The Spectrum Retreat Reviews
The Spectrum Retreat is a clever and fun puzzle game with a good story that will keep you engaged for around 5-6 hours depending on how good you are with puzzles.
Thanks to its appealing aesthetics and accessible mechanics, players will very much enjoy navigating through the mysterious game area and solving the obstacles until they reach the final floor.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Spectrum Retrait combines the mysterious story with a puzzle system that focuses on thinking, trial and error. and that system allows us to look at it from a different side.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Narrative The Spectrum Retreat remains quite exciting and stands out from the standard "walking simulators", so that one is curious to see how the story goes on. Even the narrative offers some space for interpretation. Technically, the game is solid and does its job well, especially the soundtrack is very atmospheric and the speakers deliver a good performance. Fortunately, the English language version was kept here, but there are German subtitles. The Spectrum Retreat is for anyone who likes narrative games like Firewatch and can also start with puzzles.
Review in German | Read full review
The Spectrum Retreats is an interesting and fun puzzle game. The best parts of the game are the color puzzles that lock and unlock panels that will allow you to move through the levels. It’s a well thought out and challenging game that will give you an estimated 5+ hours of fun.
The Spectrum Retreat is an interesting project, made by one person, which guarantees several hours of active brain work in exchange for a variety of emotions.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Putting these two halves together The Spectrum Retreat is a surprising treat, with both elements of the gameplay motivating me to get further so I could understand or solve more. While I wish there were more room for discovery in the hotel sequences I suppose the deliberate and slow doling out of clues keeps the revelations around what’s happening at a specific pace. I will say that some of the backtracking through the hotel got tedious when there wasn’t anything of value to do along the way, but it usually didn’t waste too much time. Right through the game’s conclusion I was pretty satisfied with the experience and would love to see more titles with this pairing of gameplay styles in the future.
The Spectrum Retreat is a wonderful first-person puzzle game. It contains clever puzzling and a mysterious story involving the past of the main character you play as. It's $12.99 on the Switch eShop, had a 5 year development cycle from Dan Smith himself, and is totally deserving of the price tag. There's an appreciated elegance to The Spectrum Retreat. I'm sure Dan Smith Studios is goin' places and most likely up from here.
The Spectrum Retreat is a valiant stab at a Portal-esque puzzler which largely pulls off what it sets out to achieve. It lacks the dynamite script and surgical timing of Valve's masterpiece, but the test chambers (sorry, ‘authentication challenges') withstand the comparison. If Gone Home's pace is a touch too navel-gazing for your liking, we'd heartily recommend a trip to The Penrose Hotel.
But, those challenges are all in the later half of the journey, so getting to them will be a chore. I think all of the concepts here, warrant a sequel, that I would gladly come back to. A few tweaks here and there, would assist in the overall experience, but all in all I recommend checking into The Penrose for a few puzzling nights.
The Spectrum Ward is a creative little title that manages to craft an interesting world and some memorable moments, but it feels a bit lacking in the gameplay department. Still, while its puzzles may not wow, it’s an experience worth having
The Spectrum Retreat is a game that I had been following, and I'm happy I got a chance to play it since I definitely liked its lush futuristic hotel setting, the color-based puzzle solving, and the great story. The one complaint would be the weird-looking mannequins, but that's about it! Hopefully Dan Smith gives us some extra puzzles as DLC since I had fun with this 5-7 hour release and wouldn't mind more puzzles, or a full-fledged sequel!
I would be remiss in not recommending The Spectrum Retreat if you’re a fan of Portal-esque puzzle solving.
Whilst The Spectrum Retreat is an enjoyable, well-paced puzzler, it never quite hits the heights of other similarly styled puzzle games.
Small and not too deep, but still fun experience with smart puzzles and solid story.
Review in Russian | Read full review
What makes The Spectrum Retreat special is how its puzzles are equal parts accessible and challenging. As a consequence, what started off as a laser-focused story line soon ebbs in favor of the puzzles themselves. The spectacle is in the vivid scale of its presentation, with narrative beats to keep things interesting.
An original title with a split personality, half puzzle game and half walking simulator. Both parts are brilliantly developed, but their forced dichotomy breaks the rhythm of the game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Spectrum Retreat is an emotional narrative combined with enjoyable puzzle solving using unique gameplay mechanics. The story is well-told, and I was amazed at how the simulated world begins to feel broken the closer you get to the truth as if you are rejected this reality. The mannequin-like staff works beautifully with the style of the hotel, except the couple of times where they suddenly appear behind you. The backtracking does slow down the pacing of the game, and I do wish there was some rewind function for some of the longer puzzles, as having to restart them is a bit of a nuisance. Considering that the puzzles may have dozens of interactable blocks to mess around with, I do understand it may be asking too much without having to overhaul the puzzle system.
The Spectrum Retreat is a fun game that doesn't outstay its welcome. The failed attempt to reconcile the narrative and gameplay aspects may leave the player seeing each as an obstacle. The voice acting, soundtrack, and visuals are well executed but not enough to elevate the game quality.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If you dig in and look, you can find a wealth of games, both old and new, trying to be the next Portal. Games like The Spectrum Retreat try for a little more, which makes it all the more devastating when they miss the mark so completely. With a by the numbers story and simplistic puzzles that frustrate rather than fascinate, there’s nothing here worth recommending. This game is competent but unremarkable, and that’s really the nicest thing you can say.