Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Oct 17, 2019

  [Disclaimer: I've only played this for about an hour so I may discover some features that I thought were missing as I play more] There are a lot of things right about this game and it makes for quite a bit of fun. It's early access so expecting some things to get ironed out however, overall, it's a game I can see returning to on a regular basis. As you can probably expect, the game isn't very deep in terms of story but the game play is pretty fun and the environment has a lot of character. I hoped this would scratch my itch for a Ghostbusters-like VR game and it does a bit but it mainly reminds me more of something like Luigi's Mansion. As I've mentioned below, I'd love a bit more call-out to the Ghostbusters mechanics but that isn't a negative of the game more than just a wish on my part. Likes * Trapping ghosts of course. * Obtaining energy in the form of consuming candle light / fire adds a bit of challenge since they aren't everywhere. * Haunted house with charm. Rich color palette * Dynamic rooms/floors make exploration interesting. * Comfort options exist. For smooth loco, would be nice to get a comfort fov / vignette on movement for those like me who need a little bit still. Dislikes * Index Controller (Knuckles) support seems absent. Shows Valve Wand imagery and controls are a bit clunky out of the gate. * Flashlight doesn't seem necessary with the game's default brightness. * Ghost projectiles travel through walls (maybe this is be design. Not sure what a real ghost projectile would do?) * Audio doesn't always seem to fit well. I find the energy beam sound effect to be odd. Initial game soundtrack when talking to the ghost doesn't fit in my mind. * Tutorial asks you to try things but doesn't let you until you hit 'up' to get past a few screens of added instruction. This adds a bit of minor confusion as to why the action isn't working. * Ghosts sometimes appear behind you and start inflict damage with no way of knowing. Need better sound effects or indicator to know this happened. Wishlist * Hitting a ghost with the energy beam is not as impactful as I hoped. Would love a bit more 'impact' on initial hit. * Two-handed proton-pack style gun and trap like Ghostbusters. * A bit more haptic feedback. * Ability to hold the ghost with the beam and pull them in directions. Can aid in a bit of escape or getting overlapping ghosts out of the way. * Have ghosts provide melee (non projectile) attacks too. * More interactivity in the environment. Allow me to grab objects to explore them. Clicking up from a distance is kind of boring to get coins out. Perhaps pick up and shake. * Have ghosts leave 'sludge' on wall if they run into it or a projectile hits it.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 21, 2019

  This game is off to a flying start by being one of the rare cases of an early access game coming onto steam, and already having enough content for me to feel like I am getting my moneys worth. Everything from the graphics to the mechanics of this game feel like it was made with love and care put into it. My concern at first was that the game was going to be too easy after blazing through the first 3 levels, but I was quickly proven wrong as more and more ghost types appeared and started really putting the pressure on. If you like the idea of a Binding of Issac style Rouge-like in a very Luigi's Mansion style skin. And even a bit of escape room-esc object hunting; all in the glory of virtual reality, then be sure to pick this one up because the developers have already proven themselves worthy of the support, and I hope this game really takes off in the coming future. Frankly I never write reviews anymore, but I like this game so much I want to help bring enough reviews to give this a good score on steam! P.S if you want the flashlight to be actually useful, be sure to turn the brightness down to -0.5
• gamedeal user

  Dec 3, 2019

  Game is great. You should buy it.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 8, 2020

  What an utterly charming game. Initial Impressions (i7-8700, 16GB RAM, GTX 1070Ti) A rogue-like Luigi's Mansion/Ghostbusters come to life in VR (so get ready for multiple comparisons). Pros - A simple graphical style that nicely evokes the spirit of Luigi's Mansion. - Relatively simple control, with wonderful configuration options for those that enjoy smooth locomotion/turning like myself. - Capturing ghost was great fun, but then I was wishing I had a proton pack from Ghostbusters, where with two hands I had to struggle to capture the ghost (the way it is now is not bad at all). - Because of the rogue-like nature of the game, there is enough random levels generated to where it feels familiar, yet different enough in layout. - Overall gameplay has some suspense to it, but nothing scary so far. Cons - The level design seems purposely claustrophobic, almost like you are playing inside of a cartoon-like doll house. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is notably different from most other games whose level design often make you feel like each room is a 1/4 acre in size, but I wound up occasionally wishing for some larger-sized play areas. - Although the controls are largely spot on, I found occasions where I thought I was pressing forward on the joystick, but instead was going diagonally. This is likely 'operator error', but it happens enoughto make me say 'hhmmmm....'. - Everything is laid out nicely to where I just have to stand in place, but I wouldn't mind special rewards being offered to players who would physically crouch down to search a lower shelf in detail, or perhaps lookunder a bed. I haven;t played through enough of the game to have gotten the Mask yet, but am enjoying what I have played so far. This is a cute and charming game that is fun to play.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 16, 2020

