Who did Time Rewind puzzles better? ToTK or The Entropy Centre?

Comparison of a Shrine puzzle from Zelda: ToTK featuring the Rewind mechanic with a similar time-rewind puzzle from The Entropy Center released in 2022. I had a lot of fun playing The Entropy Centre, and highly recommend it. Read my review below: The Entropy Centre is a FPS that wears its Portal influence on its sleeves, you play as a character trapped on a space station and who has to solve puzzles with the help of a futuristic gun that alters reality. This time around, puzzles are based around time-rewind mechanics, meaning you can manipulate boxes and various contraptions with the help of a time-gun affectionally called "Astra".

This time gimmick is reminiscent of the Recording Device from The Talos Principle, another FPS puzzle game developed by the Serious Sam guys. In Entropy Centre, moving an object will record its trajectory and destination upon a timeline, and you may rewind said objects up to a certain point in order to solve puzzle like say, drop a box on multiple plates in succession which will unlock a locked gate one after the other the more you rewind the timeline of that box. This makes way more sense once you see gameplay footage or play the game yourself after learning the rules of the game (see video related to this post on how to solve a very basic puzzle using time rewind mechanic.)

The time-gun also comes with a talkative AI companion who is fond of making constant dad jokes. This sounds horrible on paper, however there is an endearing quality to the back and forth between the AI and the main character that never reaches a cringe-worthy level of forced reddit humor. The jokes also help with relieving the tense and grim atmosphere of the game due to the nature of the premise, where Earth has suffered a world-ended cataclysmic event and you're set to rewind time in order to literally repair the planet.

And just like in The Talos Principle, lore about the space station can be uncovered by reading emails which are found inside personal computers scattered all around the facility, in which you learn that previous members from the facility are all goofballs who precipited the cataclysm one way or the other.

The gameplay also features short cinematic chase sequences that require use of the time-gun in order to rewind crumbling environment, or fending off against killer robots. Those are never too engaging but they're a nice break from puzzle solving. Puzzles will actually hurt your brain a little due to the nature of wrapping your head around time travel, the game expects you to solve a puzzle starting from the very end and then slowly making your way back to the beginning. Check video related to see how puzzle solving usually goes. The further you get into the game and the more of those puzzle elements get added, like jumping-pads and conveyer belts. Overall, this is a non-pretentious Portal-like game with a nice gimmick.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1730590/The_Entropy_Centre/

00:00 00:40 Zelda: ToTk
00:41 01:03 The Entropy Centre

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