The Entropy Centre (2022)

Anyone who has seen trailers likely can't help but compare Entropy Centre to Portal. And while the comparison isn't exactly wrong, I always find it unfair to compare IP's like this. It holds the new game up to what can potentially be an impossible standard, and also takes away from what they've accomplished. So, yes, if you enjoy puzzles games like Portal, then you're likely going to enjoy this one as well. But, there's so much more to this game.

You wake up in a room with no memory, with AI announcements guiding you to a talking "gun," which will be your guide through the game. Yup, it's a familiar concept. This time, the reasons for your puzzling aren't some AI Overlord testing you for...who knows what. You are trying to save the world.

It's a bit of a fantastical concept - you're doing puzzles to create "entropy energy" which will help turn back Earth to avoid disaster - but you're also on a moon base, so, hey. The story itself is actually quite deep despite this rather simple premise. There's some mysteries to unfold - like, where did everyone else go? - a few twists, and extra tidbits found on working computers. All of which is presented with charming voice acting work for player character, Aria, and Astra, your AI entropy device companion. Also, the cutest of bots: E.

The puzzles themselves are fun and some can be quite challenging. There are a few in the later levels that I had quite the trouble with. Which leads me to really my only complaint. The levels are not skippable in any way, which is a major accessibility issue. There should be an option after failing so many times or with a certain command to bypass a puzzle. Whether it's because you can't figure it out or because you can't physically do a puzzle, you should be able to continue with the story. It was extremely frustrating the few times I just could NOT finish a puzzle, despite knowing how to do it, and needing someone else to do it for me. Overall though, the puzzles are enjoyable and allow for some clever play, with new types of elements added to your arsenal almost every chapter/set of puzzles, which helps to keep things fun.

I would recommend this to any fan of puzzle games or someone looking to get into the genre. And, I hope the devs will consider an update in the future for more accessibility.

The game is not super bad, but mostly disappointing. A time-reversing sounds like a cool puzzle mechanic, with potentially mind-blowing applications and a lot of "aha moments". But instead, it's almost always used to guide cubes along a path. Most rooms I solved almost immediately by just thinking which pressplates needed to be pressed in which order and moving the cube in reverse.

You realise the game is fresh out of ideas when it introduces the conveyor belt and your time-reversing gun is now just a button that reverses its direction.

I quit in a puzzle in which the tiniest mistake made me restart it all over again, and which the physics and not-precise-enough platforming made it unbearable.

So, this is a Portal 2 fangame. It doesn't matter what they called it: it's a Portal 2 fangame. That's fine, tho, it's a neat Portal 2 fangame, but it makes its inspiration very very clear.

The "999999..." joke (twice!), the solid light bridges, the laser cubes, the setting being an abandoned testing facility where an automatized male voice guides you over the brightest era of the building, but after the halfway points it starts falling apart because lack of maintenance on an important piece of machinery.

It's okay, and fun enough to play, but when you're playing you can't ignore that feeling of "I played this game, but better, before".

The time rewind mechanic is cool, but it's also more limited than Portal's... portals, and it shows: the last third of the game becomes slow and repetitive, as there's only so much variation you can do with "figure out what route those cubes need to follow so you can rewind later". A shame, because the first half it's very fun to play.

I have also found some slight glitches, although nothing too gamebreaking: a door opened without unlocking it first without buttons, and the physics engine reaaaaally doesn't like water, as cubes go usually flying around when you try to pick them up from a river.

For all it lacks on gameplay, tho, it gives on writing. The dialogue is hilarious and both Aria and Astra are wonderful and easily likable characters. The background storytelling you can get by reading emails forms an interesting enough story and rewards a bit of exploration, even if the computers aren't usually really that far away from the path.

All in all, what all its flaws, I enjoyed it. It's not perfect, but a fun puzzle game is a rarity nowadays and, if Valve keeps on not giving me more Portal, this'll do.