  Very enjoyable game! Reminds me a lot of Luigi's Mansion with the art style and I can definitely see myself coming back to it day after day! I do wish if possible they would make some things where you can interact with them with your hands. Pressing a button kind of gets repetitive, it kind of stood out to me after 30 minutes of playing. It's a VR game players are going to want to be able to interact with some things without having to press A. Being able to knock things off of shelves and things like that would also be nice! I hope a few mini-bosses get added and some more types of ghosts, but currently I believe it's worth the price!
• gamedeal user

  Jul 5, 2020

  I love so much that this isn't scary at all, because I love spoopy genre stuff but hate jumpscares and frightening lighting etc. So much fun.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 16, 2020

  [h1]Problem In A Nut-shell:[/h1] In its current state, Spectro VR is NOT a rogue-like game. Unlike a properly structured rogue-like game… winning here isn’t a function of effective skill and resource management. Instead, it’s an act of pure chance. It’s basically a slot machine with extra steps. Later stages REQUIRE a weapon that can make short, quick work of each ghost… AND handle more than 2 ghosts at a time before needing a refuel. For that, you need at LEAST a weapon with 4's in power, speed, and capacity. After that, you’ll need ‘heart upgrades’ and ‘health potions’ out the wazoo… why? Because Mob Spawns at later stages throw out an impossible barrage of projectiles in close quarters. There is no dodging that mess. You WILL be eating their attacks. You need Hearts and Health to weather the attacks. You NEED a stronger gun, heart upgrades (and potions) for the tougher mobs. If you do NOT get these items early on, you will NOT win later. You are MATHEMATICALLY GUARANTEED to die without them. It’s that simple. You absolutely CANNOT win without these items. [h1]Buying Items:[/h1] Standing between YOU, and getting these items CONSISTENTLY… are ‘Spirit Shard’ Stores. These are secret supply spots. They readily stock all the items you NEED to survive (for a price). Fair enough… …Except the stores do NOT accept gold coins. You know, gold coins? Those things you’ve been vacuuming up ALL NIGHT (apart from ghosts)? Instead, they only accept ‘Spirit Shards’. But the ways to earn any actual shards are SUPER-RARE, with low pay-out. You see the problem yet? Imagine how infuriating it is to see items you NEED… FOR PROGRESSION… hovering directly in front of your face… in a store… with NO WAY to obtain these items, despite a sack full of coins on your person. Why? Because of an ‘arbitrary decision’ to make gold a currency the store can’t honor! There isn’t even a way to convert gold into shards for when you’re in a pinch! They give you an ANNOYING ABUNDANCE of these ‘Spirit Shard’ Stores to find…but without sufficient opportunities to earn currency the store accepts…you are FORCED to abandon items you absolutely NEED. If you can't BUY these things, your only recourse is to ‘HOPE’… Hope that you find PROGRESSION NECESSARY ITEMS in a treasure chest(s) somewhere. Good luck with that! [h1]Finding Items: [/h1] After dozens of playthroughs… I was only ever able to find the items I needed… ‘in-the-wild’… just ONCE! Skill and resource management had NOTHING to do with it. I was just LUCKY. Every chest I found in the first 3 floors gave me an item I needed: • I got 2 heart upgrades IN A ROW, in one level! • I had multiple AWESOME gun spawns. ACTUAL trade-ups (not just ‘comparables’ or ‘downgrades’). And I got them EARLY ON. • That run-through had an UNUSUALLY HIGH number of challenges to earn Spirit Shards from. • I had stores that frequently stocked weapon upgrades and large health potions. • I had LOADS of locked doors on the later floors… allowing me to ‘control’ and ‘pace-out’ the introduction of Mob Spawns. Pure chance handed me EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO WIN on a silver platter. To be clear, this is NOT the norm! Again, this was after DOZENS of playthroughs. Most of the time, you’ll be forced to proceed to the next level… ill-equipped… and promptly die. These conditions almost NEVER happen on their own, let alone ALL AT ONCE! Look, I don't mind a game that deals you a 'tough' hand, but this is different. Most of the time, I can't get stuff I need for the game to function in a balanced, playable manner. Your starting gun is extremely slow and underpowered. Mob spawns soon happen at a rate and number that far out-pace your default weapon's capabilities. So, what happens if: 1. You CANNOT upgrade your weapon/health. 