The Spectrum Retreat

This is sort of like 2 games combined into one. The puzzles are decent, and if you are a real puzzle-head they will be enjoyable. But the real star is the story. This way that the mystery unfolds and the manner in which they tell the story are excellent. That part was good enough to be a stand-alone game. I truly enjoyed this. None of the puzzles are super-hard, but they are not easy either. A medium level of difficulty for the puzzles. But the story experience is wonderful.

As much as I like this game, I would have to agree with some others. If you think you enjoy the aesthetic and want a relatively short puzzle game, go for it, but I say go for it when it's on sale, and if you have a decent to good computer.
First-person walking puzzle game.
The story is intriguing (sort of simple, though), but expect to take your time because of how slow the game makes, and sometimes expects, you to move. Atmospherically, it's wonderful, but the pace is a little off.
The puzzle system is, in my opinion, good. I've never really understood the comparisons to Portal, though. The concept is nice, but it can occasionally get repetitive, and softlocks and restarting are to be expected for some rooms, especially if you don't know exactly what you're doing right off the bat.
There is a branched path ending, but note that there are no manual saves in this game, and to see the other, you have to replay through the whole game again... or just watch a playthrough, but that won't net you the other special achievement.
For me? 7.5/10.

An okay puzzle game with a strange disconnect of it's main story environments from the puzzle rooms, as if the two concepts were merged halfway through development.

Regardless, worth playing on sale

I like the game mechanic. I don't like how slowly you walk.
The puzzles are interesting. A little simple compared to some puzzle games, but complex enough to still be satisfying. While walking around outside the puzzles the scenery looks amazing, but the speed of walking can be painfully slow at times without a "run" button.
The puzzles were mostly logic based, and not execution based, until floor 5. Then even though I figured out the solution, I failed several times which forced me to redo the same sequence over and over, just to retry the final bit. I hate long puzzles like this that don't have a checkpoint between each of the puzzles that make up the larger puzzle. It's not fun, and I had to turn it off because it was frustrating me in ways that the earlier puzzles did not.
When I picked it back up a few hours later, I realized what I was doing wrong, and the solution was easier than I thought.
But the one remaining gripe is having to play through the entire game a second time just to get 1 achievement for picking the opposite option at the very end. No, copying the save did not work to allow skipping to the end to get the last achievement. 6.3 hours for my first play-through. I'm hoping the last achievement doesn't glitch for my next play-through… UPDATE: took a little over 2 hours to play through a second time, and I still had to redo floor 5 a couple times, but the final achievement worked.
Favorite quote: "The main elevator. Should be upstairs." Which is counterproductive in real life, and just serves to artificially lengthen the time it takes to get to/from the lobby.
Even with the annoyances, I still do recommend this as a decent puzzler game!
Puzzle games that I recommend:
Portal / Portal 2 / Portal Stories: Mel
The Talos Principle / The Talos Principle II
The Entropy Centre
The Turing Test
The Swapper
Baba is You
Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary / Q.U.B.E. 2 (QUBE 2)
Relicta
The Witness
ReThink
Gravitas
The Spectrum Retreat
Puzzle games that I do NOT recommend:
Superliminal
Magnetic: Cage Closed
Magrunner: Dark Pulse
Human Fall Flat
Manifold Garden
Antichamber

A short and 'simple' puzzle game greatly enhanced by an intriguing story.

Love the design and atmosphere. Exactly what I'm looking for in a first-person puzzle/mystery.

fun atmosphere. too small brain for the puzzles though