SpaceChem
What is SpaceChem?
SpaceChem is a chemistry-themed programming puzzle game (no actual chemistry or programming knowledge required).
Spacechem is moving stuff from one side of the screen to the other while rearranging it a bit.
Spacechem isn’t finding the unique solution, it’s creating your unique solution.
Spacechem is the elegance of a brilliantly simple solution.
Spacechem is the elegance of a solution you know is a terrible wall of spaghetti, but it’s your wall of spaghetti, dammit!
– Real player with 2677.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Programming Games.
When I first read about the puzzle games by Zachtronics, the promises were to good for mathematics and IT affectionate people like I consider myself so that I soon had to buy one, I didn’t wait for a sale and took SpaceChem for the simple reason of being one of the older and therefore cheaper games, Never would I have expected to play it THAT much.
After 90 hours of gameplay, which I had in less than 3 weeks, I did all the challenges, optimized some solutions in a battle with a friend and also did some of the community levels from “ResearchNet”, but I was stuck at the level “Omega-Pseudoethyne” on the next to last planet. There was just so much logic to cram into two reactors, that I tried and tried but couldn’t come up with the right approach. I watched some solutions on Youtube, but was fortunately to proud to just copy one. After putting the game aside for a few months, I tried it again and did it. The feeling of success was immense, even though the statistics that can be seen in a histogram after each level were bad.
– Real player with 137.2 hrs in game
Snakebird
PERSPECTIVE REVIEW
[h1]SUMMARY:[/h1]
```Many of the puzzles in Snakebird take over 50 to even over 100 moves to complete when playing optimally*, and you have to figure things out; I sincerely doubt that you can beat the final puzzle without an answer key if you don't actually understand what you are doing.
*(DesignOriented [on Youtube] created a spoiler-free chart that breaks down the level designs.)
This beautiful game with cute creatures called, "snakebirds", and every major hue of the color spectrum, will require demonstration of a large amount of talents & critical thought to complete legitimately.
*– [Real player with 39.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198120041629)*
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Read More:
Best Difficult Cute Games.
---
Fantastic puzzle game.
It feels involved and direct, as it's all based around movement of your characters (and the charming presentation helps). You're not solving abstract riddles, you're just helping snakebirds eat some fruit.
Despite that, it's incredibly hard, but also entirely fair. Easier levels introduce mechanics that you'll need to solve more difficult levels. For the majority of the game, you'll always have plenty of levels to pick from and try your wits out on, keeping you from feeling completely stuck, and helping you to come up with new ideas for possible solutions to puzzles you previously had no clue how to solve. Also, there's an undo button that can be used freely.
*– [Real player with 19.6 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197995669781)*
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## Filament
#### Innovative, challenging puzzles and an engaging story
Filament is a puzzle game that feels like it took a lot of inspiration from "The Witness": It features a huge amount of puzzles which are all based on the same mechanic (laying a single cable around a number of pillars to activate them and unlock the exit), but provide lots of different variations within this mechanic (e.g. pillars that must not be touched, pillars that must be touched several times, pillars that change the color of your cable while others can only be activated with a specific color, etc.). These puzzles are placed in a small sort-of open world, so you'll usually have about a dozen of different puzzles available to you at any time. If you get stuck on one, there are always others to try your hand on before you return with perhaps some new ideas.
*– [Real player with 107.3 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198025309409)*
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Read More:
Best Difficult Story Rich Games.
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Filament is a bittersweet puzzle game with challenging line-based logic puzzles.
The puzzles are presented in a 3-D plane and the player must use a series of robots connected to the wall to wrap around pillars in the correct manner to solve the puzzle and unlock the door. Completing a series of puzzles reveals more of the story through emails from the crew and Juniper reminiscing over the intercom.
The rules of puzzles are taught through the use of simple rooms, where players are able to experiment and deduce the rules of each section before moving ahead to the complex puzzles. I found this to be very effective, and create a sense of accomplishment, as if the rules themselves were a puzzle to solve too. Controlling the robots in order to solve the puzzle feels smooth, especially when using the run option (Which is toggled on/off by pressing Shift, I found this to not be clearly defined in the game). Backtracking and resetting options are quick allowing for quick reattempts of sections or entire puzzles, as there is inevitably some trial and error. There is some frustration when the robot looks like it should fit through a gap or it doesn’t, or the angle of a filament is slightly different than anticipated, but it is part of the puzzle to find a solution that works.
*– [Real player with 47.4 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198218390365)*
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## Among Stars and Robots
I liked it.
