The Entropy Centre is without a doubt one of the best games you will play this year, a true GOTY contender, and saying this in the year of Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West & God of War Ragnarok truly says a lot about the excellent quality that is present in this game.
Earth is doomed, destroyed, obliterated and it's the job of the Entropy Centre, this massive brutalist-style inspired structure on the Moon to save it by rewinding time back. However, the Entropy Centre has seen better days as the structure is in complete ruins and only you, Aria, the protagonist of the game, and her trusty new Entropy Device powered by a lovely AI named Astra are left to save the day.
Your task is simple; solve puzzles to generate enough entropy energy to rewind the Earth. Sounds easy, right? But here's the thing, the puzzles here are all based on rewinding time. Where in Portal you had to think with portals to move forward, in The Entropy Centre you have to think with time, and the execution is nothing short of phenomenal.
Puzzles mostly revolve around using boxes to activate switches. Of course, as you progress through the game, more types of boxes that serve like jump pads or shoot a laser or even create a light bridge and some other cool mechanics are gradually unlocked which raises the complexity of the puzzles. But here's the thing, you have to think backward to solve the puzzles.
The Entropy Device can only rewind time so the whole challenge is to find the correct position where to place these boxes so that when you rewind them, these cubes will allow you to move forward. The game does a wonderful job with its puzzle design to acclimate you to this way of thinking about things, and once it clicks with you, that's it, you will have "mastered" thinking with time. It's a little bit hard to explain it in words, but if you see a gameplay video of how a puzzle is generally set up and solved, you will understand. The important thing here is that it's a fairly unique experience, the puzzle design is fantastic, and solving them is extremely gratifying. It's rare for a puzzle game to make you feel like a genius, but The Entropy Centre succeeds in this with flying colors and I was absolutely in love with it from start to finish.
Apart from the fantastic puzzle design and gameplay, the presentation also deserves a lot of credit. The game is absolutely gorgeous. I am a sucker for games that use a brutalist-inspired art style and the rendition here is fantastic. Much like Control, one of the best games ever made, the atmosphere while roaming through the empty monolithic halls with rough, unfinished surfaces and tiny office spaces with retro-futuristic tech is uninviting and slightly intimidating. You are completely alone in this massive space and no matter how hard it is, it's up to you to save the day. The sound design, voice acting, and writing are also fantastic. I absolutely loved all of the exchanges and banter between Aria and the quippy Astra. I also loved how their relationship grew throughout the game as it didn't feel forced, but very natural, organic, and ultimately just cute.
The Entropy Centre, as I mentioned in the beginning, is one of the best games I've played this year. The story and premise are intriguing. Its gameplay and puzzle design are unique, smart, and satisfying. And on top of all that, it also looks and sounds amazing. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the game is made by a solo developer which is absolutely insane to think what just one dude has managed to achieve. Kudos to him! The Entropy Centre gets an "Essential" stamp of approval from me. Get the game and play it. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a PS5 using a promo code supplied by the PR. The Entropy Centre is out now on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
