The Spectrum Retreat is a game that really wants to be the new Portal, and I can respect that. It’s good to be ambitious. But raw ideas matter less than their implementation, and when it comes to execution, The Spectrum Retreat doesn’t quite manage to reach the level of polish and elegance it aspires to. The game’s atmosphere is, at first, decidedly Portalesque. You wake up in a hotel room. The place is white and golden, all clean surfaces and smooth curves. Elegant. Perfect. Deserted. You are alone. Robotic servants tend to your every need. You don’t know why you’re in the hotel, but you’ve been here for a while. Everything changes once you receive a call from Cooper, a mysterious woman (cheers to the voice actor, she’s fantastic) who wants to help you escape the place. Her gentle voice guides you inside the control rooms behind the façade of the hotel, and at this point, the game morphs into something else: a refined version of SPECTRUM, … [Read more...] about Wot I Think: The Spectrum Retreat
Playful pups retreat
The Spectrum Retreat brings color to Portal-like puzzles
The Spectrum Retreat does for colors what Portal did for physics. It’s a puzzle game that presents a series of rooms which must be escaped by figuring out the convoluted logic of colored boxes, bridges, ramps and gadgets. In its first-person view, the player is also part of the puzzle, becoming one of the colors by touching objects and so swapping their hues. It’s a neat idea that’s mostly executed well. The puzzles don’t have anything like the charm or originality of the Portal series, but they do offer intrigue and satisfaction. It’s the sort of game that’s fun to play for an hour, and then leave for a while. Although simple at first, the difficulty builds up significantly about midway through the game, as more colors, tricks and devices are introduced. Puzzles are often exploratory, requiring that I make mistakes in order to reveal the true answers. There’s a devilry in this that I sometimes enjoy, but sometimes not. For example, I often … [Read more...] about The Spectrum Retreat brings color to Portal-like puzzles
The Spectrum Retreat First-Person Puzzler Release Date Announced
The Spectrum Retreat officially has a release date, according to an announcement by the publisher Ripstone Games. The game designed by 2016 BAFTA Young Game Designer Winner Dan Smith will be available for the PlayStation 4 on July 10, 2018, as well as the Xbox One and PC on July 14, 2018. The Spectrum Retreat Designer Dan Smith said in a statement: “I can’t wait for people to finally play The Spectrum Retreat now that we’re only a few weeks away from launch. The game has been a part of my life for the last five years and to get to this stage is hugely exciting. I’m really proud of the game, and working with Ripstone I’ve been able to create something that looks and plays great, with an intriguing story and new mechanics." Head of Development at Ripstone Games Matt Southern also had this to say: “Announcing the release date today makes us realise how close we are to the culmination of such focused hard work. Dan’s puzzle design has got … [Read more...] about The Spectrum Retreat First-Person Puzzler Release Date Announced
The Spectrum Retreat Shows Eleven Minutes of Gameplay and Includes Developer Commentary
The latest gameplay video from Dan Smith Studios’ upcoming title The Spectrum Retreat gives us an eleven-minute look at the first-person puzzler that’s due to launch this summer. We already reported on the official announcement for the BAFTA award-winning developer’s title. The video also includes developer Dan Smith himself as he starts of explaining the concept of The Spectrum Retreat. You’re a guest at The Penrose hotel but no idea of how you got there or why you’re there. A voice communicates with the player explaining that their phone is not an ordinary phone and has the ability to absorb and exchange colors. This begins the process of bypassing shields to enter different rooms by solving the puzzles using the colours. After every level completed players enter an elevator in a similar way to Portal as a way to reach the next level. Smith goes on to state that the first five levels we witness him playing throughout are a way to introduce the mechanic … [Read more...] about The Spectrum Retreat Shows Eleven Minutes of Gameplay and Includes Developer Commentary
Street Fighter 5 Missions Guide: No Work And All Play
Decipher the cryptic clues and complete Street Fighter 5’s missions for fight money. Street Fighter 5 Arcade Edition is out now, and with the release of the new expansion to the game the developers at Capcom have tightened up the rules for earning fight money. One of the best ways to earn is still in, however – special missions that are delivered to players and changed up regularly to ensure players always have something new to do. Missions are exactly what you’d expect: small tasks that when completed have a Fight Money bounty. All missions are limited time and when one expires a new one will appear, so completing all of these as they arise is a great way to rack up a lot of Fight Money. On this page, we detail how to complete every mission SF5. No Work And All Play: This Week’s SF5 Missions This week’s SF5 Arcade Edition mission is No Work And All Play, and the mission is found on one of the main stages of the game. Trigger the right reaction and … [Read more...] about Street Fighter 5 Missions Guide: No Work And All Play