*– [Real player with 5.6 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006305179)*
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## Bean and Nothingness
Only a couple worlds in and this game has already had a good few fantastic puzzles (and some very tricky ones I'll need to get back to). The monster types are cool and its interesting to deduce the properties of new ones as you solve the areas simpler puzzles and then really apply what you've learned to the later ones. I can't wait to see more of the monsters and figure out how they work.
*– [Real player with 10.1 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198013448840)*
Good puzzles and a lot of them. I can't describe the game any better than the game description already does. It's accurate. I'm pleasantly surprised by the ability to watch my old solutions from the demo while replaying puzzles, complete with waffling about wasting turns.
*– [Real player with 8.8 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198083594058)*
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## Cat Dungeon Escape
This game is just meh, 4 or 5 decent levels and thats it. Not too good and not too bad. If you like these kinda games give it a go.
*– [Real player with 6.7 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198091433569)*
_Cat Dungeon Escape_ is a short (2-3h) physics-based arcade/puzzle hybrid where you manipulate the board by rotating it, which relocates sliding blocks so you can open paths and dodge pitfalls like fire, buzzsaws, spikes, etc. On each level you need to grab a key, then position yourself correctly at a door to move on. While it is puzzley and requires careful thought, the arcadey elements make timing essential, and so it may not be for everyone. Right now Quality of Life issues are bad, but I'm conditionally recommending bc a patch is supposed to be coming soon.
*– [Real player with 3.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198014473461)*
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## Contact Me
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*– [Real player with 3.2 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198203671184)*
This game is tripe. I spent nearly 40 minutes very slowly trudging from room to room with no idea what I was meant to be doing. Putting aside the bad english translations which I could get the jist of, there is still no coherent plot or instructions. The controls are terrible, you move glacially slowly and you spend forever waiting for dialogue boxes to close trying to open doors and explore. I think this game is a big maze of number-matching item fetch quests and as it takes about 10 minutes waiting for you character to move from one side of the map to the other at snails pace, frankly life is too short.
*– [Real player with 0.7 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198035754175)*
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## Dooria
This is a great game for someone who has some time on their hands and likes to figure things out. Each section of the game has its own rules, which provides for a good deal of variety. It has a pleasant atmosphere throughout and is contemplative as opposed to action-packed. A lot of bang for the buck at $16.
*– [Real player with 105.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561199074848141)*
If you want to get your ass handed to you by a gentle sweet game with calming music and the meanest puzzles I've seen in a while, by all means try this game out. This really itched a part of my lizard brain I that I had been missing from other puzzle games.
Downsides are: 1) It can be frustrating and tricky to figure out all of the rules at first (due to some differing door varieties and etc) and 2) it's not easy to figure out the "plot" of what all doors to open and how close you are to being finished…. but overall definitely persevere if you're a puzzle junkie like myself.
*– [Real player with 6.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198049011738)*
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## Hack Grid
Full disclosure: I was a playtester for this game.
In Hack Grid each level has a different setup of pieces and trails within a 4x4 grid (sometimes it's smaller).
In order to move a piece, it must have a straight line of trails or empty sockets leading to a differently colored piece. What makes the grids interesting is not only the different setups of pieces, but also the way the trails connect between them; It varies from level to level, and sometimes the lack of a direct trail between two pieces can trip you up, if you are not paying enough attention to the trails.
*– [Real player with 6.0 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197995277510)*
Do you have some free time during your evening? Do you like puzzle games? Are you nostalgic for DOS aesthetics? Great, then Hack Grid is a game just for you!
This is a well-made game. Sure, it's relatively short, but I think it has just enough puzzles to explore its simple, yet entertaining gameplay. I didn't encounter any bugs, it runs smoothly. Graphics are minimalistic, very nice, and you can spice them up a little with CRT filter. Puzzle themselves have a right level of difficulty, and you get some new mechanic once in a while, so you don't get bored.
*– [Real player with 2.7 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198120756405)*
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## Inbox Unbox
A worryingly recursive puzzle game about pushing boxes into other boxes. Rearrange the structure of the world itself to forge a path to the exit!
The game's 50+ puzzles are designed to take the player on a difficult but rewarding journey, showcasing the bizarre and delightful consequences that emerge from the game's various mechanics.
After 2.5 years of development, this recursive sokoban game is… not quite done yet! But it's close; stay tuned for the release date.
_This game is not called Inbox Outbox but I'm typing that out here for SEO reasons ;)_
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