Games Like Human Resource Machine

Automate swarms of office workers to solve puzzles inside your very own parallel computer made of people. A thrilling followup to the award winning Human Resource Machine. Now with more humans!

Why similar: Programming 71.8% ★, Puzzle 7.6%, Education 6.8%, Automation 2.7%, Simulation 2.6%

Why You'll Like It: This direct sequel expands on the original's programming mechanics by introducing multi-threaded logic and parallel processing for your office workers.

BUILD CIRCUITS. WRITE CODE. RTFM.

Why similar: Programming 71.6% ★, Automation 8.5%, Puzzle 5.6%, Education 5.1%, Logic 3%

Why You'll Like It: A deep dive into assembly language and hardware design that captures the same satisfying complexity as the more advanced levels of Human Resource Machine.

TIS-100 is an open-ended programming game by Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem and Infinifactory, in which you rewrite corrupted code segments to repair the TIS-100 and unlock its secrets. It’s the assembly language programming game you never asked for!

Why similar: Programming 80.6% ★, Puzzle 6.6%, Education 3.2%, Automation 2.1%, Difficult 2%

Why You'll Like It: This game strips away the fluff to focus entirely on low-level assembly programming, making it a perfect next step for those who enjoyed the logic puzzles of the seed game.

Opus Magnum is the latest open-ended puzzle game from Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem, Infinifactory, and SHENZHEN I/O. Design and build machines that assemble potions, poisons, and more using the alchemical engineer’s most advanced tool: the transmutation engine!

Why similar: Programming 64.5% ★, Puzzle 11.9%, Automation 11.8%, Logic 3.3%, Simulation 3.1%

Why You'll Like It: While focused on alchemy, the core loop of building efficient, repeatable machines to solve complex puzzles mirrors the automation satisfaction found in Human Resource Machine.

Zachtronics is back with an ambitious new design-based puzzle game. Take on the role of a Reactor Engineer working for SpaceChem, the leading chemical synthesizer for frontier colonies. Construct elaborate factories to transform raw materials into valuable chemical products!

Why similar: Programming 63.7% ★, Puzzle 15%, Automation 5.9%, Difficult 4.3%, Logic 3.6%

Why You'll Like It: An early masterpiece of the genre that tasks you with building complex chemical assembly lines using a visual programming language.

The year is 1997. You used to be a hacker, but now you have the phage. You made a deal: one hack, one dose. There’s nothing left to lose… except your life.

Why similar: Programming 72.4% ★, Automation 8.6%, Puzzle 7.7%, Logic 3%, Simulation 2.5%

Why You'll Like It: Featuring a gritty hacking theme, this game uses a similar assembly-based programming language to solve intricate puzzles and manipulate data.

Infinifactory is a sandbox puzzle game by Zachtronics, the creators of SpaceChem and Infiniminer. Build factories that assemble products for your alien overlords, and try not to die in the process.

Why similar: Programming 60.2% ★, Puzzle 12.9%, Automation 12.5%, Simulation 3.5%, Indie 2.8%

Why You'll Like It: A 3D spatial puzzle game that requires you to build automated factories, emphasizing the same logic-driven efficiency as the seed game.

Learn CPU architecture with puzzles

Why similar: Programming 67.2% ★, Education 12.5%, Puzzle 6.4%, Automation 4.7%, Logic 4.6%

Why You'll Like It: This game takes you from basic logic gates to building a fully functional computer, providing the perfect context for the assembly code you write in Human Resource Machine.

You’re a machine learning specialist who makes neural networks but your cat seems to be better at it. Now you must solve puzzles to build a cat-to-human translation system (who knows what else this cat is capable of!). Earn a fortune, buy kickass cat outfits, learn how machine learning really works!

Why similar: Programming 71.6% ★, Education 14.2%, Puzzle 7.1%, Simulation 3.7%, Indie 1.4%

Why You'll Like It: This game uses a friendly visual interface to teach the fundamentals of machine learning and programming logic through increasingly complex automation tasks.

In Autonauts you must build, create, and automate. Start by establishing a colony, crafting bots and teaching them via Scratch-style programming to build an ever evolving autonomous paradise of agriculture, industry and enlightenment.

Why similar: Programming 73.5% ★, Automation 14.4%, Simulation 4.8%, Indie 3%, Casual 2.8%

Why You'll Like It: A charming game that focuses on teaching robots to perform repetitive tasks, perfectly capturing the theme of automating labor through programming.

Program and optimize a drone to automate a farm and watch it do the work for you. Collect resources to unlock better technology and become the most efficient farmer in the world. Improve your problem solving and coding skills.

