Reviews - SpaceChem

I'm at a point in this game where I can play this for very long amounts of time. This is a good thing. I get my next puzzle, close the game in disgust ("HTF am I supposed to do that!?!") then proceed to spend the next few hours or days thinking about how to solve the puzzle. It's a game you keep playing, even when you're not playing.

Then it gets worse, you finally find a solution, but it seem inelegant. You are using too many components, it's taking way too many cycles. And the process begins again. You spend another few hours or days thinking of how to improve your reaction.

This game has taken over my life!

The interface is a little bit clumsy, but other than that it truly is one of the most engrossing puzzle games I have played since TIM.

Brilliant if you like puzzle games - very complex interactions and an intriguing (text-based) story that unfolds as you play. Love linking the factories together.

And just when you think there's nothing new it chucks another cool game mechanic at you.

2011 was a great year for games with an abundance of quality titles, what with huge titles like Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, etc., and slightly less marketed, but still amazing games such as Dark Souls, Bastion, Orcs Must Die, etc. The game that, to my own bewilderment, managed to steal almost all the thunder from any other title, was an indie developed puzzle game named SpaceChem. It offered something few other games do, and in unprecedented quantities; Freedom to explore and solve problems your own way. The premise is fairly simple; Program reactors using simple iconography to synthesise chemicals on a molecular level. The ingenuity lies in how each challenge is presented; You're tasked to create the sollution from scratch, building on everything you've learned up to that point. It's challenging, frustrating, taxing and oh god your brain will hate you. But, once you solve a specific problem and finally manage to pull your assembly line together, you feel like the smartest goddamn person in the world, and not because you've figured out the puzzle designer's abstract sollution to their puzzle. No, because you've just used your own skills and brains to create your own sollution, and this is the most key thing of the entire experience; Player agency over their approach to any given puzzle. And it's done more deftly than most other games I've ever played. If you like puzzles, exploring, programming and/or creating your own sollutions, then you owe yourself a copy of this game.

Head-breaking puzzle. At the beginning it seems to hard, however, if you read and pass the tutorial, you will understand everything. A little concentration and after few minutes you will understand how the game works. And that's the moment of truth - when you understand the game, you fall in love with it! I promise!

Great work guys,

This Game Really gives the Chemistry nerd the feeling of appreciation that he needs in order to carry on with his work.^^
After the Initial "aww Crap" you get from looking at the next level and some intence thinging work the "I'VE DONE IT!" feels all the better. Followed by your Roommate's "It's only Atoms!" and your "BUT I MADE THEM MOLECULES!"
The only things missing to a Rating of 10 are
1. A less annoying way to place pipes
2. A slide control to see what exactly went wrong
3. maybe the possibility to add/remove a waldo to gain a better score.(this is not really a - point but rather something I'd find neat)

cheers!

A great puzzle game. Very addictive, but gets very very tough at later levels.

If you like logic puzzles, get this game.

I am addicted! I looove chemistry, I looove programming and I looove gaming, and this game just connects the three, what can I want more?

Excelente!

9/10 because I was unable to play in fullscreen with proper resolution. Game is awesome, read the other reviews :P

Nice simple science puzzle, unfortunately x64 linux version is broken, but works fine on x32.