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 43.2% ★, Automation 28.3%, Logic 9.1%, Puzzle 8.8%, Simulation 4.2%

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 33.2%, Programming 24.9% ★, Cooking 16.6%, Simulation 13.8%, Puzzle 7.2%

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 36.3% ★, Automation 27%, Puzzle 8.6%, Sandbox 8.6%, Logic 5.6%

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 54.5% ★, Automation 23.3%, Logic 9.5%, Puzzle 4.8%, 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 46.1% ★, Automation 19%, Cyberpunk 11.8%, Logic 7.8%, Puzzle 5.4%

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

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 47.9% ★, Automation 15.9%, Puzzle 12.5%, 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.

Learn CPU architecture with puzzles

Why similar: Programming 54.8% ★, Logic 15.5%, Automation 13.4%, Puzzle 5.7%, Simulation 4.8%

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.

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 64.2% ★, Automation 13.2%, Puzzle 7.8%, Logic 4.6%, Simulation 3.8%

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 28.2% ★, Automation 20.4%, Logic 11.2%, Robots 8.2%, 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 65.7% ★, Automation 8.5%, Logic 8%, Puzzle 7.5%, Simulation 4.8%

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

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 75.5%, Sandbox 17.2%, Simulation 3.9%, 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.

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 33.6% ★, Automation 24.8%, Robots 17.8%, Logic 11.8%, Puzzle 5.8%

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.

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

Why similar: Programming 47.6% ★, Automation 25.2%, Simulation 10.4%, Puzzle 9.2%, 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.

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 46.2% ★, Automation 32.4%, Simulation 6.2%, Robots 6.2%, 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.

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 38.8% ★, Automation 21.7%, Logic 13.6%, Puzzle 5.9%, 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 39.1% ★, Automation 28%, Logic 10%, Puzzle 6.6%, 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 38.4% ★, Automation 20.4%, Logic 11.4%, 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 9.9%, Simulation 9.6%, Sci-fi 5.4%, Great Soundtrack 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 35.8% ★, Automation 24.9%, Robots 17.7%, Sandbox 8.8%, Puzzle 5.3%

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 43.7% ★, Automation 25.4%, Logic 12.5%, Puzzle 5.7%, Simulation 5.1%

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 41% ★, Automation 26.9%, Logic 11.4%, Sandbox 8.5%, Puzzle 5.7%

Why You'll Like It: It focuses on building and programming steampunk-themed machines, offering a similar puzzle-solving experience to 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 53.2%, Automation 29.7%, Simulation 8%, Sandbox 6.2%, Building 1.5%

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.

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 39.2% ★, Automation 25.3%, Logic 8.4%, Sandbox 7.4%, Futuristic 6.5%

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 64.9%, Sandbox 20.1%, Simulation 12.1%, Indie 1.8%, Singleplayer 1.1%

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.

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

Why similar: Programming 26.9% ★, Automation 26.2%, Cooking 17.2%, Logic 12.3%, Puzzle 7.9%

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 24.8%, Simulation 9.8%, 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.

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.

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 70.9% ★, Puzzle 7.7%, Simulation 7.6%, 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.

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

Why similar: Automation 33.7%, Programming 32.1% ★, Logic 9.2%, Sandbox 9%, Puzzle 7.2%

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.

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 33.9% ★, Automation 25.7%, Robots 18.4%, Logic 12.2%, Puzzle 5.2%

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

Snacktorio is a level-based cooking automation game where you build & scale food production lines to feed the beasts threatening to consume your world. Manage strange ingredients across sprawling cooking factories to keep the monsters fed while you uncover what's stirring their growing appetites...

Why similar: Automation 32.7%, Cooking 31.6%, Logic 11.8%, Sandbox 8.9%, Puzzle 7.1%

Design, optimize, and reverse-engineer real quantum algorithms in an open-ended Zachlike puzzle game. Solve 500+ optimization challenges, hack player creations, and master quantum logic without coding.

