to photogrammetry-based projects I once had to do for a particular job... many little things that slowly built the full scope of the concept.

I wanted to make a game about investigating dreams, assisted by AI and close to psychoanalysis. Due to working a full-time job, I could never find the time to actually work on it, but because I couldn’t work on the game, the ideas were allowed to breathe, so they grew and got more and more complex over time. Then when I finally started, it was already pretty developed as a concept.

DF: There are many inspirations, from Lacanian psychoanalysis, films, classic literature, and games. I have a hard time pointing out a specific artist that has inspired me—it’s a big mashup of inspirations that were slowly influencing the project in one way or another. The game had a very long pre-production process.

Dare I say that I tried to opt for a photographic style inspired by Tarkovsky, and I was even inspired by his “slow burn” sci-fi film Solaris, with metaphors and characters that the viewer must interpret. There’s also inspiration from Silent Hill—“I have no mouth, and I must scream”—even Blade Runner (who isn’t inspired by that?), and of course artists like Magritte and Hopper (both even have representations in the game).

But if you look at the sticky, surreal, and glitchy style of subjectivity, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find such a style anywhere else, and of course we’re proud of its originality.

DF: It’s been really mind-blowing to explore the detailed places we created in VR. We put so much love into those environments, and being there in VR makes every detail more visible and real. So yes, it is more intense. Every sensation was amplified, from the appreciation of the architecture, the melancholy and loneliness of some places, to the creepiness of others. ... It’s really wonderful to experience everything like you’re there.

DF: This is a very hard question, because it was indeed a very experimental design that required lots of playtesting and experimentation to get right. We knew the mind was more intense and where most of the puzzles would be located. Reality would serve as a more relaxed, traditional first-person adventure that would balance out the intense, attention demanding surrealism with simpler mechanics, enjoyable architecture, and character development.

On the other hand, one of the most beautiful aspects of the connections you make in the mind is that you can explore some of the places you see in Johanna’s memories in reality (but 30 years later than when the memory was formed), and this creates a unique feeling of ghostly nostalgia that we’re very proud of.

With this feeling as a core aspect of the experience, we went about designing puzzles that would not only serve as brainteasers, but also narrative. We were always trying to bridge the real world with the memories from a narrative and artistic angle, always thinking about the artistic experience of the player and of gameplay / narrative balance. This required correct spacing between things: exploration pace, puzzle reward, story advancement, and visual “candy,” to keep the player engaged and interested. It was all about pace.

From a technical perspective, it’s a whole different story. Some environments are real places that passed through photogrammetry for the memories, then were re-imagined 30 years later with traditional 3D (like the childhood memory). Some other places went through the inverse process, first imagined in traditional 3D (like Johanna’s apartment), then going through photogrammetry for the “death” memory. It all depends on the intent of each scene.

DF: Hard question. If I had to pick one, I’d pick the “Vision of the end” dream. Especially in VR!

DF: Yes, this is the full Director’s Cut experience, and it was quite a challenge to make it work on Meta Quest 2 because of the nature of the environment warping around at the will of the player. We’re extremely proud of the result.

We had to change pretty much everything to make it work in VR. Only a few things required minor tweaks, but most of the game’s puzzles required big tweaks, and the environments had to be adapted to be more interactive, among other tweaks to make the game fluid and feel good in VR. The Signifier is already a complex, attention demanding game, so we had to make sure the hints inside the game were clear in VR. We also worked hard to ensure The Signifier VR had a similar difficulty to the original game despite a complete change in the player’s focus and perspective.

DF: Quite a few things! The biggest themes are: The human mind and the way childhood affects character. The role of AI, governments, and tech in the future—and how do we handle all that. The limits of privacy and the dangers of interpreting the mind

We want this game to inspire people to ask themselves questions about the future of humankind. Our hearts would be full if a teenager, after finishing the game, starts asking questions. They take those questions to forums, to a friend, a class, or even to their parents. We would love these discussions to reach random dinner conversations, spread to coffee at a workplace, and then to school, and keep spreading like wildfire. Maybe a kid decides to study psychology or AI research (or both!), inspired by what they learned in this game, like what a good book or movie has done for many people all over the world.

We believe that AI is a conversation that needs to happen now. Decisions will have to be made, and we expect this game to help in bringing this discussion (and its dangers) a little closer to the public sphere, hopefully engaging players all over the world.

DF: We’re working on something else, absolutely. It’s going to be something different, but that builds on what we learned from The Signifier (with narrative weight and very unique mechanics as well). It also shares the fact that it’s something risky, experimental, and completely new. We can’t wait to show it to you :)

Only that we hope they enjoy the experience! There’s a lot of variety in the game, and we’re excited to see how players react to the different worlds and surprises. We can’t wait to see them play and hear their thoughts!