The Entropy Centre

The Entropy Centre is far and away one of the best first-person puzzlers you can play. If the genre does anything for you, you should come away satisfied with what the game has in store.

89%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, stability

89% User Score Based on 2,072 reviews

Critic Score 84%Based on 13 reviews

Platforms

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About

"The Entropy Centre" is a first-person puzzle game where players manipulate time and physics to solve challenging puzzles. As an employee at the titular organization, you'll uncover the mystery behind the facility's purpose and its connection to the fabric of reality. With striking art direction and a thought-provoking narrative, this game offers a unique and engaging experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,072 reviews

story555 positive mentions

grinding66 negative mentions

Engaging puzzles that require thinking in reverse, providing a unique gameplay experience.
Beautiful graphics and atmosphere, creating an immersive environment.
Interesting story with a compelling narrative that keeps players invested.

Puzzles can become repetitive and lack complexity, leading to a feeling of monotony.
Some mechanics, like jumping and platforming, can be frustrating due to inconsistent physics.
The ending feels unsatisfying and predictable, leaving many questions unanswered.

story
1,214 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
51%
3%
The story of "The Entropy Centre" has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its intriguing premise and character development, particularly the relationship between the protagonist, Aria, and her AI companion, Astra. While some found the narrative engaging and well-integrated with the puzzle mechanics, others criticized it for being predictable and lacking depth, especially towards the end. Overall, the game is noted for its compelling lore and environmental storytelling, though some players felt that the pacing and execution could have been improved to enhance the overall experience.
- “The game boasts impressive attention to detail, engaging gameplay, and, most importantly, a storyline that captures your attention and keeps you hooked.”
- “The theme of time travel is always intriguing, and this game leverages it to present a simple yet ingenious story.”
- “The story is interesting enough and there is nothing wrong per se except for it evokes portal and it's nowhere near as fun or well-made.”
- “But the overall story seems disjointed and lazily executed, to the point where it almost seemed like a distraction rather than the game's apparent architecture.”
- “The story is shallow and feels two-dimensional.”
- “The story was really well done, though the game seemed to dump most of the story on you at once, rather than spreading it evenly throughout the game.”
gameplay
741 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
67%
5%
The gameplay of "The Entropy Centre" is heavily inspired by the Portal series, featuring a unique time-rewinding mechanic that adds a fresh twist to traditional puzzle-solving. While the puzzles are engaging and progressively introduce new mechanics, some players find the gameplay can become repetitive and occasionally frustrating due to clunky mechanics and the need to restart puzzles after mistakes. Overall, the game offers a solid experience with a captivating story, though it may not reach the same heights as its inspirations.
- “The game boasts impressive attention to detail, engaging gameplay, and, most importantly, a storyline that captures your attention and keeps you hooked.”
- “The gameplay is smooth, the music is great, the environment is beautiful, and the story is perfect.”
- “The central time-rewind mechanic is innovative and makes for those euphoric epiphanic moments when a puzzle comes together.”
- “The gameplay itself is fine but it's got the problem some object-based puzzle games do where if you mess up even one step, you have to start the whole thing over.”
- “The time mechanics are also quite inconsistent, both in story and gameplay, which is just disappointing.”
- “The main mechanic of rewinding objects in time forces you to think in new and interesting ways while solving puzzles that can get pretty challenging without ever becoming frustrating.”
graphics
232 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
36%
3%
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning visuals, rich detail, and immersive atmosphere, often drawing comparisons to titles like Portal and Control. Players appreciate the vibrant environments, impressive particle effects, and smooth performance even on lower-end hardware, although some noted occasional repetitiveness in asset design. Overall, the visuals significantly enhance the gameplay experience, contributing to the game's engaging story and puzzle mechanics.
- “The visuals are stunning, and the banter is on par with the best of the best.”
- “The environments are rich in detail, the animations of all of the crumbling structures are stellar, the particle effects are really aesthetically pleasing, and the lighting is just bright enough to highlight these strengths without making things look too 'modern'.”
- “The graphics are absolutely stunning, and I was shocked how my poor second generation Intel Core processor and a 1GB VRAM card could run this game at 60fps on max settings.”
- “Overall, I think the game deserves a mediocre 5/10 for its visuals alone.”
- “The game's world design and visuals are washed out, repetitive, and boring.”
- “The graphics look outdated; even Half-Life 2 and Portal have better graphics and sound effects.”
humor
141 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
96%
4%
