CHR$(143)
I started writing this review but got distracted and kept playing it.
Its pretty challenging but learning and overcoming a level gives a good level of satisfaction, but do be prepared to end up sitting on a level for an hour or so trying to learn whats going on slowly revealing all the intricate parts especially on the fog of war levels.
If you enjoy logic puzzles and perhaps a lil logic coding CHR143 is more than worth the asking price.
– Real player with 101.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Automation Building Games.
CHR$(143) is an absolutely mystifying game. Behind its retro drapery in the style of the Amstrad CPC (a computer both slightly before my time and popular on the wrong continent altogether) is a construct that tears apart the modern rubric for successful games.
The result is something that is equally wondrous and maddening. The sense of discovery experienced here is something unlike anything I have experienced since the original Portal. New gameplay elements will be introduced that will come totally out of left field - once you’re out of those tutorial levels, how will they work, how will they behave, especially in a strange and quirky physics implementation? It will be on you to find out - this game demands you to experiment!
– Real player with 50.4 hrs in game
Factorization
This is sadly a hard no. I reviewed it right upon release and mostly complained about small basic quality of life things like zooming in and out and laying down conveyors by dragging instead of clicking each tile. There was an update that added a lot of that stuff so I gave it another go! I played for another 6 hours! no bueno
The workers completely ruin the look and flow of the game. They also blatantly glitch out. In my 6 hours I had to restart I think 4 or 5 times due to the workers just completely stopping. It always happened when I would add a few more workers or upgrade a few of them. I’d restart the game, change nothing and magically they would go back to work. Even when the workers do their jobs it’s just annoying to have to manage that. If there were an interface for worker upgrades or something maybe but there is no such thing. so you have to click on each one to upgrade them.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Automation Building Games.
OK, this is awesome, it took me a bit, but Awesome
I am finally making some money now, (well going back up now ) :-)
better than I thought and I know it will get better and better!!!
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Monster Logic
One of the best programming games I’ve played. Lots of levels and a variety of interesting ways to solve each one.. Competitive leaderboards, the top score in some of these puzzle are already pretty crazy. You are going to have to be super creative in order to match them. There are three categories for the leaderboards and your best score in each category for the puzzle is automatically saved. (Zachtrnoics take note please)
I have played almost every programming game on steam and this is probably my second favorite. With my favorite being EXAPUNKS
– Real player with 86.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Automation Hacking Games.
First off, I was a beta tester and received the game for free.
It might be scary for those who are not particularly into programming to look at the store page and see stuff like “Based on esoteric programming languages Befunge and Trefunge”. It could make you think this game is “too niche” and not for you.
Now, I don’t know whether you’ll actually like it or not, but let me tell you this: I had never even heard of Befunge or Trefunge before playing this, and I’m not a programming enthusiast or anything. I just looked at it as a fun puzzle game with cute monsters and animations and tried to solve the levels as best I could using good old logic.
– Real player with 54.5 hrs in game
Warp Factory
Really good Zachlike - it’s basically 2D infinifactory with portals.
It’s less optimisation focused than most of Zach’s games, and doesn’t have leaderboards/histograms to compare yourself to other players. Instead, there’s challenge variants on some maps, such as complete in under 250 cycles, or complete without using sensors and conveyors. To me, these are better than just having histograms because they’re chosen to match the level, and optimising every single level for size/time does tend to get a bit samey. (it also means I’m not constantly reminded how inferior my solutions are!)
– Real player with 91.6 hrs in game
Fantastic little automation game. Plenty of puzzles and infinite ways to solve them. Most tasks can be completed with no (or minimal) portal usage, but once you get more comfortable with them you can make some very elegant contraptions. If you’re like me and your brain gets tickled by building and optimizing machines, then this will scratch the itch perfectly. The only thing it’s missing is the ability to record your best scores for parts/size/speed. In Zachtronics games, these scores let you compete against yourself and other people online to make better machines, which makes the game even more fun. If you’re more competitive, the absence of this may be a turn off, but if you have the drive to optimize things yourself or if the act of solving a puzzle is enough to satiate you then it’s fine. Some puzzles also have specific optional limitations that make things more interesting, like asking you to beat a level in a small area or without using sensors. All in all, a great game that stands alongside others like Infinifactory and is absolutely worth your time. I hope it finds the success it deserves.
– Real player with 82.3 hrs in game
One Time In Space
Survive and Explore.
Character
-
Customize your character’s looks and wager what advantages and weaknesses your character will have.
-
Prevent oxygen depletion at all costs.
