Entropy Early Access Impression

Entropy is a bleak title with rich world lore that is dolled out little at a time and uncovering the mysteries of the setting is compounded by how difficult it can be to survive.

The word retro to a longtime gamer typically means pixelated 8-bit gameplay.  For those with that mindset, it is harder to think that the early polygon era is also retro.  Lovely Hellplace’s Entropy has taken early polygons, added a decent amount of bleak atmosphere, and created a turn-based RPG that has an unnerving charm to it.  The retro charm is accompanied by punishing difficulty that always keeps players on their toes.  It is a good start to the title with many exciting possibilities for where it will go next while in Early Access.

The player is an understudy for a travelling performance troupe, drinking and having fun away from center stage in the quaint village of Draenog before a show.  They are called to speak a few lines that end up shaping the attributes and starting weapon for themselves, because the town is beset by demons.  Left near death, an odd entity whispers to the players, leading to their recovery and begin to fight their way out.  This begins a journey for the player to tell their hometown that demons are invading again as it twists and turns through desolate and downtrodden countryside where there are almost more bandits than normal citizens.

While Dreanog was recently hit by demons, the capital of Cuvas suffered its own calamity, keeping its populace reeling. This calamity won’t be spoiled here, but combines intriguing mystical elements with a touch of investigative mystery that leads to the type of choice that players wish would have long-term effects for the plot.  The world is filled with places and people that add a new wrinkle into this ill-fated setting.  Powerful god-like beings that mess with the remaining humans, leaving behind cursed grounds, giant snails, and ghostly figures are just the tip of this industrial age fantasy.

The character portrait in Entropy is striking, as is the concept of an artist using futuresque technology in a medieval age to deal with survival.

There are only a few hours of content, which means there are many ways that this world can expand.  The magic system, how the mythical characters in Entropy interact with the world, and what the technological advances found in Cuvas mean to the world at large.  These are all questions that lead to so many different directions the lore could go, so its expansion will be exciting to see continue after such a fun beginning.  Same with how equipment and abilities will evolve, as there are only a few options available to showcase so far.

World map traversal makes for the greatest showcase of the dreary green setting, where it feels like the sun never truly shines on this desolate land.  Moving from place to place will have players occasionally find single-visit events.  Choices can be made during these events that end in either rewards or temporary debuffs for punishment.  The best reward for doing them is the flavour text that adds to the worldbuilding since the rewards aren’t too useful.  Moving on the world map is the only way to encounter random enemies, as those in the dungeons are shown on-screen and will leave decorative corpses behind, even on additional visits.

Entropy‘s combat is not kind to the unprepared.  Healing can be in short supply at first, but will be a necessity.  This is because both party and enemy have lower accuracy totals but hit powerfully.  The percentile can be shown, and watching it can be completely nerve-wracking. This is especially true with the basic starting gear.  Future gear upgrades and adding party members up to the full allotment of six do mitigate the stress a bit, but all players need is one great roll by the enemy to cause permanent damage.

One roll of the dice can lead to devastating results.

In Entropy, being knocked out leads to permanent problems for the player’s party.  There’s a good chance they will lose a limb, with the possibility of their permanent death.  Losing a leg causes mobility issues, while losing their dominant arm makes it impossible for that character to use abilities.  The funds to replace party members are in short supply because gold is a commodity and part of what’s gained is given to the remainder of the group to pay for their services.  Beyond that, only the easy difficulty has a manual save, so if someone is maimed, it is permanent.  Entropy even states that the title is meant to be played on hard to best balance and recognize its difficulty.  Replacing lost party members just takes time to grind for collecting the funds, and the protagonist will always come back to life.  Luckily, enemies also can be maimed, so focusing attacks on body parts for an accuracy drop can lead to destroying an enemy’s weapon, or otherwise cause debilitating damage as well.

Damage can be dealt with medieval weaponry such as swords, spears, and bows, while also mixing in pistols and rifles as rare, powerful alternatives.  Each weapon type has a unique special ability tied to that weapon, with a second one unlockable if that perk is selected from a list obtained at levels three and six.  Other early perks include more powerful spell versions, damage upgrades, or debuffs.  Any character can equip anything, making their attributes, luck in dice rolls, and quality of their gear the only aspects of real importance.

Spells come from two different schools of thought: shapers and channelers.  Shapers have an early focus on damage dealing and buffs, but can branch out into other spells that can be found or bought, while channelers focus more on debuffs.  Both spell types need their particular focus equipped to cast spells.  Characters can obtain new spells from talking to a nearly mythical being that knows more about the state of the world than they let on.  As a result, how spells tie into the lore and why the damage dealing ones start with insect plagues and bile vomiting leads to an intriguing mystery of its own to dig into.

How Entropy develops its unique world and terminology will be interesting to see unfold.

Entropy always feels dark and uninviting to explore.  The old-style polygons and sickly dark green colour palette add to the constant feeling of unease.  Sound effects are visceral, and the crunches really sell the finality that damage can have.  Background music is highlighted by haunting piano and feels unnerving in a lonely manner that sells how the party is on its own in the unforgiving world.

Entropy is a bleak title with rich world lore that is dolled out little at a time and uncovering the mysteries of the setting is compounded by how difficult it can be to survive.  Turn-based combat is always a risk due to how easily party members can be maimed or die from bad luck on the rolls.  Gaining power is addictive though and there’s a promising start to the build customization for the party as it grows.  The setting and difficulty are the main stars, and as long as it doesn’t punish players too much for exploring their intriguing world, the future looks bright for this retro RPG.

Disclosure: This article is based on a copy of the game provided by the publisher.