Quell Reflect

About

Quell Reflect is an enchanting puzzle game featuring a suite of ingenious levels and a beautiful score from composer Steven Cravis. Its hand-painted art style and absence of frustration create the perfect environment to test your logic skills. The game also offers a touching narrative of love, loss, and nostalgia, providing a haunting experience that stays with you long after completion. Dive into Quell Reflect and fall in love with its charm.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

96%

Audience ScoreBased on 91 reviews

gameplay8 positive mentions

atmosphere3 negative mentions

Quell Reflect offers a relaxing and meditative puzzle-solving experience with beautiful visuals and soothing music.
The game introduces new mechanics that enhance the gameplay while maintaining the charm of the original, providing a satisfying challenge for players.
With 84 levels and a gradual increase in difficulty, players can enjoy a rewarding experience that encourages exploration and strategic thinking.

Some players find the game to be too similar to its predecessor, lacking significant innovation and feeling repetitive.
The level design can lead to frustration, especially in later stages where achieving perfect solutions may require excessive trial and error.
As a mobile port, the game suffers from technical limitations, such as low resolution and a lack of features expected in modern PC games.

gameplay
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
70%
8%
The gameplay of "Quell Reflect" is characterized by its blend of simple mechanics and intricate level design, offering a relaxing yet challenging puzzle experience. While it retains the core elements of its predecessor, it introduces new mechanics such as controlling multiple orbs and momentum-based moves, enhancing the complexity without overwhelming players. The soothing soundtrack further enriches the meditative quality of the gameplay, making it a worthy sequel for fans of the original.
- “Quell Reflect combines simple mechanics with intricate level design that keeps you thinking.”
- “The soothing soundtrack enhances the experience, wrapping around you like a comforting embrace, turning gameplay into a meditative journey.”
- “Quell Reflect continues to provide a soothing puzzle-solving experience with its combination of simple gameplay mechanics and mesmerizingly relaxing soundtrack.”
- “It is basically the same game as Quell, just adds a couple of mechanics to it.”
- “This game shares the same mechanics as its predecessor, but adds a few new features.”
- “It also lacks a bit in new mechanics.”
music
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
28%
10%
The music in the game is widely praised for its soothing and relaxing qualities, enhancing the overall gameplay experience and creating a meditative atmosphere. While many players appreciate the beautiful classical soundtrack and its variety, some note that it can become repetitive during extended play. Overall, the combination of calming music and polished visuals contributes to a cozy and enjoyable puzzle-solving environment.
- “The soothing soundtrack enhances the experience, wrapping around you like a comforting embrace, turning gameplay into a meditative journey.”
- “The soundtrack is perfect for relaxing and de-stressing, but also has a variety of different songs that play depending on which level you're on so nothing sounds repetitive.”
- “Quell Reflect continues to provide a soothing puzzle-solving experience with its combination of simple gameplay mechanics and mesmerizingly relaxing soundtrack.”
- “Really good puzzles but recommend playing with volume turned down as the music is very repetitive and will drive you spare when you are trying to concentrate.”
- “The music is very repetitive and will drive you spare when you are trying to concentrate.”
- “With a few new tracks added to the soundtrack, the music is once again soothing and a perfect match for a puzzle game such as this one.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the stunning minimalist art style and cozy aesthetics, while others criticize the simplistic 2D visuals that resemble low-effort mobile games. Overall, the presentation is noted to be polished, with responsive controls and a harmonious integration of visuals and music, though expectations for PC graphics may not be fully met.
- “The visuals are stunning in a minimalist way, and the music is incredibly soothing.”
- “The first thing I noticed in this puzzle game was the art style, which was a lot different than your standard simplistic look you would get from games like Sinkr, Hade, and Lyne.”
- “Great presentation with relaxing music and polished visuals.”
- “The mobile app features somewhat lazy, simplistic 2D graphics, of the type you normally expect to see in low-effort flash/browser games and mobile apps.”
- “Considering this is being evaluated as a PC game, having the graphics phoned in like this isn't going to result in a high quality, visually impressive game that PC gamers are used to seeing.”
story
