The Entropy Centre Review
Release Date: November 3rd, 2022
Developers: Stubby Games
Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (Reviewed), PC (Steam, GOG), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Price: $24.99
The concept of time has always been a fun theory to play around with in all forms of media, though more often than not a lack of research and structure can cause time manipulation to fall flat and confuse rather than entertain audiences. The Entropy Centre, however, is another game that utilizes the concept of time manipulation as a mechanic to solve its puzzles and does so in a way that's actually compelling yet simplified to keep things focused and fun throughout. Though we've seen games in all sorts of genres in puzzles, adventures, platformers, etc. utilize time reversal, forwarding, slowing, bending, and more as a gameplay loop, The Entropy Centre stands out as one that is not only consistent with the mechanic but witty and humorous throughout, making for an entertaining trek through puzzles in a Portal-like manner that wears its inspirations proudly on its sleeve.
The Entropy Centre puts players in the shoes of Aria, waking up in a facility with no real recollection of the course of events currently happening, but she quickly realizes that things don't seem to be put all together - in some cases literally - as no one is around and the facility has become fairly dilapidated. After a bit of exploration and understanding the basic controls, players will eventually find themselves in the hands of the entropy gun which opens up the game from here. This gun also comes with a fun AI installed named ASTRA, and they're responsible for the bulk of the humor in the game outside of the various computers you'll interact with while progressing. These computers come with well over 70 logs in total for the player to find, and they're a great incentive to reach secret areas when going through the more adventure portions of the game. One of the best things about these logs, however, is that they're sort of all over the place in terms of the content you'll receive in the emails that are being sent to one another. Usually, they'll be important pieces to the story to help with lore and world-building, but other times they can consist of random messages like "I have a hidden stack of beans underneath the cabinet if you want some" and repeated messages of the word "Cat" in one particular desk that was filled with cat food and pictures of cats.
It's worth noting that ASTRA and Aria make a great team, and the writing is as witty and funny as it is superb. Though I wish there was a lot more done to the story that made things feel more hectic given the circumstances of the potential "end of the world" storyline, their friendly banter, and ASTRA's blunt comments on situations no matter how dire or relaxed kept me laughing at consistent intervals throughout The Entropy Centre. For me, the balance of humor and the more serious moments when focusing on the puzzles within the facility carried a nice harmony that never really felt like one puzzle would overwhelm in time before another joke or snarky remark would come up by then. It can't be stressed enough how excellently written the dialogue is, though admittedly The Entropy Centre has gotten me to a point where I am beginning to feel borderline fatigued by the usual comedic evil company trope that has been growing rapidly over the years, popularized hugely by Portal and The Stanley Parable.
While we've had plenty of "facility-based" puzzle games in the past, The Entropy Centre does a great job of reminding the player that they're far from the solid ground and soil we're used to and instead are on a facility in space by having fantastic backdrops when outside of enclosed puzzles, with stars illuminating the skybox in the dome they find themselves in. Almost menacingly, Earth looks down while the players look up, but Earth doesn't look like how we know it to be. This plays a huge part in the reversal process that the player is working towards, and I massively appreciated the fact that we weren't constantly being boxed in to the same eroded walls, and both the adventure and puzzle aspects of the game had varied enough environments that included rivers (even as part of the puzzle), tons of trees, cliffs, and even beaches - but all of this was still in line with what you would expect in a facility with how it was designed. It gave off that artificial vibe but still being attractive enough that it could remain a healthy enough place for the mind of test subjects and employees that spent a good bulk of their time - and potentially lived - there.
Technically, The Entropy Centre is a fantastic puzzle game that looks incredible on next-gen consoles, and as someone who spent more time with it on Xbox Series S instead of Xbox Series X, it's a powerhouse title that shows what the system is capable of. It looks and plays astoundingly on an Xbox Series X, but likewise, there were little to no differences on the Xbox Series S other than odd frame drops that would rarely occur when certain parts of an environment (not the entire environment) would have a high density of foliage on screen. Again, this was rare, however, and these instances would occur briefly (albeit just as rare) on Xbox Series X. Otherwise, the ray tracing and visual fidelity throughout make the puzzles that much more immersive, and with its massive inspiration from the likes of Portal and The Turing Test, one can imagine that The Entropy Centre is a great representation of if those games were made today with cutting edge technology.
Overall, throughout The Entropy Centre, players will find themselves utilizing the time mechanic in many ways that goes beyond placing cubes in certain areas. With being able to rebuild and destroy structures at will, place (and move) bridges, aim lasers, collapse and erect boxes, fling yourself through corners of the map with springs, and more, the game offers ample opportunity to put your brain to work all while doing so in what feels like genuine exercises that go with the game's story of having to build entropy energy with each completed puzzle to save Earth. Though some of the puzzles later on can become rather lengthy, they're rarely tedious or difficult for those proficient in puzzlers. All this makes for a well-paced game that easily makes The Entropy Centre one of the most inventive, creative, and fun puzzle games in years. It easily makes you want to turn back the clock once it's done to play it all over again.
PROS:
The Entropy Centre is a graphical powerhouse that runs beautifully on Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X
The dialogue is well written and the humor is charming, chuckling throughout.
The Entropy Centre is consistently inventive and creative, making every puzzle a blast to play through and experience.
Genuinely feels as if you're a test subject at points.
CONS:
The game as a whole loads incredibly fast, so failures, transitions, and the sort take virtually no time at all to come back from. However, there's a slight issue when turning the camera and flashes begin to occur on screen, where you can see the game quickly loading in assets and portions of the environment that have been removed.
A huge thank you to Playstack and Stubby Games for providing us with a copy of The Entropy Centre for the purposes of this review!