[6] Retrospectively, the album has been described by the Hartford Courant's Roger Catlin as "groundbreaking",[3] and by AllMusic as a landmark of "fourth world" music.

[1] Author David B. Knight opined that Roach "seeks to activate listeners to reach a deep level of consciousness that draws upon the trance-inducing music he has created.

"[7] Reviewing the album's 1998 reissue, Mark Burbey of Alternative Press wrote that Dreamtime Return "remains a landmark recording of extraordinary emotional resonance.

"[2] John Diliberto, host of the ambient music radio program Echoes, commented in 2005 that Dreamtime Return was "a seminal recording that has influenced a generation of musicians",[9] while Hearts of Space presenter Stephen Hill said, "Musically Dreamtime richly deserves its classic status, but Roach also deserves credit for leading electronic musicians out of their sheltered studios and into an active relationship with the landscape, the wider world, and deep cultural history.

wrote, "Thirty years later, in a period of intense rediscovery of barely remembered classic albums, it's fitting that this iconic gem has been uncovered.