Why similar: Programming 29.9% ★, Automation 20.2%, Cyberpunk 15.6%, Logic 10.3%, Sandbox 7.1%

Build, automate, & optimize production lines across sky islands with real spatial constraints. Every production line is an open-ended puzzle: which operators to use, how to route your belts and how to fit your factory into the landscape. Your solutions, like your factories, are uniquely your own.

Why similar: Automation 41.5%, Futuristic 13.4%, Sandbox 13.1%, Logic 12.9%, Simulation 8.2%

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%, Logic 7%, Puzzle 6.6%, Simulation 3.7%

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 50.5% ★, Automation 25.6%, Logic 10.2%, Sandbox 5%, Puzzle 4.5%

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 40% ★, Automation 36.5%, Logic 11.3%, Puzzle 6.5%, Simulation 2.8%

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: Programming 35.9% ★, Automation 35.8%, Logic 9.5%, Simulation 8%, Sandbox 4%

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 39% ★, Automation 25.9%, Logic 12.5%, Sandbox 8.2%, Puzzle 6.4%

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 35.4%, Automation 30.6%, Programming 28.9% ★, Simulation 3.2%, Singleplayer 1.1%

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 49.7%, Robots 22.9%, Sandbox 16.4%, Simulation 9.8%, 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 45.3% ★, Automation 32.6%, Sandbox 10.7%, Puzzle 6.8%, Simulation 3.1%

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 54.6% ★, Logic 16.8%, Simulation 12.2%, Puzzle 9.5%, Indie 3.7%

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%

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 67.9% ★, Simulation 15.2%, Puzzle 9.3%, Indie 4.3%, Singleplayer 2.1%

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 18.4%, Simulation 16.8%, Indie 2.3%, Singleplayer 1.2%

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%

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 35.6%, Programming 33.5% ★, Cyberpunk 22.4%, Sci-fi 8.5%

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 79.2%, Simulation 9.6%, Sci-fi 8.8%, Building 2.4%

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%

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 56.2%, Futuristic 19.9%, Sci-fi 11%, Simulation 9.3%, Singleplayer 3.1%

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 11.4%, Simulation 10.2%, Singleplayer 2.9%, Indie 1.7%

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 33.8%, Robots 25.6%, Futuristic 13.6%, Sandbox 11.6%, Sci-fi 8.8%

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%, Building 2.3%

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 19.5%, Logic 13.8%, Puzzle 6.7%, Sci-fi 6.1%

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 51.7% ★, Automation 40.9%, Simulation 5.6%, Singleplayer 1.9%

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 76.9%, Simulation 15.6%, Singleplayer 4.5%, Building 3%

Icaria is a robot colony builder where everything can be programmed. Build factories, design logistic networks, terraform the landscape, and explore an unknown alien world.

Why similar: Programming 37.6% ★, Automation 26.9%, Robots 15.6%, Sandbox 9%, Simulation 5%

Chef is a Restaurant Management game in which you create your own character, acquire supreme cooking skills, customize restaurants, design unique menus, and devise innovative recipes with a realistic editor.

Why similar: Cooking 62.9%, Simulation 19.4%, Sandbox 13.2%, Singleplayer 2.3%, Indie 2.2%

Invent a new computer! Logic World is a first-person sandbox simulation game that's all about digital logic. Play alone or with friends, design unique machines, build up layers of complexity, and experience the joy of circuits!

Why similar: Programming 40.5% ★, Automation 24.5%, Logic 13.2%, Sandbox 8.9%, Puzzle 5.6%

In Midnight Ramen, you play as the owner of a late-night ramen stand and his apprentice. You interact with your customers, listen to their troubles, and help them out whenever you can. But as the bowls of ramen are cooked and served, troubles are beginning to brew in your own life as well...

Why similar: Cooking 83.1%, Simulation 9.8%, Singleplayer 3.4%, Indie 2.9%, Casual 0.8%