Games Like Neon Noodles

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 42.6% ★, Automation 29.1%, Logic 9%, Puzzle 8.7%, Simulation 4.3%

Why You'll Like It: This is the gold standard for logic-based automation puzzles, requiring you to design intricate machines to solve complex production tasks.

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: Automation 34.1%, Programming 23.9% ★, Cooking 16.6%, Simulation 13.8%, Puzzle 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: It shares the core theme of automating kitchen workflows and managing resource efficiency in a puzzle-based environment.

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 36% ★, Automation 27.7%, Sandbox 8.5%, Puzzle 8.5%, Logic 5.4%

Why You'll Like It: This 3D spatial automation game challenges you to build assembly lines that feel very similar to the mechanical logic required in Neon Noodles.

BUILD CIRCUITS. WRITE CODE. RTFM.

Why similar: Programming 54% ★, Automation 23.9%, Logic 9.4%, Puzzle 4.7%, Simulation 3.1%

Why You'll Like It: This game focuses on hardware design and assembly-level programming, appealing to those who enjoy the technical side of the seed game.

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 45.4% ★, Automation 20%, Cyberpunk 11.5%, Logic 7.8%, Puzzle 5.3%

Why You'll Like It: It perfectly matches the cyberpunk aesthetic while offering deep, rewarding programming puzzles that require creative logic.

Learn CPU architecture with puzzles

Why similar: Programming 54% ★, Logic 15.5%, Automation 14%, Puzzle 5.7%, Simulation 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: This game allows you to build a computer from the ground up using logic gates, providing the ultimate challenge for those who enjoy the programming aspect of the seed game.

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 47.7% ★, Automation 16.4%, Puzzle 12.4%, Logic 11.3%, Sci-fi 4%

Why You'll Like It: A classic logic puzzle game that forces you to build complex, multi-stage chemical production lines with limited resources.

Program little office workers to solve puzzles. Be a good employee! The machines are coming... for your job. From the creators of World of Goo and Little Inferno.

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

Why You'll Like It: It uses a visual programming language to solve puzzles, capturing the same 'programming technician' feel as the seed game.

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 28% ★, Automation 21%, Logic 11.1%, Robots 8.1%, Cyberpunk 7.1%

Why You'll Like It: This game focuses on modular synthesizer-style logic and signal processing, perfect for players who enjoy the technical puzzle-solving in Neon Noodles.

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 64.9% ★, Automation 9.1%, Logic 7.8%, Puzzle 7.5%, Simulation 5%

Why You'll Like It: This sequel to Human Resource Machine introduces parallel processing, adding a layer of complexity to the programming puzzles.

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 33.3% ★, Automation 25.5%, Robots 17.6%, Logic 11.7%, Puzzle 5.7%

Why You'll Like It: A logic-heavy puzzle game that tasks you with building automated systems to sort and process data, mirroring the logic flow of the seed game.

Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.

Why similar: Automation 76%, Sandbox 16.8%, Simulation 3.8%, Singleplayer 1.2%, Building 1.1%

Why You'll Like It: While larger in scale, it is the definitive experience for anyone who loves building and optimizing complex, automated production systems.

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 45.6% ★, Automation 33.1%, Simulation 6.3%, Robots 6.1%, Sandbox 5.9%

Why You'll Like It: It combines automation with robot programming, allowing you to build a self-sustaining colony through logic-based instructions.

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

Why similar: Programming 46.6% ★, Automation 26.2%, Simulation 10.6%, Puzzle 9%, Logic 4%

Why You'll Like It: A minimalist, difficult puzzle game about building molecular structures that requires the same optimization mindset as the seed game.

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 38.5% ★, Automation 22.2%, Logic 13.5%, Puzzle 5.8%, Simulation 5.6%

Why You'll Like It: This game offers a deep dive into logic and hardware programming, challenging your ability to optimize complex systems.

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 38.8% ★, Automation 28.7%, Logic 9.9%, Puzzle 6.5%, Simulation 5.5%

Why You'll Like It: A pure automation puzzle game where you must arrange machines to process items in a specific order.

