The Entropy Centre

This game was provided by the developer/publisher. Thank you!

The Entropy Centre is a first-person puzzle game where you are tasked to think...in reverse! Solve complex puzzles with your trusty AI gun ASTRA and manipulate objects in this time-bending adventure to find the truth behind The Entropy Centre and save Earth...if you can. I couldn't help but compare this to Portal 2 a bit, but I wouldn't say it is a negative statement here. I felt a similar joy playing this and I enjoyed the visuals and witty dialog I encountered throughout my time. I can say, without a doubt, it was definitely worth the experience. But now we have to take a look on how it really runs on the Steam Deck!

The Entropy Centre Max Settings

Since the demo, The Entropy Centre has come a long way and definitely gotten significantly better in terms of optimization, but it is not perfect. At max settings, depending on the area, you will get a range of 30-50 FPS with battery drain around 22W - 25W. This fluctuated even more when moving around, so max settings definitely isn't the way to go, at least not like this!

Rewinding to Optimization

Thankfully, with how much more optimized The Entropy Centre is now, I was able to easily get 3 different builds focusing on different aspects. This one was harder for me to choose which I preferred, but the battery focus will be my favorite as it still feels really smooth, looks great, and lasts a bit longer than the others. For the recommended build, I kept all settings on high except for Shadows and Effect quality, a 1152x720 resolution and FSR Sharpness 1, and resolution scale of 70%, I was able to keep battery drain under 14W most of the time, with the average being around 12.5W for 3+ hours of battery life.

I then proceeded to create a build that would keep almost all settings on ultra with a 100% resolution scale. This was achievable with a 40 FPS cap, shadow quality on high, and TDP limit of 11. While the TDP could be pushed higher and could maybe increase framerate to 50, there were too many times the game dropped framerate noticeably and 40 just felt way more comfortable.

From there, I decided to create a 60 FPS build as well, but it does require some compromises. With this build, you will get around the same battery drain as the quality, but everything will need to be lowered a bit. The compromises aren't so bad in the grand scheme, and it is harder to separate on the smaller screen, but it can be noticeable in certain places regarding high concentrations of shadows.

Minor Stuttering Occurrences

Regardless of whichever build I chose, there were always certain sections that stuttered a little. This mainly occurred when entering new areas, though running around semi-outside areas that have collapsing architecture tended to slow things down a bit too. These only lasted 5 seconds at most and then went back to normal, but they did still happen and wouldn't completely go away. Otherwise, I didn't have much issue keeping stable framerates!

結論

The Entropy Centre was one of the demos I tried for NEXT last month and loved the premise and visual presentation, so it brings me great pleasure to say it has only gotten better! In the demo, hitting 40 felt like a stretch, but being able to hit 50 and 60 so easily and stable while staying under 20W drain is an accomplishment. Overall, the pros heavily outweigh the cons and I am happy to recommend adding this one to your libraries!

このレビューはPC版に基づいています。

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