It’s impossible to talk about The Entropy Centre without touching on the topic of the Portal, especially after the latest news from Nvidia with a re-release of the original game. Entropy Center will be 100% compared to Valve‘s phenomenal series. Still, the game developed by Stubby Games not only does not shy away from similarities, but it also deserves praise from the beginning because the game looks very interesting, and this is their first creation. and let’s see what we have here.
What do we have in terms of plot and mechanics?
As it usually happens, we ended up in a center unknown to us. Everything was destroyed, there was not a soul around, and in the very first room, we find a strange device.
This is a rifle that can rewind time. An AI that lives in a gun and can talk to you, play with you, notice your growing frustration and anxiety, and offer you a drink as if it would help you somehow, reminding us of the GLaDOS potato from the 2nd part of that same game. ..
ASTRA, the engineering gem of the Entropy Center. ASTRA is an AI-controlled device that allows you to scan the space-time continuum and move objects back in time. With it, you can restore collapsed columns, move objects, heat cocoa, and even restore an eaten apple.
The rifle cannot rewind to infinity, but can control 30 seconds. The first puzzles are simple: attach the cube to the switch, turn it off, then back to another. Go to where the switch opened, rewind time to open the exit door by rewinding it to another switch, and move on. It’s not difficult, but it still takes time to get used to.
Yes, you will use the cubes on the floor pressure switches; yes, there are jump pads yes, there is a disembodied voice talking to you about bigger issues. Yes, it’s all been there. But in this style of play, you move smoothly through the story, using the challenge chambers and then delving into the origins of the location.
I felt that every time I went too far with some puzzles, I complicated my life even more.
The game will gradually become more complex, adding the element of walls that will not harm you but will destroy any cube that you try to stretch or rewind through them. This immediately requires you to think outside the box, sometimes forcing you to place two dice on the same switch and move them. And since you have to press four switches, and there are only two cubes, you need to plan well.
The environment is pleasant, and it can also be rewound. Structures will collapse and need to be adjusted to move on. The history of the world is shrouded in mystery, with collectible stories in secluded places. You can read emails on computers and get backstories to get a little idea of what’s happening.
And ultimately, you will find a small goal – to save the planet. After all, as we learn at the very beginning, the purpose of this complex is to save and rewind the earth from the cataclysm. And before our heroine, this was done about 10,000 times, but from what we know, we have to find out where everyone has gone from the station, why these comets fly to the planet, and how we can stop this cycle.
It’s not like this game copied it all, but we’ll shoot things with a special rifle to move them back and forth in time. This will also include bouncing pads to jump to new heights and solve all the puzzles. All with the ultimate goal of being able to rewind the planet.
In my opinion, this might be the best first-person puzzle game since Portal. This is the first puzzle game I’ve played in a long time to understand what made the games it pays homage to so extraordinary. And after passing the demo, I look forward to the release of the full version.
The full version of The Entropy Centre will arrive on PC and consoles later in 2022.
Pros
- Interesting and rare mechanics
- Very nice graphics
- Intriguing plot
- Returns to the origins of the puzzle genre in a new way
Cons
- The game is still in development and is not well-polished
