Games Like SpaceChem

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 49% ★, Puzzle 19.2%, Automation 13.9%, Logic 7.9%, Difficult 3.9%

Why You'll Like It: Created by the same developer, this game features similar mechanical design puzzles involving chemical synthesis and machine construction.

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 42.5% ★, Puzzle 19.4%, Automation 13.6%, Difficult 9.4%, Logic 4.9%

Why You'll Like It: This 3D puzzle game tasks you with building automated factories to assemble products, mirroring the core loop of SpaceChem.

BUILD CIRCUITS. WRITE CODE. RTFM.

Why similar: Programming 58.7% ★, Automation 10.8%, Puzzle 9.8%, Difficult 8.3%, Logic 7.8%

Why You'll Like It: A deep dive into assembly language and circuit design that provides the same level of technical challenge as SpaceChem.

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 68.1% ★, Puzzle 11.9%, Difficult 9.4%, Logic 5%, Automation 2.8%

Why You'll Like It: An uncompromising programming puzzle game that requires you to rewrite corrupted code segments using low-level assembly.

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 57.2% ★, Puzzle 12.9%, Automation 10.2%, Logic 7.4%, Difficult 6.3%

Why You'll Like It: This hacking-themed puzzle game uses a visual programming language that feels like a natural evolution of the logic systems in SpaceChem.

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

Why similar: Programming 52% ★, Puzzle 19.3%, Automation 11.9%, Science 8.2%, Logic 3.4%

Why You'll Like It: Focuses on the molecular assembly and chemical manipulation aspects of SpaceChem with a minimalist, difficult puzzle design.

Learn CPU architecture with puzzles

Why similar: Programming 58.5% ★, Logic 12.7%, Puzzle 11.6%, Automation 6.2%, Difficult 5.2%

Why You'll Like It: Allows you to build a functional computer from the ground up using logic gates, appealing to the same engineering mindset.

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% ★, Puzzle 14.9%, Automation 5.7%, Difficult 4.2%, Logic 3.5%

Why You'll Like It: Uses a visual programming language to solve tasks, making it an excellent entry point for those who enjoy the logic of SpaceChem.

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 66.7% ★, Puzzle 14.6%, Logic 6.2%, Great Soundtrack 4%, Automation 3.7%

Why You'll Like It: The sequel to Human Resource Machine, this game introduces parallel processing and complex multi-agent logic puzzles.

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 47.2% ★, Puzzle 17.4%, Automation 14.8%, Logic 14.3%, Indie 2.2%

Why You'll Like It: A modular synthesizer-based puzzle game that requires logical routing and signal management similar to factory automation.

Boot up your Z5 Powerlance and dial into Last Call BBS, the last game from Zachtronics! The Barkeep’s loaded up his retro computer with a full set of puzzle games for you to download and play. No need to worry about copy protection, they’re all fully cracked and ready to enjoy!

Why similar: Puzzle 35.4%, Automation 33.8%, Logic 25.6%, Building 2%, Simulation 1.4%

Why You'll Like It: A collection of engineering-focused puzzle games from Zachtronics that captures the exact aesthetic and difficulty curve of their earlier titles.

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 59.8% ★, Puzzle 15.6%, Difficult 15%, Indie 4.3%, Simulation 2.1%

Why You'll Like It: A hardware design puzzle game where you build circuits to perform specific tasks under strict constraints.

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 58.1% ★, Puzzle 16.5%, Difficult 8.8%, Great Soundtrack 3.9%, Science 3.7%

Why You'll Like It: Tasks you with designing circuit boards to solve logic puzzles, emphasizing efficiency and spatial optimization.

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 50% ★, Puzzle 16.4%, Automation 15.9%, Logic 13.4%, Indie 2.1%

Why You'll Like It: A logic-based automation game where you build machines to process robots according to specific rules.

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 69.9% ★, Puzzle 14.5%, Science 5.9%, Logic 3.3%, Education 3%

Why You'll Like It: Teaches the fundamentals of machine learning through visual programming puzzles that reward logical flow design.

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 49.3% ★, Difficult 16.4%, Puzzle 13.7%, Logic 11.3%, Sci-fi 3.7%

Why You'll Like It: A programming puzzle game where you command robots using a visual instruction set to navigate complex environments.

shapez is an easy-going, minimalistic factory building game about the automation of shapes through extraction and satisfying production lines. Adapt to increasingly complex shapes and grow your factory across an infinitely expanding map. Your only limitation is your creativity!

Why similar: Automation 50.1%, Puzzle 21.6%, Logic 15.6%, Singleplayer 2.9%, Indie 2.8%

Why You'll Like It: A factory automation game that focuses on the logistical challenge of processing and combining shapes, similar to SpaceChem's assembly lines.