Build Ships
-
Build the hull, maintenance, flooring, and wall layers of a ship to make it functional and free of oxygen leaks. Place wires, pipes, and cables on the maintenance levels to implement connectivity amongst machinery across the ship.
-
Create and incorporate machinery to make your ship functional.
Resources
-
Mine asteroids for different resources to run your ship. Maintain an abundant supply of oxygen so your character doesn’t suffocate. Manufacture fuel to propel your ship.
-
Manage power through a connection of wires directed to your machines.
-
Craft resources into machinery and expand your ship.
Machinery
- Build machines to help run systems in your ship. Oxygen harvesters make a sufficient supply of oxygen for the crew. Storage tanks contain fuel to be used in thrusters. Computers allow the player to navigate their ship through space. Conveyor belts connect to machines to make automated systems. Energy storage units hold energy to power the ship and its components.
Exploration
-
Navigate your way through deep space.
-
Find all the resources you need to survive by mining asteroids.
Atrio: The Dark Wild
It’s still very early access but this is a fun game! I was in the mood for a new base-builder game when I found the demo for Atrio. I liked it enough that I bought the game on day one. I’ve sinked a few hours into the game and I am loving it. It’s like Factorio and Don’t Starve had a cute baby.
Right now I’m playing in story mode. I’ve reached the end of chapter 1 (which is as far as the story goes right now), but I’m still building out my base in preparation for when the next chapter comes out. I have almost everything automated and almost everything researched (that’s available right now). Once I’ve done everything I can do in the story mode I’ll switch over to free mode and see if I can take it further.
– Real player with 34.6 hrs in game
I love making your own factory and the fact that you can make it longer, shorter, and it works the way you want 100% but 4 parts really bugging me is the bees just stand still and group up for hours unless your blow them up, the chests can be very little and take up alota space, its little but kinda anoying when you have to make 3 blocks touching the water for it to work, and the worst part is the deers wont stop stealing your glowbubs and making poos everywhere its anoying when you cant make them run away but other than that i would love 1-4 players that would be really cool since its simple and fun and you have so many tasks you can help your friends out
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
OPEC IDLE
Very bad for a game that actually costs real money.
could use more content and a better layuot for the graphical user interface, its literally effortless.
– Real player with 137.7 hrs in game
For an idle game it is quite short, It is “beatable” in a few days.
Game is bugged and the dev does not care. The gains are faster/slower depending on which tab you are on. It tickles the surface of what makes idle game fun but that ends there. I doubt the game will evolve furthermore. Do not recommend.
– Real player with 83.8 hrs in game
Code World
Greatly recommended if you are learning Python and already know the basic stuff. You inspect code and look for dependencies to figure out the puzzle - just like in real life. Music is relaxing and I like the concept a lot.
If you don’t know any programming language it is pretty hard, though.
Unfortunately, the game doesn’t support the German keyboard layout, so entering special characters like [] () = or : is a bit cumbersome.
– Real player with 29.8 hrs in game
This game does not touch upon object-oriented programming, nor does it implement try/except blocks. And that’s perfectly acceptable, since I can only imagine the hassle of trying to add those. But once I found out that things like:
-
string slicing
-
concatenation via multiplication (str * int)
-
the ‘break’ keyword
-
elif
are not supported, my eyebrow finally raised. Then there are the things that are partially implemented (ie. maimed) - tuples and dynamic typing. The Python in here is extremely barebones and so is the interpreter. It provides zero feedback on what went wrong, only that it did. And if you’re not careful and don’t use the Ctrl+C clipboard to store the latest version of your script, a syntax error will wipe all of your progress (by automatically restarting the level).
– Real player with 26.8 hrs in game
Cyborg Earthworm
Cyborg Earthworm is a “Snake” automation game. The worm follows the rules of the famous Snake game, and you can program it. Develop a strategy and let the worm follow it without your involvement.
-
Solve and optimize 20+ areas, each of which contains a virtually unlimited number of procedurally generated levels.
-
Watch the worm dominate the levels automatically without having to pilot it.
-
Reach the maximum possible length, filling all free space.
-
Use a variety of tools like paint spray for leaving marks in the soil and internal worm memory for tracking things.
Defence Your Organism
A top little Tower Defense game - the best 90 cents I have spent for a long time!!
There are 6 levels. Lacks a lot of bells and whistles (including you can’t prioritise targets), but I am having fun trying to beat my high scores (also wish the game would record best level scores).
Placement and tower selection is important. The levels finish at level 30.
Notwithstanding, I have already got my monies worth. I would be interested to see this game develop further and would be happy to pay more for much extended version 2 with those " bells and whistles.
– Real player with 7.1 hrs in game