Why similar: Programming 65.6% ★, Education 11.3%, Automation 9.7%, Puzzle 5.8%, Logic 3.5%

Why You'll Like It: This game combines idler mechanics with Python-like programming to automate a farm, offering a modern and accessible take on the automation genre.

Build hardware. Solve puzzles. From the creator of Manufactoria, a new open-ended puzzle game set in Silicon Valley's first startup.

Why similar: Programming 66.6% ★, Education 9.8%, Puzzle 8.2%, Simulation 7.2%, Indie 4.4%

Why You'll Like It: You are tasked with designing hardware components using logic, which provides a deeper look into the architecture behind the code you write in Human Resource Machine.

Manufactoria 2022 is a constructive puzzle game about pushing robots around. (It's okay, they don't complain.) Use simple parts to engineer solutions to open-ended problems, then rebuild 'em better! Take a company from your backyard to the soaring heights of success! How hard could it be?

Why similar: Programming 61.6% ★, Automation 12.7%, Puzzle 9.5%, Logic 5.2%, Simulation 3.4%

Why You'll Like It: A pure logic puzzle game where you build complex machines to process robots, requiring the same rigorous attention to detail as the seed game.

A=B is a programming puzzle game with only one instruction: A=B, which means replacing A with B.

Why similar: Programming 63% ★, Education 13.4%, Puzzle 9.9%, Automation 7.9%, Casual 2.4%

Why You'll Like It: A minimalist programming puzzle game that forces you to think about string manipulation and logic in a very pure, stripped-back way.

Robo Instructus is a puzzle game in which players manoeuvre a robot by issuing instructions via a simple programming language. As players progress through the game they unlock new functions to overcome new puzzles, each of which can be solved in multiple ways.

Why similar: Programming 66.3% ★, Education 10.9%, Puzzle 8.7%, Logic 4.7%, Difficult 3.9%

Why You'll Like It: A puzzle game where you write code to control a robot, directly translating the programming concepts of Human Resource Machine into a 3D environment.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, The Signal State puts your logic skills to the test with complex puzzles inspired by modular synthesizers. Repair machines, rebuild an abandoned farm, and be part of a revolution that will change the fate of agriculture once and for all.

Why similar: Programming 61.6% ★, Automation 12.4%, Puzzle 10.6%, Logic 5.8%, Simulation 4.4%

Why You'll Like It: A modular synthesizer-themed puzzle game that challenges you to solve logic problems using patch cables and signal processing.

Baba Is You is a puzzle game where the rules you have to follow are present as blocks you can interact with. By manipulating them, you can change how the game works, repurpose things you find in the levels and cause surprising interactions!

Why similar: Programming 55.1% ★, Puzzle 22.4%, Difficult 6.7%, Logic 6%, Indie 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: While not a programming game, it forces you to manipulate the rules of the game world using logic, which appeals to the same problem-solving mindset.

Throw your toys into your fire, and play with them as they burn. An adventure that takes place almost entirely in front of a fireplace - about looking up up up out of the chimney, and the cold world just on the other side of the wall. From the creators of World of Goo and Human Resource Machine.

Why similar: Puzzle 26.4%, Satire 19.4% ★, Casual 13.5%, Indie 12.7%, Comedy 8.2%

Why You'll Like It: Created by the same developers, this game shares the same quirky, satirical tone and satisfying puzzle-based progression.

Welcome to Automachef, a resource management puzzler where you design kitchens, program machinery and watch your genius come to life! It’s time to engineer tomorrow’s kitchen, today!

Why similar: Programming 46.3% ★, Automation 17.8%, Simulation 12.7%, Puzzle 12.5%, Indie 7.9%

Why You'll Like It: A resource management and automation game where you design kitchens to function like efficient, code-driven assembly lines.

Word Factori is a word-building game where your only resource is the letter "i". Build a chain of factories to bend, rotate, reflect, and merge "i" into more complex letters. Discover secret letter recipes, unlock hidden word art, and optimize your factory chains for high scores.

Why similar: Programming 64.3% ★, Automation 12.5%, Puzzle 9.5%, Logic 5.2%, Simulation 3.9%

Why You'll Like It: A unique puzzle game where you build machines to manufacture letters and words, emphasizing the same step-by-step logic as the seed game.

Kaizen is an open-ended puzzle automation game from the original Zachtronics team, set in 1980s Japan. Design, build, and optimize production lines to create iconic products, like calculators, camcorders, and arcade machines.