Sokobond is an elegantly designed puzzle game about chemistry. It's logical, minimalist, and beautiful - crafted with love and science.

Why similar: Difficult 30.6%, Puzzle 24%, Science 17.2%, Logic 14%, Education 4%

Why You'll Like It: A chemistry-themed puzzle game that emphasizes spatial logic and bond formation in a minimalist, elegant format.

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 42.8% ★, Difficult 12.8%, Puzzle 11.3%, Automation 11.2%, Logic 10.7%

Why You'll Like It: A sandbox game focused on building digital circuits, perfect for players who enjoy the underlying logic of SpaceChem's 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 41.3% ★, Difficult 14.5%, Puzzle 13.3%, Automation 12.7%, Logic 8.1%

Why You'll Like It: A pure automation puzzle game that requires arranging machines to process items in a specific order.

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 31.4% ★, Puzzle 27.1%, Difficult 21.6%, Logic 11%, Great Soundtrack 4%

Why You'll Like It: A logic-heavy puzzle game where you manipulate the rules of the game world itself, appealing to the same analytical brain.

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 67.4% ★, Puzzle 14.4%, Difficult 9.5%, Indie 4.3%, Education 2.5%

Why You'll Like It: A hardware description language puzzle game that challenges you to design a computer from basic logic gates.

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 39.4% ★, Difficult 14.2%, Puzzle 11.5%, Logic 10.6%, Automation 9.5%

Why You'll Like It: A difficult logic and programming puzzle game that focuses on building efficient circuits to solve specific input-output problems.

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 44.8% ★, Puzzle 14.9%, Difficult 13.6%, Logic 10.5%, Science 7.7%

Why You'll Like It: A simulation puzzle game that requires logical planning and optimization to solve complex assembly tasks.

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 49.8% ★, Automation 19.6%, Puzzle 15.5%, Logic 10.8%, Building 1.4%

Why You'll Like It: An automation and building game that uses physics and logic to solve complex assembly puzzles.

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 76.4% ★, Automation 14.1%, Puzzle 6.7%, Education 0.9%, Singleplayer 0.8%

Why You'll Like It: A programming-based idle game that requires writing actual JavaScript to automate hacking and resource management.

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 87.5%, Indie 3.2%, Building 2.3%, Singleplayer 2.3%, Strategy 1.7%

Why You'll Like It: The definitive factory automation game, offering a massive scale of logistical and logical challenges for fans of SpaceChem.

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 33.7%, Puzzle 25.8%, Logic 20.9%, Sci-fi 8.1%, Indie 3.5%

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 46.7% ★, Difficult 13%, Puzzle 11.7%, Automation 11.7%, Logic 10.2%

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 48.5% ★, Puzzle 13.1%, Difficult 12.7%, Automation 8.1%, Logic 6.9%

Why You'll Like It: A retro-styled programming puzzle game that forces you to work within the constraints of a limited simulated architecture.

When you have a top-of-the-line hacking deck armed with a 56.6k modem and a staggering 256k RAM, it means just one thing: you answer only to the highest bidder.

Why similar: Programming 76% ★, Puzzle 13.2%, Sci-fi 6.3%, Indie 2.4%, Singleplayer 1.9%

Why You'll Like It: A heist game where you use a portable computer to write code that controls the environment and bypasses security.

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 71.6% ★, Automation 21.7%, Indie 3.1%, Simulation 1.5%, Building 0.8%

Why You'll Like It: Combines colony building with visual programming, allowing you to automate tasks by teaching robots through a logic-based interface.

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 47.2% ★, Difficult 15.6%, Puzzle 15.6%, Logic 12.5%, Automation 6%

U.V.S. Nirmana is a engineering puzzle game from Coincidence, the creators of Kaizen: A Factory Story and the inventors of the Zach-like. Set off on the Unreturning Void Ship Nirmana as it continues a journey of uncountable eons toward the edge of the universe.

Why similar: Programming 59.4% ★, Puzzle 15.6%, Logic 12.1%, Automation 6.9%, Sci-fi 1.7%

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 50.3% ★, Puzzle 15.7%, Automation 15.1%, Logic 13.2%, Indie 1.7%

A super fast, twin analogue shooter for the modern age!

Why similar: Indie 47.6%, Great Soundtrack 27.3%, Space 19.6%, Singleplayer 3.9%, 2D 1.6%

Welcome to Sunshine Heavy Industries! As the new spaceship engineer, solve increasingly tricky design puzzles with your own personal style. Manage customer demands, juggle budget and ship performance, and survive the questionable decision making skills of your business partner.