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 38.1% ★, Automation 21%, Logic 11.3%, Sandbox 8.9%, Simulation 5.6%

Why You'll Like It: A sandbox-style logic simulator that lets you build complex circuits and machines without the constraints of traditional levels.

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 66.7% ★, Puzzle 9.8%, Simulation 9.7%, Sci-fi 5.4%, Indie 3.2%

Why You'll Like It: You design circuit boards to solve puzzles, which provides a satisfying mechanical logic challenge similar to the seed game.

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 35.5% ★, Automation 25.6%, Robots 17.4%, Sandbox 8.8%, Puzzle 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: It blends resource gathering with visual programming, making it a great fit for fans of automation-based logic.

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 43% ★, Automation 26.2%, Logic 12.4%, Puzzle 5.7%, Simulation 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: A factory-building game that emphasizes optimization and strategic planning in a production environment.

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 40.6% ★, Automation 27.6%, Logic 11.3%, Sandbox 8.4%, Puzzle 5.6%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on building and programming steampunk-themed machines, offering a similar puzzle-solving experience to the seed game.

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 38.8% ★, Automation 25.9%, Logic 8.3%, Sandbox 7.4%, Futuristic 6.4%

Why You'll Like It: A challenging automation and programming puzzle game that requires precise logic to solve complex production tasks.

Build and manage your own food processing factory. Automate production with machines, work together with skilled employees to keep operations running smoothly, expand your facility, and keep inventory under control as you grow from a small workshop into a large scale production facility.

Why similar: Automation 65.5%, Sandbox 19.8%, Simulation 11.8%, Indie 1.8%, Singleplayer 1%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a realistic look at the automation required in food production, appealing to the industrial side of the seed game.

Recipe for Disaster is a management sim that captures the fast-paced, drama-filled environment of a professional kitchen and dining room. Build your dream restaurant, create recipes, design menus and manage your staff, all while contending with demanding customers and disastrous situations!

Why similar: Cooking 52.8%, Automation 30.2%, Simulation 8%, Sandbox 6.1%, Building 1.4%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on the management and layout of a kitchen, providing a thematic match for the culinary aspect of the seed game.

Place conveyor belts to solve puzzles in the world's most adorable donut factory!

Why similar: Automation 26.8%, Programming 26.6% ★, Cooking 17.1%, Logic 12.2%, Puzzle 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: While more relaxing, this puzzle game focuses on the specific mechanics of automating a donut production line.

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 46.4% ★, Robots 24.6%, Simulation 9.9%, Sandbox 9.7%, Puzzle 6.2%

Why You'll Like It: This game allows you to build and program robots to solve various challenges, emphasizing the logic and robotics themes of the seed game.

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 70.7% ★, Simulation 7.7%, Puzzle 7.7%, Sandbox 7.1%, Logic 4.3%

Why You'll Like It: This game teaches the basics of machine learning through logic puzzles, matching the programming and automation themes of the seed game.

A cooking simulator where you run an underground fast food for monsters and serve them with human meat. Improve your kitchen appliances, unlock new recipes, manage your stock and keep the monsters well fed.

Why similar: Cooking 84.2%, Simulation 15.8%

Why You'll Like It: This simulation game focuses on the time-management and production aspects of running a fast-food kitchen.

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

Why similar: Programming 40.9% ★, Automation 29.8%, Logic 7.8%, Sandbox 7.7%, Puzzle 6.1%

Why You'll Like It: This game lets you build and program your own electronic devices, appealing to the technical and creative side of the seed game.

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 48.3% ★, Automation 26.6%, Logic 10.7%, Sandbox 5.2%, Puzzle 4.7%

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 37.7% ★, Automation 24.7%, Robots 17%, Logic 11.4%, Puzzle 4.8%

Why You'll Like It: It provides a realistic programming environment that challenges your logic and coding skills in a simulation setting.

