Centum Review (PS5) – A Reliably Unreliable Review

Few games succeed in challenging expectations. There’s an inherent patience asked of the player to sit with something perplexing, and for Centum, this is a big ask. On the surface, the game is a point-and-click adventure meets an escape room. However, it tries to deliver way more than just a comparable point-and-click, as the game strives to subvert how we look at AI, life and the medium of games.

I’ve taken a couple of days to think about it all before writing this review; it’s an almost indigestible game by design. Described as an unreliable narrative-driven adventure, you’re already at the behest of what it does and doesn’t tell you. And with a 4-6 hour runtime, my brain was like an unsolved Rubik’s cube piecing together the nuggets of narrative Centum left for me to find.

Whilst I came away with a slight grasp on what Centum was trying to convey by the end, I can’t help but think of the other ways I could have carried myself in the choice-based dialogue. Much like the AI programme you’re stuck butting heads with, you’re trying to gauge its intentions whilst it gauges your own. Fitting for a game that uses literal rats as an allegory, it’s a real game of cat and mouse. But which one are you?

Deleting System 32

Centum boots up much like a ’90s desktop; sprawling lines of code fill the screen, system diagnostics are checked, and then you’re met with a desktop. ‘.txt’ files and a web browser with a few tabs litter the home screen for you to peruse. It’s ominous; already, the game is giving you conflicting statements in the text files. Despite the horrible gut feeling I already had from browsing the desktop, I ran the programme, ‘_100.bat’.

I’m immediately transported to a medieval-looking prison cell. Shifting my cursor across the screen, I found very few objects and parts of the environment to interact with. Intentional or not (I assume the former), I felt claustrophobic. There is some way to get out of here, but the how and where are just not visible, and you’re fumbling for an exit for what feels like a life sentence.

Instead, I’m meeting two of the game’s recurring characters. They speak to me with such familiarity, giving me a peek into what might be going on. The dialogue is cryptic, oftentimes verbose and even philosophical in moments. It’s these morsels of “plot development” that I can’t quite wrap my head around that kept me moving forward. However, whilst this is a personal strength of Centum’s delivery, I can totally see players not having the patience and, I guess, letting themselves rot in that prison cell.

This is the first in a handful of “escape rooms”, all of which have a very similar set-up. Minimal interactables, a fine helping of dialogue from characters you’re never really sure to trust and a paranoid sense of dread that I felt like I could only shake if I beat Centum.

Generative AI-ssumption

I’m trying to be as cryptic as the game can be with this review because the less said about Centum, the better. Obviously, things are not what they seem. From the start, you’re not sure what’s real, what’s been created by the AI known as BeeMK, who’s in control of who, what’s the purpose of this programmed escape room existence?

With that said, what is clear is the dissonance between man and machine. There’s grotesque imagery which shocks you as a player, but that’s not quite the intention, at least what I can read from it. The AI that has you trapped playing these games doesn’t really understand the characters’ emotions, it can only interpret and extrapolate.

Part of why I think Centum is so disorienting and acting offensively is because you are inhabiting spaces that don’t understand what it is. And for that to shine through as brilliance means that the developers, Hack The Publisher, need to have an almost unnecessary amount of understanding and indeed empathy to create a grating but entrancing experience.

Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again?

It certainly helps that Centum, despite its attempt at being unsightly, is really quite alluring. The pixel art style oozes with detail, the dilapidated environments and the character designs are haunting, and the atmosphere of it all is enveloping. The soundtrack helps with that too, with swelling orchestral melodies that could be the music for a death march, and strange vocal inflections dance around the score, creating even more of an uncomfortable feeling that the contents of the game are already doing a great job of achieving.

With all that said, Centum is a hard game to recommend to everyone. Do I feel fulfilled, even enriched, after playing it? Yes, I think the developers have turned up with something to say and in an unforgettable way too. But was this at all fun? Not really. Like a rock in your shoe on a long walk, Centum is gnawingly uncomfortable. It doesn’t quite brush the shoulders of being entirely unplayable at all, but its offhandish approach is unwelcoming.

This game is begging to be played multiple times, yet I don’t feel compelled to right now at all. There are a bunch of conversational nooks and crannies and archetypes to lean into that the game riffs on if you go down a certain personality trait. These moments will probably give me an even deeper understanding of what Centum is saying, but I’ll let some other sadist boot up ‘_100.bat’ to see what it all means.

Centum is out now for PlayStation 5 (review platform), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch PC via Steam.

Developers: Hack The Publisher

Publisher: Serenity Forge

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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