Why similar: Programming 59.2% ★, Education 10.6%, Automation 9.7%, Puzzle 7.1%, Logic 4.1%

Why You'll Like It: A factory simulation game that incorporates programming elements to optimize production lines and solve complex logistical puzzles.

Retrace the path of the Prime Mover to uncover the story of the Byte of Burden! Prime Mover is an open-ended puzzle game about designing circuit boards.

Why similar: Programming 71.1% ★, Puzzle 9.5%, Education 6.7%, Simulation 4.9%, Indie 3.5%

Why You'll Like It: A circuit-building puzzle game that focuses on creating efficient logic flows to solve increasingly difficult engineering challenges.

World of Goo is a multiple award winning physics based puzzle / construction game made entirely by two guys.

Why similar: Puzzle 47.4%, Great Soundtrack 13.3%, Indie 12.4%, Satire 7.1% ★, Casual 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: Also from the same creators, this physics-based puzzle game shares the distinct art style and clever, experimental design philosophy.

Bitburner is a programming-based incremental game. Write scripts in JavaScript to automate gameplay, learn skills, play minigames, solve puzzles, and more in this cyberpunk text-based incremental RPG.

Why similar: Programming 78.7% ★, Automation 10%, Education 4.2%, Puzzle 3.4%, Simulation 2.2%

Why You'll Like It: A text-based RPG that requires you to write actual JavaScript scripts to hack servers and automate your progression.

MHRD is a hardware design game, in which you design various hardware circuits in a hardware description language. The hardware circuits you design get more complex as you go until you create a fully functional CPU design.

Why similar: Programming 70.3% ★, Education 11%, Puzzle 6.8%, Simulation 6.1%, Indie 4%

Why You'll Like It: A hardware design game that focuses on building a CPU from scratch, perfect for those who want to understand the 'machine' in Human Resource Machine.

You land on a frozen planet in a tiny rocket with a robot inside. Harvest and combine materials to discover new ones. Use visual programming to make the robot do the tiresome work for you. Slowly build a gang of self-sustaining robot workers and watch them terraform the planet.

Why similar: Programming 58.1% ★, Education 15.3%, Automation 11.3%, Puzzle 7.7%, Simulation 2.5%

Why You'll Like It: A sandbox game that uses a visual programming language to teach you how to automate survival tasks on a frozen planet.

Great Permutator is a puzzle. Hard and tricky. One in which you will have to build a complex system of conveyors and various devices so that the colored boxes can travel across the factory and arrive at right places and in right order. If you are into clever engineering puzzles, this game is for you.

Why similar: Programming 62% ★, Automation 12.4%, Puzzle 9.4%, Simulation 4.2%, Difficult 3.9%

Why You'll Like It: An automation puzzle game that tasks you with arranging and moving items through a factory, emphasizing spatial logic and efficiency.

Star Stuff is a deceptively cute programming puzzle game. Program and work alongside bots to tackle the most important (and undoubtedly safest) task in the galaxy: fixing a star factory. Ready for your first day on the job?

Why similar: Programming 68% ★, Puzzle 10.7%, Logic 5.6%, Automation 5.6%, Difficult 4.1%

Assemble your robot squad, construct their AI and send them in the battle arena to see your strategy play out. Iterate, improve and repeat until you outsmart all your opponents and friends online.

Why similar: Programming 78% ★, Automation 3.9%, Logic 3.9%, Education 3.8%, Singleplayer 3.8%

Why You'll Like It: This game allows you to program the AI of your combat robots before the match starts, testing your logic against other players' code.

[the Sequence] is a logic construction puzzler.Let your mind be your guide: Lay down seven different kinds of modules as your roadblocks to get you (portrayed as a binary data point) to a sweet destination.Apply an out-of-the-box thinking to get you to the next level!

Why similar: Programming 63.5% ★, Automation 13.8%, Puzzle 9.2%, Logic 5.1%, Difficult 3.4%

Why You'll Like It: A minimalist puzzle game where you use modules to move and transform binary data, focusing on the core logic of automation.

Alan's Automaton Workshop is an open-ended programming puzzle game. Start a new business with Alan Turing and his groundbreaking innovation: the Turing Machine. Build unique automatons, and solve all kinds of problems from clients.

Why similar: Programming 57.8% ★, Education 14.6%, Automation 10.6%, Puzzle 7.3%, Logic 3.8%

Why You'll Like It: A steampunk-themed puzzle game that tasks you with programming mechanical automatons to perform specific tasks.

Use the MOLEK-SYNTEZ to create small molecules with various pharmacological effects from the comfort of your small Romanian apartment.