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 31.6% ★, Automation 21.5%, Cyberpunk 13.7%, Logic 10.9%, Sandbox 6%

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 72.9% ★, Automation 7.1%, Logic 6.9%, Puzzle 6.6%, Simulation 3.7%

Bone's Cafe is a fast paced, 1-4 Players couch co-op, cooking game. Customize the layout of your kitchen to guarantee your success. Specialize your menu in ingredients and recipes to design your ultimate cafe. Put your necromancy skills to the test and raise your own undead kitchen staff.

Why similar: Cooking 35.1%, Automation 31.1%, Programming 28.6% ★, Simulation 3.2%, Singleplayer 1.1%

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 39.4% ★, Automation 37.3%, Logic 11.2%, Puzzle 6.4%, Simulation 2.8%

Dive into a factory-building game with the focus on just that – building huge space factories! Design sprawling multi-level factories and satisfying production lines without limits. Tackle progressively challenging automation goals at your own pace, without the threat of enemies.

Why similar: Automation 39.5%, Logic 13.3%, Futuristic 13%, Sandbox 10.5%, Sci-fi 7%

Craft your culinary adventure in a beautiful pixel art world. Manage your restaurants, forage and hunt for ingredients, befriend locals, and grow your culinary empire. What kind of chef will you be?

Why similar: Cooking 79.4%, Simulation 9.6%, Sci-fi 8.7%, Building 2.4%

Run a diner on the last island in the world after the destruction of humankind! For the cute animals and robots that survived, cook delicious food, run a farm, explore the forest, and create the best diner!

Why similar: Cooking 50%, Robots 22.6%, Sandbox 16.4%, Simulation 9.9%, Building 0.8%

Design increasingly complex computation units powered by high pressure steam. From switches to steam based computers, all in a world of analogue pressure devices. Use previous designs to solve further challenges, unravel the mystery of the missing steam and discover a new field of science.

Why similar: Programming 44.6% ★, Automation 33.4%, Sandbox 10.6%, Puzzle 6.7%, Simulation 3.1%

Cook and serve dishes as you run your own seafood restaurant! Unlock new recipes, grow your kitchen with the help of employees, and satisfy every customer’s craving. Expand your reputation, manage resources wisely, and build a seafood restaurant that becomes the talk of the town.

Why similar: Cooking 60.2%, Sandbox 18.3%, Simulation 16.8%, Indie 2.3%, Singleplayer 1.2%

A goblin as a sushi chef? Why not! But hurry up rent is due in minutes! Upgrade the restaurant, the menu and your ingredients to feed your fellow goblins the best and most expensive sushi any goblin can find in the cave!

Why similar: Cooking 95.9%, Singleplayer 4.1%

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 38.6% ★, Automation 26.5%, Logic 12.4%, Sandbox 8.1%, Puzzle 6.3%

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 54.5% ★, Logic 16.8%, Simulation 12.3%, Puzzle 9.4%, Indie 3.7%

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 67.7% ★, Simulation 15.4%, Puzzle 9.2%, Indie 4.3%, Singleplayer 2.1%

Build the ultimate bowl to leap past your ramen rivals and achieve greatness!

Why similar: Cooking 73.3%, Simulation 18.4%, Indie 3.2%, Building 2.2%, Singleplayer 1.9%

A cooking and restaurant management game designed for drive thru lovers. Build your own restaurant from scratch. Prepare mouthwatering dishes, expand your menu with unique recipes, serve customers with care, and grow into the most legendary drive thru spot in the city!

Why similar: Cooking 71.1%, Sandbox 13.3%, Simulation 11.7%, Indie 2.1%, Singleplayer 1.3%

Zombie Diner — In a post-apocalyptic world, you run the only diner for the undead. Cook grotesque meals, serve hungry zombie patrons, and blast those who lose patience. Survival, management, and dark humor all on the menu!