The humor in "The Entropy Centre" is a mixed bag, drawing comparisons to the iconic wit of the "Portal" series but often falling short of its predecessor's charm. While some players appreciate the lighthearted banter and quirky character interactions, particularly with the AI companion Astra, others find the humor inconsistent or lacking in depth, with some jokes feeling forced or unoriginal. Overall, the game offers a blend of amusing dialogue and situational comedy, but opinions vary on its effectiveness and memorability.
- “The humor is great.”
- “The dialogue is funny and charming; Astra plays the 'I am an AI and I am your friend' trope extremely well.”
- “I found myself laughing recurrently at Aria and Astra's interactions with each other, and it was just the cherry on top of the whole game, in my opinion.”
- “What if Portal was dull and unfunny?”
- “I think the dialogue is regularly pretty bad; the game expects me to have bonded with or started to care about the AI in the gun at points, which is difficult when she's cracking unfunny jokes every other time she speaks.”
- “The dialogue is painfully not funny.”
music
122 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
40%
4%
The music in the game has received widespread praise for its atmospheric and immersive qualities, enhancing the overall experience with a fitting soundtrack that complements the visuals and gameplay. While many players appreciate the soundtrack's ability to set the mood and build tension, some have noted issues with repetitiveness and a lack of intensity during critical moments. Overall, the music is considered a strong aspect of the game, contributing significantly to its appeal despite some minor criticisms.
- “The music and the story were incredible.”
- “The soundtrack contributes well to the overall experience, providing a peaceful backdrop throughout the game.”
- “The music did a phenomenal job at building tension, as did the action set pieces and key moments.”
- “The only comment I want to make on the music is that there were a lot of chase/intense areas where there was a threat like rising water or robots chasing you, where the music was just not intense at all. Other than that, the sound design in the game is great.”
- “A huge minus for me is the extremely limited soundtrack.”
- “The music for me was a little bit of a letdown, I must say.”
atmosphere
81 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
36%
4%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its captivating visuals, immersive sound design, and strong environmental storytelling, drawing heavy inspiration from the Portal series while maintaining its own unique identity. Players appreciate the blend of mystery, tension, and humor, with many noting the effective use of lighting and music to enhance the overall experience. However, some critiques mention that while the atmosphere is engaging, the gameplay can sometimes detract from the overall immersion.
- “The setting and atmosphere of the game is absolutely incredible; it's like if you took the oldest house from Control and combined it with the architecture of Mirror's Edge Catalyst, then added next-gen lighting and draped it with the overgrown areas of Portal 2.”
- “The visuals and atmosphere are very similar to Portal, so if you liked Portal, then you will definitely like this game.”
- “The entropy center builds on the mind-bending puzzles of Portal, creates a realistic and believable atmosphere, and has an intricate story that truly makes you feel like part of another world.”
- “I found it to have a lot of excitement and mystery, with an unsettling atmosphere and a bit of existential dread.”
- “In short, the game sets the atmosphere of mystery well, the soundtrack does a great job of amplifying that sensation but the visual storytelling falls short.”
- “The atmosphere is very ominous and creepy and there is a surprisingly grim story at the center of the game.”
grinding
70 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
4%
94%
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly in the later stages where puzzles become repetitive and require excessive setup for minor mistakes. While the puzzles start off engaging, they often lack complexity and can feel formulaic, leading to frustration as players are forced to redo lengthy sequences without significant rewards. Despite some appreciation for the mechanics and story, many reviewers express that the experience becomes a chore rather than an enjoyable challenge.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “The puzzles start off stupidly easy, and when they do finally get difficult, they also start getting tedious.”
- “The puzzles are hard, which is good, but tedious, which is very bad and turns the difficulty into a negative.”
- “After about 70% of the way through the game, the puzzles started feeling tedious and unfun; I never really had that 'aha!' moment.”
optimization
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
54%
12%
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while many players report smooth performance and high frame rates on powerful hardware, others experience significant issues, particularly in particle-heavy scenes and during specific gameplay moments. Some users noted that the game runs well on lower-end systems and even on the Steam Deck, but there are still complaints about frame drops and sluggish movement in certain areas. Future updates are hoped for to address the performance inconsistencies and enhance the overall experience.
- “Optimization is on a high level.”
- “The game feels very optimized, which is phenomenal for launch day!”
- “I played the majority of this game on an aging Ryzen 3200G (before updating to a gaming laptop) and it ran surprisingly well on both systems, so performance and optimization has been very well done.”
