The Entropy Centre

I really wanted to like this game and to some degree I did, but although the environment was gorgeous and the concept fun & appealing, I was really disappointed at the puzzle designs and general progression of the game. The story starts well enough and there were a few puzzles that I really found intriguing, but the majority of them are either so simple that you just breeze through them or so quirky that you end up repeating the same actions over and over again because your jump didn't line up quite right and now you have to redo your entire setup. That's not fun, that's not clever, that's just frustrating. Add to that an ending that... well, let's just say that it was [spoiler]totally anticlimactic[/spoiler].

Великолепная игра, практически на одном уровне с играми серии Portal. Неплохая графика, увлекательные хоть и не слишком сложные головоломки, приятные персонажи и вдумчивая история. Астра однозначно ЖЕНА!

PEAKKKKKKKKKK, es un juego estilo portal pero con una mecánica muy guapa de rebobinar en el tiempo. goty

At first, I was worried this would just be another Portal clone with a mediocre story. Thankfully, the game proved me wrong almost immediately. One thing that sets it apart from many other puzzle games is how much freedom it gives you. Instead of having only one or two obvious places where puzzle pieces can be used, most objects can be moved and placed in multiple locations. Many puzzle games feel too restrictive, making the solutions obvious after a few seconds. Here, the variety of puzzle elements and the freedom to experiment made solving them genuinely enjoyable, and I liked the vast majority of the puzzles. The game is also beautiful and tells a genuinely engaging story with a message that really resonated with me. That said, some environments felt a little too simplistic. While everything looked massive and impressive at first glance, many areas lacked the smaller details that make environments feel alive. Large, plain walls and wide open seascapes with only a few mountains occasionally made parts of the world feel a bit empty. My biggest complaint, however, was the repeated "mini-boss" encounters. The game tried to keep them fresh by introducing new mechanics, such as explosive crates, but the core strategy never really changed: wait for the attack, reflect it back at the robots, and repeat. That wouldn't have been a problem if there had only been a few of these encounters, but there were so many that they eventually became repetitive. The game also had few bugs. None of them were game-breaking, but they occasionally made solving puzzles more frustrating, especially toward the end. For example, some blocks would randomly refuse to rewind all the way back to their starting position, so you hade to solve the puzzle two times. One thing I especially want to mention is the chase sequences. For some reason, they always felt incredibly refreshing and were a welcome change of pace between the puzzle sections. Overall, I can strongly recommend this game. It's genuinely impressive that it was created by a single developer. The price, the length, and the overall experience all felt well balanced, making it well worth playing.

Tries to emulate Portal in many ways, but apart from *some* later puzzles, it in my opinion fails to make the puzzles fun and challenging and unfortunately fails to elicit the same narrative highs of its inspiration, despite an interesting concept and some very successful sequences.

Скучная элементарная головоломка с отвратительным техническим исполнением. Бросил когда в очередной раз предельно очевидно что надо сделать, но просто технически невозможно это исполнить, потому что в игре нестабильные коллизии. Ты прыгаешь, тебя по механике должно вернуть на ту же высоту, но игра споткнулась об саму себя и хрен тебе. Механически игра завязана на перемотке времени отдельных объектов, тебе надо выстраивать цепочку из нескольких действий, и вот ты выполнил уже три-пять действий, разложил последовательность на минуту, тебе не прокает коллизия и начинай сначала, потому что себя перемотать ты не можешь и должен всю минутную цепочку повторить. Это просто тупо. Игра пытается копировать портал, но делает это неуклюже. Сюжет... не могу сказать какой он, не знаю чем кончится, но пока ... ну есть. Пространства бессмысленные. Они просто наполнены ассетами и висят в пустоте. Почему? ну патамушта. Это в целом глупая претензия, висят и висят, если интересно и классно... не интересно и не классно, по этому и обращаешь внимание на бессмысленность пространств. Все головоломки очень казуальны с точки зрения понимания что надо сделать, и неудобны с точки зрения того как это исполнить. Причём не по задумке, а потому что баги коллизий. Саунд норм. Визуал - дефолтные ассеты. Игру можно пройти, но небольшими интервалами и с перерывами, чтоб баги не успевали выбесить. А вот получить удовольствие... Сомнительно. Портал по скидке стоит дешевле (причём оба), а эмоционально - ну это даже не близко. Игра может зайти если вот прям вообще не во что поиграть в жанре пазлов, а тут ещё и распродажа и ну почему бы не попробовать. При других обстоятельствах - нет.

8 out of 10 Game is really challenging but not impossible. Has some bugs here and there and I was able to flatout cheat on the last puzzle cuz I didn't feel like doing the required steps, even if at that point I knew what had to be done. A lot of thought went into making the puzzles though so I don't knock it at all. The side characters are likeable as is the main character. The plot thickens quite well and it starts to get mentally existential. The ending is bittersweet, but it's not a bad thing. It just didn't feel all that rewarding. It made me feel a bit empty like it's all pointless. But even at the very beginning of the game I correctly guessed exactly what the plot was. Still, if a sequel is ever happening, maybe offer a bit more closure.