Why similar: Cooking 76.8%, Simulation 15.6%, Singleplayer 4.6%, Building 3%

Bathe in the sights, sounds, and smells of Cook Serve Forever, a narrative-focused cooking adventure where you serve food to the hungry masses on your quest for greatness.

Why similar: Cooking 56.3%, Futuristic 19.7%, Sci-fi 10.9%, Simulation 9.3%, Singleplayer 3.1%

A sci-fi management game where you build and optimize your computer's system from the ground up. Connect and configure interconnected nodes to efficiently download, process, and upload files. Manage your setup, solve system challenges, and become the ultimate system architect

Why similar: Automation 36.6%, Programming 34.6% ★, Logic 9.6%, Simulation 8.1%, Sandbox 4.1%

Eggs: perfection in two parts. The simple whites. The sublime yolk. Each the lesser without its partner. Chorus and verse. A symphony of flavor. The catchy tune reminding us of warm baths and late-night movies. The elevator music to whatever lies beyond.

Why similar: Cooking 35.8%, Programming 33.5% ★, Cyberpunk 22.2%, Sci-fi 8.5%

Find ingredients, make menus, and run your own restaurant in this sizzling sim!

Why similar: Cooking 78.2%, Simulation 13.2%, Singleplayer 3.2%, Indie 3.1%, Building 2.3%

The engineering roguelike. Construct your combos by wiring circuits. Build crazy machines to zap the monsters and trigger satisfying chain reactions. Discover devastating synergies and create overpowered builds.

Why similar: Programming 50.9% ★, Automation 41.7%, Simulation 5.5%, Singleplayer 1.9%

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 46.2% ★, Robots 19.4%, Logic 13.9%, Puzzle 6.7%, Sci-fi 6.1%

Become the hive mind of a robot ant colony in Microtopia! Use pheromone trails to create, automate and optimize supply chains for your ants to follow. Collect resources, produce goods, feed your queen, grow your colony and fly out to expand the species!

Why similar: Automation 34.6%, Robots 25.2%, Futuristic 13.5%, Sandbox 11.6%, Sci-fi 8.7%

Sizzle & Stack is a fast-paced restaurant management card game where you stack ingredients, cook dishes, explore recipes, and serve hungry customers. Upgrade your kitchen and master strategic cooking in a unique blend of card play and time management!

Why similar: Cooking 73.4%, Sandbox 11.3%, Simulation 10.2%, Singleplayer 2.9%, Indie 1.7%

A realistic cooking sim where every ingredient reacts with real physics. Master 80+ dishes in Career mode or go wild in Sandbox as you cook, experiment, or cause total kitchen chaos in a fully interactive chef’s playground.

Why similar: Cooking 70.6%, Simulation 15.2%, Sandbox 11.5%, Singleplayer 2.7%

Master the art of lightning-fast noodle delivery in this challenging 2D platformer. With deadly traps, a range of moves to master, including teleportation, and trophies to unlock, are you ready to become the ultimate noodle delivery master?

Why similar: Cyberpunk 50.4%, Futuristic 22.8%, Indie 10.9%, Singleplayer 8%, Difficult 7.9%

Command the Nimbatus and craft drones out of hundreds of different parts. Survive unknown threats in a fully destructible, procedural universe, compete against other players in different arenas or enjoy complete creative freedom in the sandbox.

Why similar: Programming 30.9% ★, Robots 18.8%, Automation 18.7%, Logic 10.6%, Sci-fi 6.8%

Become a Mech Mechanic to deconstruct, rebuild, paint and fix gigantic iron machines. You live in an age of enormous machines and you better get ready to get your hands dirty!

Why similar: Automation 25.4%, Robots 20.6%, Cyberpunk 18.9%, Sandbox 11.1%, Futuristic 10.1%

Create and manage your dream restaurant! Menus, purchasing, décor, staff, equipment, customers… and don't forget the actual cooking! Experience the daily life of a restaurateur and earn your awards from the Michelin Guide.

Why similar: Cooking 80.2%, Simulation 14.6%, Singleplayer 4.3%, Casual 0.8%