What was "Soul's Spectrum: Awakening"?

Soul's Spectrum: Awakening was a prologue to the game Soul's Spectrum. According to the developer on the Steam forums, the prologue is also included now (as optional content) in the full game.

Based on the RPG Maker ZX engine, the developer - according to the credits around 20 people were involved, if I counted it correctly - created a nice little puzzle game gem. The story is intriguing, the controls utilizing the gamepad feel good, and the graphics are fitting as well.

Gameplay
The player is one of four forms of the same character. Depending on what form you are in, different weaknesses and strangths exist. The special action of a character is usually activated with one button (X on the XBox controller). This could be teleporting, disappearing (similar to Shadow in Illusion of Gaia), throwing a bone, or rolling. Despite there being four different character forms, this doesn't feel overwhelming and is easy to learn, as it makes sense what the weaknesses are: Human and skeleton form are vulnerable to spikes on the floor, for example. Walking into a floor trap with non-corporeal character forms doesn't hurt, as they have no body.
Switching between forms is easy but not available at all times. Instead, one has to light candles, or die. You can save at checkpoints, which are vast as they are also part of the puzzles. Wait, how can they be part of the puzzles?
Here is the brilliant idea: The checkpoints actually let you respawn there when you die, but in another form. Not the form you saved at, but one form less corporeal than you died in: Human becomes Skeleton, etc.
Dying multiple times means you can switch to other forms that way. And this allows you to solve the puzzles, as you now have other options on where to go.

In the prologue, or "awakening", I avoided all rats on the floor. I don't know if those were opponents or just for decoration. Those aside, there was one enemy at the end which chased me but I escaped easily. This brought a small action element into the otherwise chill game.


What is worrying to me is the question if the full game offers more substantial changes, or if it is just more similar puzzles. The awakening introduced new mechanics with its character forms, but it seems that more than those four also wouldn't make sense. Obviously the full game is out but I don't have it (yet). So you'll want to check the reviews there.


Controls
The entire game can be controlled with the gamepad. For more details, see Gameplay above.

Graphics
The graphics are very atmospheric, but show that they are made with the RPG Maker. This isn't a bad thing, as everything looks very nice, but be aware that it looks tile-based, and plays that way too. To me this is not a bad thing, but I know some people unfairly dislike it in general.

Sound
The sound design was done well here too. There is not much to say about it. I didn't hear any memorable music tracks, but they were atmospheric.

Recommended?
Overall, if this was still available for free, or if you got it when it was, I would recommend you to give it a try. The developer mentioned also that, as opposed to the prologue, there is no achievement for needing x or less deaths in the full game. So for the prologue you might want to watch a video to get the achievement for the very beginning, and after that save, and reload whenever you make an error. Or just do it like me and use a video for the entire prologue. I still enjoyed playing it.
Recommended: Yes, if it still was available. You'll probably want to wishlist the full game, or at least check out the reviews there!

What was "Soul's Spectrum: Awakening"? Soul's Spectrum: Awakening was a prologue to the game Soul's Spectrum. According to the developer on the Steam forums, the prologue is also included now (as optional content) in the full game. Based on the RPG Maker ZX engine, the developer - according to the credits around 20 people were involved, if I counted it correctly - created a nice little puzzle game gem. The story is intriguing, the controls utilizing the gamepad feel good, and the graphics are fitting as well. Gameplay The player is one of four forms of the same character. Depending on what form you are in, different weaknesses and strangths exist. The special action of a character is usually activated with one button (X on the XBox controller). This could be teleporting, disappearing (similar to Shadow in Illusion of Gaia), throwing a bone, or rolling. Despite there being four different character forms, this doesn't feel overwhelming and is easy to learn, as it makes sense what the weaknesses are: Human and skeleton form are vulnerable to spikes on the floor, for example. Walking into a floor trap with non-corporeal character forms doesn't hurt, as they have no body. Switching between forms is easy but not available at all times. Instead, one has to light candles, or die. You can save at checkpoints, which are vast as they are also part of the puzzles. Wait, how can they be part of the puzzles? Here is the brilliant idea: The checkpoints actually let you respawn there when you die, but in another form. Not the form you saved at, but one form less corporeal than you died in: Human becomes Skeleton, etc. Dying multiple times means you can switch to other forms that way. And this allows you to solve the puzzles, as you now have other options on where to go. In the prologue, or "awakening", I avoided all rats on the floor. I don't know if those were opponents or just for decoration. Those aside, there was one enemy at the end which chased me but I escaped easily. This brought a small action element into the otherwise chill game. What is worrying to me is the question if the full game offers more substantial changes, or if it is just more similar puzzles. The awakening introduced new mechanics with its character forms, but it seems that more than those four also wouldn't make sense. Obviously the full game is out but I don't have it (yet). So you'll want to check the reviews there. Controls The entire game can be controlled with the gamepad. For more details, see Gameplay above. Graphics The graphics are very atmospheric, but show that they are made with the RPG Maker. This isn't a bad thing, as everything looks very nice, but be aware that it looks tile-based, and plays that way too. To me this is not a bad thing, but I know some people unfairly dislike it in general. Sound The sound design was done well here too. There is not much to say about it. I didn't hear any memorable music tracks, but they were atmospheric. Recommended? Overall, if this was still available for free, or if you got it when it was, I would recommend you to give it a try. The developer mentioned also that, as opposed to the prologue, there is no achievement for needing x or less deaths in the full game. So for the prologue you might want to watch a video to get the achievement for the very beginning, and after that save, and reload whenever you make an error. Or just do it like me and use a video for the entire prologue. I still enjoyed playing it. Recommended: Yes, if it still was available. You'll probably want to wishlist the full game, or at least check out the reviews there!