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The game's story is described as brief yet emotionally resonant, exploring themes of love and loss, though some players find it lacking in depth, leading to a somewhat bland experience. While "Quell Memento" attempted to introduce a storyline, "Quell Reflect" returns to a focus on puzzles, with only minimal narrative elements revealed through year dates and background images. Overall, the narrative is considered elusive, with mixed opinions on its integration into the gameplay.
- “Beyond the puzzles, a brief yet poignant story unfolds, subtly weaving themes of love and loss with emotional depth that lingers long after the game is over.”
- “The feel of it is different as it now has a storyline; the stages are set up differently and have different game components than the other two.”
- “Quell Reflect is a story about a man.”
- “Lack of story elements makes this game a bit bland.”
- “Whereas Quell Memento tried to change things up by adding a not very interesting storyline, Quell Reflect goes back to the roots of this series and does what it does best: puzzles.”
- “The underlying narrative is equally elusive as in Quell, with only subsequent year dates and background images revealing a glimmer of a story.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers a brief yet impactful narrative that explores themes of love and loss, leaving a lasting emotional impression on players. While the initial levels instill a sense of accomplishment, the later challenges evoke feelings of frustration, contributing to a complex emotional experience that enhances the overall gameplay.
- “Beyond the puzzles, a brief yet poignant story unfolds, subtly weaving themes of love and loss with emotional depth that lingers long after the game is over.”
- “In short, this game is an unforgettable experience that blends creativity, innovation, and emotional resonance.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
Overall, the game offers limited replayability after achieving 100% completion, but players can still enjoy revisiting it occasionally for relaxation. However, for fans of puzzle and logic games, it provides significant replay value through its length, diverse challenges, achievements, and collectibles.
- “This game has a lot of replayability value, being long and different in every aspect.”
- “A good range of achievements, leaderboards, and some nice bonus collectible gems add to the replayability.”
- “Not much replayability after completing it 100%, but you can go back to it every couple of months or years and still relax and enjoy it.”
- “4€ may be a little too much, but this one to me is one of the best puzzle/logic series on Steam in every aspect, so if you love these kinds of games, you won't be disappointed for sure. However, it has limited replayability value.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
150%
The game's atmosphere is characterized by bright pastel colors and a calming soundtrack, creating a unique and serene environment. This chill ambiance complements the challenging puzzles, enhancing the overall experience.
- “The game is created in bright pastel colors, which, along with a calm and beautiful soundtrack, compose a unique atmosphere.”
- “The puzzles are challenging, and the whole atmosphere of the game is totally chill.”
- “The puzzles are challenging, but the overall atmosphere of the game feels completely cold and uninviting.”
- “The game lacks any sense of immersion, making it hard to feel connected to the world.”
- “The atmosphere is dull and uninspired, failing to evoke any real emotion or engagement.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Quell Reflect is criticized for its monetization strategy, being perceived as a cash grab by mobile developers who have ported a simplistic puzzle game to Steam without adapting it for the platform. Users feel it lacks the depth and value expected from a PC game, leading to disappointment.
- “Quell Reflect is a mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as if it were a real PC game. It's not; it's a cash grab from greedy mobile developers. The game is a very simple pathing puzzle game.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, with constant prompts to spend money on in-game items that should be earnable through gameplay.”
- “I was disappointed to find that the game heavily encourages microtransactions, making it difficult to enjoy without spending extra money.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be more challenging than its predecessor, often describing it as tedious and at times frustrating.
- “Overall, it is harder than the previous game and at times felt pretty tedious.”
- “The grinding feels endless and often detracts from the enjoyment of the game.”
- “I found myself repeating the same tasks over and over, which became incredibly monotonous.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game's stability is hindered by buggy controls, as it is designed for touchpad use but relies on mouse pointer swipes instead of traditional arrow keys, leading to a less reliable gameplay experience.
- “The controls are sometimes buggy; the game is designed for touchpad use, but it relies on mouse pointer swipes instead of arrow keys.”
- “The game frequently crashes, making it nearly unplayable at times.”
- “I experienced numerous glitches that disrupted my gameplay experience.”