The Entropy Centre

This will sound negative, but I give games five stars if I intend to archive them and revisit them, and because more nuance than that tends to be lost on the internet. It has flaws and those flaws detract from it, but while I'll pick at those flaws, understand that the game succeeds. It's good! It's worth the money. It's a puzzle shooter that wants to be a thought-provoking in the vein of Portal. Does it succeed? That's in the eye of the beholder, but I'd call it a "worthy successor." The puzzles are good, though sometimes you end up fighting with physics-on-physics puzzles and those get messy and random. It has platforming in a first person puzzle shooter which is hmmm. It also wants to have these exciting psuedo-combat sections that feel like cinematic action pieces, but these moments are pretty mixed: often more frustrating than fun, but sometimes it manages to hit the sweet spot. I've also run into some technical issues and crashes, so it's not entirely stable. But even with those flaws, it held me all the way to the end. I personally wouldn't call this the best game ever, but it's a worthy addition to a collection. It's not an instant classic that you're missing out on if you skip it, but it's totally worth the asking price and you won't feel like you wasted your money. If you're into the genre, it's a must buy.

The Entropy Center is a fun game centered on completing puzzles that at their core boil down to sorting out the order of operations and positioning your character to make it through. I found the puzzles to be on the easier side, but there were definitely some challenging puzzles and head scratchers as well which is nice. The game introduces new puzzle elements at a good rate, and progress continues at a comfortable pace. You likely won't feel overwhelmed. That said, I compared my experience to a buddy of mine and he had more trouble with some of the puzzles, had come up with different solutions, and found some more secrets and pathways that I had missed. So the game does have some room for experimentation and not every playthrough will be exactly the same. The story is fun. I think some will love it and some will hate it. It drives the story forward and gives some reason to keep working at making progress. The characters are enjoyable, I didn't find anyone to be annoying or unappealing. The progress towards completion marker in the game is driven by the story and not the puzzle itself so it can feel a bit arbitrary, but it's really not a major issue. One puzzle may say you have made more progress than another, but it's really just each one level. The environments are pretty nice, and the Entropy Center feels realistic enough, though comically stylized. Offices are built into the puzzles, beaches are set up for parties in a humourous way, etc. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and seems to be poking a bit of fun at the Silicon Valley tech company workplace experience a bit. It helps lighten the mood on the story elements at times. If I had to put forth any areas where the game could improve, it may be that some of the puzzle elements never have a master-level puzzle to truly push the player to their limits. There is a level editor, but it's mostly a ghost town, and I wasn't much good at making my own levels. The one's other players made were fun though. 9/10

For those of us who are die hard Portal fans, The Entropy Centre is a wonderful gift. All the major Portal mechanics are here -- fans, light bridges, launch pads, laser cubes -- but now instead of portals, we get ... time rewinding. That makes the puzzles and their solutions quite different. I found the puzzles overall challenging but rewarding, and mixed up in between with interesting lore and interludes blowing up angry robots. The world-building is gorgeous. It really is a lovely environment to move through. The overall storyline is quite interesting as well, full of melancholy and tragedy. Unlie Lightmatter, another Portal clone, there's no antagonist in this game, and that does leave the game world feeling a little empty. You do have a companion, who is sweet and quite intertaining, but the lack of a proper antagonist does sap some of the momentum, especially in those sections that involve walking through an long series of silent corridors. The only other complaint is that although this is a Portal clone, it does not have Portal's smooth ninja-esque mechanics. There were several puzzles that I solve theoretically but struggled to execute because of clunky mechanics. That said, this was mostly produced by a one-person development team, so in light of that, these weaknesses seem meaningless. The Entropy Centre gave me nearly 14 hours of puzzle-solving delight, alongside some excellent voice acting to keep things light. Highly recommended.

The game is as similar to Portal as you can get, maybe after The Talos Principle. The time rewinding concept is much better thought than in Talos 1 (where recording was a chore for me). Here you can rewind objects. The concept is quite simple, and once you get the backwards thinking gimmick, you've pretty much are set up for the whole game. The difficulty is well-balanced, you really don't need to look up the solutions. Yet, you are still entertained with new puzzle machanics, which will keep them from being trivial. For me, this balance is a sign of a good puzzle design. Speaking of design, there are few issues: -automatic saving - it would be ok, if you were clearly told how long ago the game has been saved. I ended up exiting a few times, only to return one puzlle behind. - chase, and fight sequences. I get you need to brak the puzzle sequence once in a while, but those become tiresome, especially one particular chase. -platforming precision - it may be just me, but platforming and aiming to jump cubes was challenging at times. Technical issues: - GOG version does not support achievements. I mean it does in theory, but it is bugged somehow, and I found few people with the same problem. Technical issues

It's great, the puzzles are fun, the setting is nice, the story is a bit sad but the characters are very entertaining and funny to listen to. The music and sounds in general are very well achieved. The enemies are adorable, I don't like destroying them but then they hit me hard. Overall, is totally recommended.