Why similar: Puzzle 55.1%, Space 10.4%, Sci-fi 8.5%, Indie 6.9%, Great Soundtrack 6.1%

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 38% ★, Difficult 14%, Puzzle 11.2%, Automation 11%, Logic 10%

Brings the simultaneous turn-based strategy genre up-to-date and lets you give detailed, accurate orders to your squad.

Why similar: Great Soundtrack 50%, Difficult 13.1%, Indie 13%, Sci-fi 12.1%, Addictive 4.7% ★

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 47.9% ★, Automation 16.1%, Puzzle 12.5%, Logic 11.3%, Sci-fi 4%

In a cold, dark future dominated by mega-corporations, a small lonely planet on the edge of habitable space is the site of a shadowy research facility specializing in necrotic tissue reactivation. You are a scientist who has suddenly awoken to the realization that you are the lone survivor.

Why similar: Difficult 70.4%, Sci-fi 14.4%, Indie 11.1%, Singleplayer 4.2%

Frantic, multiplayer action involving Nazis and dinosaurs! What are you waiting for? This is World War II as it should have been!

Why similar: Indie 100%

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 54.3% ★, Automation 15.1%, Puzzle 13.8%, Logic 8.9%, Education 2.2%

Explore SOLAS 128, a game of interconnected puzzles where you redirect and reconfigure rhythmic pulses of light to breathe life back into an ancient machine. BAFTA Scotland Game Winner.

Why similar: Programming 46.7% ★, Difficult 15.5%, Puzzle 13.4%, Logic 13.2%, Great Soundtrack 3.8%

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 43.9% ★, Difficult 14.4%, Puzzle 13.8%, Automation 12.6%, Logic 10.7%

In a time of chaotic upheaval, the player takes the role of a great mage, a warlord vying for ultimate power.

Why similar: Strategy 60.9%, Singleplayer 39.1%

Automate It is a factory-building puzzle game that challenges players to find clever solutions within size, power, and time constraints. Design, build, and share your own puzzles with other players. If you want to build it - choose Automate It.

Why similar: Puzzle 33.3%, Automation 32.9%, Logic 19.1%, Singleplayer 4%, Simulation 3.1%

Solve challenging cable-based puzzles and uncover what really happened to the crew of The Alabaster. Now with Hint System (for those ultra tricky puzzles).

Why similar: Difficult 37.5%, Puzzle 30.9%, Sci-fi 10%, Great Soundtrack 7.4%, Logic 5%

Block shop is an automation puzzle game in which basic blocks are transformed and combined to create increasingly complex blocks.

Why similar: Automation 30.2%, Puzzle 28.3%, Difficult 17%, Logic 14.9%, Indie 4.4%

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

Why similar: Puzzle 56%, Great Soundtrack 21.3%, Difficult 8.9%, Indie 7.5%, Singleplayer 3.1%

Enter the ambient world of Osmos: elegant, physics-based gameplay, dreamlike visuals, and a minimalist, electronic soundtrack. Your objective is to grow by absorbing other motes. Propel yourself by ejecting matter behind you. But be wise: ejecting matter also shrinks you. Relax - good things come to those who wait.

Why similar: Puzzle 45%, Difficult 15.2%, Great Soundtrack 14.2%, Indie 9.4%, Science 4.4%

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 48.8%, Logic 26.9%, Sci-fi 10.7%, Building 3.6%, Singleplayer 3.5%

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 49.9% ★, Automation 11.4%, Logic 11.3%, Puzzle 9.8%, Science 8.3%

Build the most efficient intergalactic factory in space simulation strategy game Dyson Sphere Program! Harness the power of stars, collect resources, plan and design production lines and develop your interstellar factory from a small space workshop to a galaxy-wide industrial empire.

Why similar: Automation 62.7%, Sci-fi 13.9%, Space 11.8%, Building 3.5%, Simulation 2.8%

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 72.1% ★, Puzzle 18.5%, Indie 3.9%, Simulation 2.3%, Education 2%

Hexcells Infinite is an ambient logic puzzle game for PC, Mac and Linux.

Why similar: Puzzle 58.9%, Logic 23%, Difficult 10.3%, Indie 4.2%, Singleplayer 1.7%

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 41.9% ★, Automation 13.7%, Puzzle 12.4%, Logic 11.6%, Difficult 9.7%

Lead an armored squad through the perils of this reversed tower defense action-strategy game!

Why similar: Sci-fi 45.2%, Indie 31%, Strategy 13.7%, Singleplayer 10.2%

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 56.7% ★, Automation 17%, Puzzle 16%, Education 3.3%, Sci-fi 1.9%

[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 44.1% ★, Automation 14.9%, Puzzle 13.6%, Difficult 13.1%, Logic 11.3%