2. Swarms spawn in levels with almost ZERO candles? You're screwed, that's what! There you are… still armed with your base weapon at Floor 5… fighting 4-5 ghosts at a time… …Your base weapon handles only 1-2 ghosts at a time before crapping out. You WILL run out of juice. You WILL need a candle. You’ll trap 2 ghosts, then run around the level, desperately searching for a candle… ANY candle… (activating more mobs along the way). You’ll find ZERO candles. Finally, you’ll get swamped and die in a dead end by a firing squad of ghosts trailing behind you. Die. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. • Every playthrough gave me an abundance of Shard Stores and no way to earn Spirit Shards. • Every playthrough gave me weapons comparable to my base weapon, or lower. • Every playthrough spawned ZERO heart upgrades. • Every playthrough had me dying the SAME way. Most of my playthroughs had me reaching Stages 5 without finding a single usable upgrade... And then dying when they introduce you to Mob Spawns… with almost ZERO candles. [h1]Back To That GD Lobby: [/h1] You’re going to die… A LOT. You’re going to go back to that lobby… A LOT. You’re going to spin 180 just to start your game… A LOT. You’re going to walk the SAME paths (within that room) to access individual UI functions… A LOT. Whether it’s starting a game… Buying a start-up mod from the computer… Or offloading your ghostly haul for the day… All of these are separated by walking and spinning the SAME WAYS. Every. Single. Damn. Time. See how that *might* get old? As much as I like the ‘environmental theme’ of the lobby… I’m a MUCH bigger fan of lobby/menu structures that let me QUICKLY set-up the parameters of the game I’m about to play… Ideally, you want to eliminate as much repetition as possible after dozens of playthroughs: Just click… click… START! [h1]How Can You Fix This Game? [/h1] [b]The chest pay-outs need to be tweaked[/b] - Health potions of varying sizes should just ‘spawn naturally’ in the game world… NOT in chests. This will increase my chances of finding items in chests I actually NEED to progress (hearts/guns/upgrades). [b]There are NOT enough ways to earn Spirit Shards[/b] - I like a ‘challenge’… but once in a while throw me a fricking bone, eh? The ‘obvious fix’? Give me more Statue Challenges. They’re far too rare, and payouts are too small. The second ‘obvious fix’ is to just let me retain Shards for other playthroughs (at a strict cap). The less obvious fixes for Spirit Shards? Try these on for size: • A Ghost Type that drops a Spirit Shard or two on occasion. • Make chests/suitcases have a small chance of giving you a ‘varying pile’ of Spirit Shards. • Allow me to convert coins to Spirit Shards in a pinch, at a ‘per-playthrough’ conversion cap. • Raise the coin cap… make the raises a permanent upgrade, based on ‘highest floor reached’. [b]You could keep the current lobby[/b] - But move my Player Spawn Point… so all the available lobby UI functions are in FULL VIEW to me. Then increase my effective cursor distance to make these reachable from across the room. Or… [b]Change the lobby environment[/b] - So all functions are right there, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME. Maybe I spawn at a desk facing the door, within ‘arms-reach’ to the wall panel? [b]If you keep the Lobby Computer Store items ‘single use’[/b] - increase/remove the gold cap. Don’t make further coin collecting (past 999) a pointless activity. Reward it! [b]If you make Lobby Computer Store items a ‘permanent upgrade’[/b] - add an option toggle that lets us play the game at ‘default settings’. [h1]Game-Breaking Bugs/Glitches: [/h1] [b]***WARNING: The Save State System Is EXTREMELY Broken***[/b] [b]Exiting to Main Menu (NOT to Desktop) saves your game consistently [/b] – But there’s a caveat… you have to do it IMMEDIATELY after reaching the next floor. You can’t do ANYTHING to the level… don’t even open a door. [b]Doing so WILL corrupt your save upon exit[/b] – The next time you load up… doors are 100% unresponsive… ghosts half in floor. Stairs, or exiting to Main Menu (or Desktop) break the game entirely. [b]Exiting to Desktop from the pause menu WILL break your save [/b]