Why similar: Programming 66.1% ★, Puzzle 11.6%, Automation 10%, Simulation 7.1%, Indie 2.7%

Use real Python code to automate machines, robots, drones and more: Program self-driving vehicles; crack passwords; apply machine learning; automate logistics; use image processing to guide missiles. Gain real coding skills and solve exciting bite-sized programming challenges.

Why similar: Programming 60.4% ★, Education 12.7%, Automation 10.7%, Puzzle 7%, Logic 4.3%

Replicube is an open-ended programming puzzle game/toy about writing code to replicate 3D voxel-based objects. Solve puzzles, pursue leaderboard glory, or just make art to share with the in-game community.

Why similar: Programming 81.2% ★, Puzzle 11%, Simulation 5.7%, Sandbox 2.1%

Comet 64 is a programming puzzle game. The year is 1984. All you got is a Comet 64 home computer and the operator's manual it came with.

Why similar: Programming 61.4% ★, Education 11.2%, Puzzle 7.8%, Automation 6.6%, Simulation 3.4%

Design, build and wire up your own unique robot to complete challenging logic puzzles. LogicBots is a puzzle game where robots are used to complete the various levels.

Why similar: Programming 70.1% ★, Education 8.8%, Puzzle 8.5%, Simulation 7.1%, Indie 3.6%

In a future where food is the ultimate symbol of status, you are a recipe programming technician for a ruthless aristocracy. Create, test and optimize your culinary machines in this deliciously dark zach-like!

Why similar: Programming 63.4% ★, Automation 13.8%, Puzzle 7.8%, Logic 4.7%, Simulation 3.9%

Dive into SirKwitz: a beginner-friendly edutainment game that makes learning programming easy & fun! Explore 28 puzzles across four topics to master the very core concepts behind programming and develop your problem-solving skills. Ideal for those that think coding & programming are scary words!

Why similar: Programming 55.8% ★, Education 16.9%, Puzzle 8.4%, Automation 7.5%, Logic 4.3%

Build the most advanced operating system ever created! Can you master the fictional simulation language of this mind-bending machine? Design circuits, automate UBITS (coloured mobile data blocks), and optimize your system. The Admin is always watching, and he’s not what he seems.

Why similar: Programming 59.6% ★, Education 11%, Automation 10.7%, Puzzle 7.1%, Simulation 4%

A single bit of computer memory became sentient and decided to escape from digital into the real world. Explore RAM, modify bytes and hack machine code and CPU registers to set it free.

Why similar: Programming 63.7% ★, Education 10.2%, Puzzle 7.3%, Simulation 6.7%, Indie 4.5%

Retro Gadgets is a sandbox where you build, code, and customize gadgets inspired by old-school electronics.

Why similar: Programming 57.5% ★, Education 14.8%, Automation 11.3%, Puzzle 7.8%, Simulation 3.5%

OCTOPTICOM is an open-ended puzzle programming game about designing and optimizing optical computing devices. Use lasers, mirrors, filters and other components to read, transform and write sequences of colored squares.

Why similar: Programming 59.4% ★, Education 12.1%, Puzzle 9.3%, Simulation 6.4%, Logic 4.4%

Build intricate supply chains to meet your feline customers' needs. Discover underground and air transport layers, a vast research tree, procedural worlds, machine learning, and endless automation in this relaxing, enemyless game.

Why similar: Programming 60.3% ★, Education 18.1%, Automation 13.3%, Simulation 4.1%, Sandbox 2.2%

Virtual Circuit Board is the sandbox drawing-based logic simulator where you can build, program, decorate, and simulate anything from simple monochrome circuits to complex and colorful computers. Play with digital logic in this sandbox-only experience.

Why similar: Programming 60.1% ★, Education 14%, Automation 8.9%, Puzzle 5.6%, Logic 4.2%

Algotica is an educational puzzle game about programming with cute lowpoly graphics. If you wanted to start learning programming but think that it too difficult to understand or just don't have enough time or not sure that you need it - this game is a good start point for you

Why similar: Programming 68.9% ★, Education 13%, Puzzle 9.7%, Indie 4.7%, Great Soundtrack 2.4%

Master the most counter-intuitive logic in existence. Created by the researchers who defined Quantum Literacy, explore an open-ended puzzle world where you craft real quantum algorithms, solve 500+ challenges, hack other players asynchronously, and gain insights textbooks can’t provide.

Why similar: Programming 55.4% ★, Education 13.7%, Automation 10.1%, Puzzle 7.6%, Logic 4.5%

SOKOBOT is an open-ended puzzle game where you place down cute robots, give them commands, and create infinitely-looping assembly lines that combine shapes together!

