After developer Dan Smith won the BAFTA Young Game Designer award back in 2016, he partnered with publisher Ripstone Games to work his game. Today, they revealed the fruit of their efforts – a narrative focused first person puzzle game for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch titled The Spectrum Retreat.
The game takes place in a not-so-distant future, and follows players as they explore The Penrose, a mysterious, and occasionally uncanny, art-deco hotel. Puzzles in The Spectrum Retreat are set to be quite varied and mind bending, with color-coded and physics based puzzles currently being flaunted.
Dan Smith had the following to say about working on The Spectrum Retreat for over five years:
“The last few years have been a great experience. When I first began development, I couldn’t have anticipated that five years later we’d be releasing a game like this and that I would pick up a BAFTA along the way. The Spectrum Retreat is built on the mechanics I developed a few years ago, but they’re now integrated with a mature, absorbing story and setting. It’s been great to push the game further in every aspect and to craft an engaging world that can deliver the puzzles and story together.”
Meanwhile, Ripstone Games’ Creative Director Phil Gaskell commented on working with Dan Smith to publish The Spectrum Retreat:
“We’re thrilled to finally share Dan’s vision, now that The Spectrum Retreat’s release is drawing closer. We’ve worked closely with Dan as he, along with our in-house artists and programmers, crafted an experience which does justice to the vision he showed in his 2016 BAFTA award-winning demo. The puzzles possess a depth which betray Dan’s age and the story provides real emotional heft.”
You can check out the game’s announcement trailer and some screenshots below. The Spectrum Retreat is currently set to release later this year on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
