A mind-bending first-person puzzle game called The Entropy Centre, which looks heavily inspired by the Portal series, was revealed during Future Games Show 2022. Developed by indie studio Stubby Games, the upcoming title lets players manipulate time using a high-tech talking gun. While Valve is yet to make Portal 3, The Entropy Centre could be the next best thing.
When it released back in 2007, Valve’s first-person puzzle game Portal blew gamers away with its complex physics-based challenges and witty dystopian narrative. The classic title gives gamers access to the Portal Gun, which is able to create two interconnected doors through space, and tasks them with progressing through the Aperture Science testing facility. Along with its 2011 sequel Portal 2, the game introduced players to the lovably villainous GLaDOS and other eccentric figures inhabiting Aperture Science. For years gamers have been clamoring to see Portal 3, but Valve has yet to make this dream a reality. The Aperture Desk Job Steam Deck demo recently brought players back to the world of Portal, but the indie game The Entropy Center looks to recapture the allure of the classic title.
An official gameplay trailer for The Entropy Center, later posted to YouTube by developer PlayStack, was revealed during Future Games Show 2022. While the game does not feature GLaDOS or a Portal Gun, its premise and first-person puzzle gameplay make it a worthy Portal successor. Taking control of protagonist Aria, players must explore a space station called the Entropy Center to reach its core and save a recently-destroyed Earth. Puzzles are solved using ASTRA, a talking gun capable of moving objects backwards in time. The Entropy Center seems to emphasize placing boxes on pressure plates, a core mechanic of Portal, and also appear to include combat of some sort.
Prior to revealing The Entropy Center during Future Games Fest, Summer Game Fest 2022 had many reveals and gameplay trailers for other highly-anticipated games. The digital event showed off never-before-seen gameplay footage of upcoming titles like The Callisto Protocol and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. A cinematic trailer for Marvel’s Midnight Suns revealed that Spider-Man and Venom will appear in the superhero strategy game, and a remake of The Last of Us was also unveiled by Summer Game Fest host Geoff Keighley.
While it’s not an exact remake of the Portal games, The Entropy Centre seems to capture the greatest elements of Valve’s beloved puzzle series. A unique first-person tool will let players solve a variety of physics-based puzzles in order to traverse an otherworldly and humorously eccentric science facility. By twisting time to their whim with ASTRA, The Entropy Centre players will fight to retroactively save the world.
The Entropy Centre will release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC later this year.