Why similar: Programming 61.9% ★, Automation 11.4%, Puzzle 9.2%, Logic 4.7%, Difficult 3.6%

Copy Editor is an intricate puzzle game that teaches you Regular Expressions (RegEx), commonly used in computer science and language theory. Build complex rules that process and revise famous texts for your wacky and demanding publisher!

Why similar: Programming 64.1% ★, Education 13%, Puzzle 10.1%, Simulation 5.3%, Experimental 3.4% ★

A rich and challenging physics-based puzzle /logic /construction /programming game! Master ballistics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, chemical and nuclear reactions, use automation bricks, build structures, machines, vehicles, produce power, solve puzzles, pierce the fog and defeat CHR$!

Why similar: Programming 65.2% ★, Automation 16.6%, Puzzle 9.6%, Logic 4.4%, Simulation 2.2%

SIC-1 is a single-instruction programming game. Neglect your personal life in pursuit of promotions and vague assurances of job security! Optimize your programs to rise to the top of the leaderboards! SIC Systems thanks you for your hard work! Now please return to your desk.

Why similar: Programming 67.8% ★, Puzzle 9%, Automation 9%, Logic 4.8%, Simulation 4.1%

Hard Chip is a 3D simulation/puzzle game about building processors focusing on realism. Explore the world of semiconductor chip design and delve into the intricacies of CPU logic, floor planning, and propagation delay.

Why similar: Programming 56.5% ★, Education 13.1%, Automation 8.8%, Puzzle 7.7%, Logic 4.7%

In this darkly comedic story, you are the hero of an unfinished fantasy game, and your designers have failed you. Steal the power of a game god - trap their creations, swap behaviors and body parts, crafting your own unique solutions to free-form puzzles. Can you release a game ...from the inside?

Why similar: Programming 50.6% ★, Puzzle 18.6%, Satire 11.5% ★, Simulation 6.7%, Indie 5.9%

Step into the world of IT! Diagnose network issues, manage servers, and repair devices while handling tasks under strict SLAs. Choose your career path, from HelpDesk to IT Project Manager. Develop real IT knowledge and climb the ranks in this realistic IT simulation!

Why similar: Programming 59.7% ★, Education 15.7%, Puzzle 7.5%, Simulation 4.3%, Difficult 4.1%

Logicats is a beginner-friendly programming game. Learn programming concepts through reading code in a fun and effective way. Perfect for classrooms or at home. Start your programming journey today!

Why similar: Programming 72.3% ★, Puzzle 11.2%, Logic 6.1%, Education 4.3%, Indie 3.1%

A brain-racking game about bathroom breaks, screwdrivers and nuclear explosions.

Why similar: Puzzle 56.3%, Indie 15%, Great Soundtrack 10.3%, Difficult 6.7%, Casual 5.6%

The story takes place in a future company called "RavenTek". R.O.O.T. - A grid, unit, and signal based computing system. Move the units to create signal links, transmit the signals, and activate other units to generate benefits. Are the benefits generated all for the company, or...?

Why similar: Programming 83.6% ★, Puzzle 11.9%, Logic 2.1%, Simulation 1.2%, Casual 0.8%

Move Code Lines is a game where you fix programs and make them print needed output. But the only way you can achieve that is to change the order of lines in those programs, and set custom input.

Why similar: Programming 60% ★, Education 12.9%, Automation 10.7%, Puzzle 4.8%, Logic 3.4%

Algo Bot is puzzle game that takes place deep inside the Europa, a pan-galactic colonisation ship, where a recycling mission goes horribly wrong. Use your algorithm special skills to command Algo Bot, a service droid, and help PAL, a cantankerous line manager, to contain the crisis.

Why similar: Programming 79.4% ★, Puzzle 11.5%, Indie 4.3%, Logic 3.6%, Singleplayer 1.2%

⚡️Fix electronics 📈manage firm 💻challenge the hacker... ServiceIT is a simulation game where you run a full-service IT company to engage in tasks like diagnosing, repairing equipment, network infiltration, programming, server management while an Anonymous hacker keeps sabotaging it all.

Why similar: Programming 65.5% ★, Education 16.9%, Puzzle 4.9%, Simulation 4.7%, Sandbox 1.9%

A sandbox logic puzzle game with a nostalgic temperament. You can experience the endless fun of designing automata here.

Why similar: Programming 69.1% ★, Automation 13.2%, Puzzle 9.9%, Simulation 4.5%, Casual 2.5%