- “The only issues I really had were the somewhat sluggish movement and the sections with the 'ghosts' causing major performance issues even with all settings on low.”
- “The biggest frustration of all though, is the performance.”
- “Refunding mostly due to very poor performance, game running at 90fps but stuttering constantly no matter the settings.”
emotional
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by the touching dynamic between the characters Aria and Astra, which evokes a range of feelings from joy to heartbreak. Players report being unexpectedly moved by the story and character interactions, with some expressing deep emotional connections to in-game elements, such as a talking weapon. However, opinions vary on the effectiveness of certain emotional moments, with some feeling that key scenes lacked impact or resolution, leading to mixed feelings about the overall emotional payoff.
- “The story and the lore behind the game are emotional, heartbreaking, yet captivating and original.”
- “I cried, I felt existential dread, I felt triumph.”
- “Lovable characters, humorous dialogue, difficult puzzles, and even heartfelt moments that left me with tears in my eyes.”
stability
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
93%
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many players reporting various bugs and glitches, particularly related to physics and puzzle mechanics, which can lead to frustration and unintended solutions. While some users experienced frequent crashes and significant issues, others noted a relatively smooth experience with only minor glitches that did not severely impact gameplay. Overall, the game is seen as needing further polish, but many players found it enjoyable despite its stability issues.
- “The game is pretty well polished and runs great.”
- “Runs great on Steam Deck.”
- “Bug-free experience. I was afraid because some time ago I played the demo and saw quite a lot of crashes and bugs. My congratulations to the developers; I completed the game and only encountered one visual bug/glitch, which didn't affect the game in any way.”
- “It's an interesting game, but it crashes or freezes every 20-30 minutes, which makes it really hard to put up with.”
- “- buggy at times and completely unstable at some points of the game - prone to crashing or lag when a box collides with terrain awkwardly, jump pads are uniquely frustrating in their inconsistency, and act 12 crashed about ~30 times before I could get through it.”
- “The entropy center requires a lot of polishing to be done: it's easy to lose a minute or two by re-doing a puzzle because of the box being hidden in geometry, physics glitches can kill you during the intended sequences and allow you to skip the levels in unintended ways, the decorations phasing out at some angles also need fixing.”
replayability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The game offers significant replayability primarily through its robust mod support, in-game level editor, and user-created levels, which provide virtually endless content for players who enjoy creating or playing maps. However, the inherent limitations of puzzle games mean that once puzzles are solved, replay value may diminish, making it less appealing for those seeking to revisit the same challenges. Overall, while the game has strong replay elements, particularly for the creative community, its core experience may not entice players to return frequently.
- “The game also includes an in-game level editor and level browser to play user-created levels; this gives basically infinite replayability whether you enjoy creating or playing maps. The editor feels like a game engine with a complete free-build setup.”
- “Technically, this game has infinite replay value.”
- “This would be great for the puzzle-making community and give replayability for all of the players who want to keep doing puzzles.”
- “Not much replayability beyond the custom levels, but overall an experience I'm glad to have.”
- “For about the 15 hours to completion it took me, I’d say it had enough value despite not being the most replayable.”
- “The only problem with puzzle games is once you have solved the puzzle, there is no real replayability outside of finding all the journal entries.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Character development in the game has received mixed feedback; while some players appreciate the unique features and engaging story that contribute to character growth, others feel it falls short compared to similar titles, particularly in depth and complexity. Overall, the narrative and character design are praised, but the development aspect is noted as less prominent than expected.
- “This game had surprised me with its quality music, narrative, character design, and aesthetic environment.”
- “After cracking the initial shell of the game open, I thoroughly enjoyed the unique features, story, character development, and sheer mind-boggling paradoxes of navigating time puzzles.”
- “Absolutely love it, the game has a great story and good character development.”
- “It takes clear inspiration from Portal, but with higher stakes, more devious puzzles, and a slight bit less character development.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers express mixed feelings about the game's monetization, noting a lack of aggressive advertising and a reasonable price point compared to AAA titles. However, some players still harbor a dislike for advertisements and feel uncomfortable with promotional tactics. Overall, the monetization approach is seen as less intrusive than in many other games.
- “I hate advertisements, and promoting myself feels awkward, so I'll just mention it here.”
- “Some reviewers forget that they didn't pay a 'AAA price' for this game, yet they are bombarded with ads everywhere, telling them how amazing it is and how they should preorder months in advance.”