The Entropy Centre

The Entropy Centre is a more than competent Portal tribute with clever time-manipulation puzzles and an endearing cast, but it doesn't take its clever concept as far as it seems like it should.

With The Entropy Centre behind me, I’m fascinated by what Stubby Games accomplished with its debut. It’s full of excellent puzzles, but the stuff around them, like bugs and narrative pacing, stop the entire package from coming together in an equally impressive way.

Visually, The Entropy Centre can be a bit hit-and-miss. A lot has clearly been put into the visual aspect, but it does often feel like assets are reused over and over. As such, the inside of the facility can often feel a bit stale and samey. The same cannot be said for the outside of the facility, though, where outer space looks incredible and almost picture-perfect.

The Entropy Centre is a difficult first-person puzzle platformer that will reward you for thinking ahead and remaining patient so make sure you're prepared for quite a challenge as well as some needlessly frustrating footwork.

The Entropy Centre looks very similar to Portal. There are identical items and environments, but the time-rewinding mechanic is so unique and well-handled that you'll enjoy solving each room. The story may not be strong enough to carry you through the entire game, but luckily, when combined with the humor, you'll get a very original experience.

The Entropy Centre is truly quite the marvel, especially considering how Stubby Games is a one-man band! Not only does it look and play well, but it is an exceptional puzzle solving experience capable of outlasting all of the very obvious Portal design influences it exudes. The Entropy Centre is worth experiencing from start to finish, and by golly is it a good one.

All in all, The Entropy Centre is a charming and inventive puzzle platformer. It’s nowhere near as memorable or innovative as its main cake-smelling source of inspiration, nor is it particularly replayable, but as a one-off, mind-bending puzzle adventure, yup, this gets the job done with honors for the extention of its runtime, more than making up for what little issues I’ve found in its voice acting and presentation departments as well.

If you just want more Portal, that might make The Entropy Centre enough for you. It's not much more than that, but it also sticks so closely to the formula that it doesn't do anything crazy that would make you dislike the game, either. It's a well-worn path at this point, and The Entropy Centre never once strays from it.

At first glance, The Entropy Centre might look like a Portal clone even in its mechanics can feel very similar, but Stubby Games make the game stand on his own with its puzzles and characters creating a fantastic game for the puzzle fans.

The Entropy Centre has an unexpectedly interesting story with fun interactions between Aria and Astra. The puzzles are novel and present a variety of tools and mechanics to keep you interested, the difficulty stagnates halfway through, but the game is still worth a try.