If you mix dark fantasy, a post-apocalyptic setting, and a dread-adjacent atmosphere into a game, you’re most likely to pique my interest. The Early Access version of Entropy did it for me, for sure. Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of tactical, turn-based role-playing games, but it only took me a couple of fights to understand I was into something special. Not perfect by any means, of course, but special regardless.
The game’s premise is simple. You are The Player, a troubadour with almost no fighting experience who manages to survive a sudden demon invasion in an otherwise charming town. Your survival is a mystery, one that you must solve at once, all while reporting on the casualties of your fellow performers.
This will lead you on a perilous journey back to your home city, Cuvas. Along the way, you’ll encounter allies who will join you, places to rest and recover from your wounds, and lots of enemies, both human, monsters, and, as said before, demons.
I’m not one of those thirsty for lore-heavy experiences, but I have to say that interacting with key characters to learn about Entropy's lore was compelling enough that I didn't skip the vast majority of text boxes. Which is saying a lot, considering my lack of attention span.
But the meat and potatoes of Lovely Hellplace’s game is its gameplay. Players will have the chance to control a party of up to six different characters, all of which have stats to upgrade and equipment to swap out. You will position them in either the Front or Back rows based on the nature of their attacks (melee, ranged, or magic), and then it’s turn-based combat in all of its glory.
While the game does bombard you with a lot of tutorial pop-ups, which can feel a tad exhausting, the combat isn't particularly complex once you get used to it. Still, Entropy does feature some mechanics that spice things up in a nice way, keeping you on the edge of your seat.
For example, you can target what part of the enemies’ bodies you want to strike, which can lead to a multitude of outcomes. You can miss your strike, of course, but you can also sever limbs mid-battle, effectively making a unit unable to attack. Players can also inflict a variety of status effects depending on their weapon of choice or spells.
And just as much as you can exploit this advantage, you can also become the victim of such cheese-like enemy frenzy. Your characters can get injured during battle and can also be knocked out once their health points are depleted.
Once the battle is over, these downed allies can either survive with side effects that can be permanent, or they can also die for good. And by that, I mean that permadeath can send the members of your party to the great beyond, never to be seen again.
This ends up with either an ever-changing selection of characters you can recruit as mercenaries or a display of very wounded folks who are better off at a retirement home. Either way, this permadeath mechanic, which does not affect The Player, in combination with the injuries, is my favorite part of the game.
Well, actually, I lied. My favorite part of the game is its tone and ambience. As you can probably tell by the screenshots, the game features a very prominent 3D aesthetic. Perhaps I’m a gaming Grinch, but more often than not, I find myself thinking about these sorts of graphics as a gimmick in the year of our Lord 2026.
But when you add the plot, the visual storytelling, the music, and the enemy designs, then you have a game that will instantly creep you out. At one point during your travels, you will encounter a cursed forest filled with snail-human monstrosities that will probably end up giving me endless nightmares in the coming years. That’s awesome.
Other times, you will find yourself in text-based adventures. These share the same feel, tensing you up as you can end up in the depths of hell, health- and status-wise, but also find valuable treasures depending on the choices you make.
Other than a few minor caveats, such as the X-axis camera movement inverting itself when changing from third-person perspective to first-person, or some empty dialogue boxes once an interaction is concluded, I think Entropy is on a great path. Its Early Access version only includes its first act, and a man can only hope they can continue to expand on what they created and keep creeping me out as the story goes on.
