The Spectrum Retreat Reviews
The Spectrum Retreat impresses with its devilishly tricky puzzle solving, which rewards exploration and new ways of thinking about challenges. A real delight — check yourself into the Penrose Hotel today.
The Spectrum Retreat is a challenging, first-person puzzle game set within the near future. As you awake and being to explore the Penrose hotel, you will begin to unlock your memories through the various colour-based logic puzzles and various interactions you have with the mysterious Cooper. You must solve each of these ingenious puzzles as you uncover the truth behind why you are in such a place and who is behind your imprisonment. The Spectrum Retreat has AAA quality voice acting, an amazing soundtrack and the perfect amount of mind-bending and thought-provoking puzzles all contained within a single package.
Despite some excesses in the levels structure, and the evident low budget, The Spectrum Retreat is a real game design diamond, with a well-structured and engaging narration.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Expertly created puzzles, a setting which is as equally enticing as it is unsettling, a thought provoking narrative, excellent music and top draw voice work combine to form a truly enjoyable puzzle game that’ll have me leaving a very positive Trip Advisor review.
As far as hybrid genres go, this is an interesting one.
If you're looking for puzzles, atmosphere and drama, The Spectrum Retreat is perfect for you. If you join a walkthrough simulator with a puzzle game and add a few drops of mystery you have a good mix. This mix has its flaws, but the result is certainly very tasty.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Spectrum Retreat is a solid puzzler, with an immersive narrative undercurrent adding depth and emotion to a genre where such things are normally lacking. Look past certain repetitive sections and you'll find a title offering value for money and an enjoyable challenge.
At its core, The Spectrum Retreat has a tragic story about a family cast aside by the American health care system. That much becomes apparent early on, but the finer details are hidden behind too many consecutive puzzles. There's a narrative worth hearing here, but the cadence at which it's told is just a little bit off. That, mixed with the good-but-not-outstanding puzzle design, keeps The Spectrum Retreat from being a truly great stay.
The Spectrum Retreat is a pleasant surprise. The colour coded puzzles are intelligently designed and present a decent challenge, while the Penrose hotel is an absorbing backdrop that creates an unsettling atmosphere. While it's a shame more isn't made of this setting, the game's storytelling, design, and puzzle solving is a compelling mix, and for less than a tenner, provides a unique experience across its six-hour runtime.
Taken in small doses, the game can be a fun, challenging experience – as long as you step away before frustration sets in. And if those issues could be fixed in time for a sequel, I'd be up for a second visit to The Spectrum Retreat.
The Spectrum Retreat is a perfectly serviceable puzzler, but it rarely rises above mediocrity. There's potential within the ground of the Penrose Hotel, but it's never capitalized on.
An interesting puzzler that does not surprises, but does almost everything ok.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Overall, the entire story felt a bit hollow. I had no reason to connect to anything in the game. Nothing in the story was explored in depth. The hotel as a set-piece was wasted. The whole narrative was shallow. The game shows potential, but it is so incohesive and unimpressive that it flounders as a whole.
But even though the Penrose Hotel quickly becomes boring to walk through, there's still a lot to like – from the art direction to the story and the often-wonderful puzzle design.
The Spectrum Retreat is a refreshing independent game with some big ideas and ambition. It creates a truly compelling environment with excellent acting and narrative progression.
The Spectrum Retreat is full of good ideas and mysteries, but Dan Smith's first game is way too linear while playing the walking simulator card to please every amateur of the genre. Too many clues are given about the delicate subject being treated, but the core mecanics of dozen of color-based puzzles might be good enough to give it a go. With just a bit more coherence between the gameplay and the narrative, it could have been memorable.
Review in French | Read full review
Dan Smith's game is a perfect study material for any rookie game designer. It shows how to create an engaging story with clever gameplay mechanics, while being vague in terms of presentation and original at the same time.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Intriguing game has its moments, but flubs story section
Overall, I would have to say not really. The puzzles themselves are this game's saving grace. I didn't have a bad time playing it, but I can't recommend it in good faith. If you're a huge puzzle fan, like me, there's something here for you. But in all honesty, there are plenty of puzzle games out there that wouldn't come with this big of an asterisk. Go play those. All of that said, a player's reaction to the narrative and hub world is going to be the big deciding factor for whether or not you think this game is good. The narrative and gameplay combined together detract from the experience of one another, resulting in something decent at best and eye-roll inducing at worst. The Spectrum Retreat really went for it, but a swing and a miss is still a miss.
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.