Buy SpaceChem

Got it free so it was worth my time playing
Played to get the free TF2 gear since I was bored and had it in my library
There are 5 TF2 items available to earn while playing the game
It is a pretty fun little puzzle game
Probably worth buying if you are really interested in it or see it on a good sale

This is the best puzzle game I've ever seen. Excellent game design, polished interface, challenging difficulty ramp-up, IQ-enhancing soundtrack, engaging story, intense boss fights, and plenty of extra assignments in the ResearchNet database. You're not a true nerd if you don't fall in love with this at first sight. My only complaint is that it can only remember one solution for each assignment.

Ho boy.

SpaceChem is one of those puzzle games that are beyond difficult. You really have to put your gray cells to the test here. I only completed it as fast as I did because I consulted guides on how to solve the different assignments, else it would have gotten rather tough early on already.

The main objective in SpaceChem is lining up two production circles, one red, one blue, to grab whatever is put into the reactor, to then output something different, be it a broken down product, something fused together, or something simply taken apart and put back together. The way SpaceChem wraps it into a Lovecraftian space adventure provides an interesting story, if sometimes a bit predictable.

But nevertheless, it is a game that has replay value, because there is no fixed way of solving the problem presented. There are fast ways, there are efficient ways, there are fast efficient ways, and then you can do it as complicated as you like - SpaceChem provides a variety of solutions even for the simpler puzzles.

And when I say simpler, I mean puzzles involving a molecule consisting of two, maybe three kinds of atoms, and the product requiring the same atoms in different configuration. Later on, when more options are available, your synapses will be frying from trying to figure out how the Hell to tackle the problem at hand.

potentially the most difficult game on steam, best headache i've ever had!

I think the beauty of this game is that there is never any "one solution" like a lot of puzzle games end up falling onto. You're free to create whatever solution you can think of to solve each puzzle... within the confines of a rather restricted space. And it may not look too restricted at first but in the later worlds, whoo, does space management become a big aspect. I understand the need for it though, having no space restraint would make a lot of puzzles really simple in comparison to what they are now, though.

The difficulty curve of the game is pretty dang smooth, ranging from simple in world 1 to "literally hours for every single puzzle" in worlds 6 through 9. But no challenge ever feels insurmountable when you face it, just intimidating. It's very clearly a programming-styled puzzle game, and it hits all the right nerves with that; designing the best functions to keep the overall design running smoothly, optimizing ever so slightly to hit a time quota, finding new and more efficient ways to solve a problem that subsequently frees up reactor space you desperately needed.

I'm one to dive right in to the puzzles and keep tweaking away at them until I hit upon something that functions the way I need to, and then stubbornly stick to whatever functions unless I can't possibly work around it, and, generally, the game doesn't stop me from using this philosophy successfully. There's probably something to be said for planning out something elegant in advance, too, and I bet there are some really cool puzzle designs made that way. It's a game that feels very free, even in its restrictiveness.

The game's visuals are basic but effective, they get the job done. The music is... I honestly have no clue, there's too little of it for how long the game runs on and I had to turn it off and put on my own music after a while. The story is passable, but with how long I went between each time I played this game I found it hard to keep track of.

That is one thing... this game is incredibly exhausting to play. I'll hammer away at the solution for one puzzle for a few hours and then when I've solved it I'm completely drained and end up not coming back to the game for weeks or even months. Before today the last time I played this game was at the start of June, for instance, and I've been picking away at the levels since... around last october, I believe, at least during this attempt at getting through the game, which for the record was like my third time overall, I think. So yeah.

I can definitely see this game not being for everyone but it's certainly a good experience if you're programmatically-minded, though definitely a challenging one, easily one of the hardest puzzle games I've ever played, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

very excellent, something you can keep coming back too and improving on.

So I have spent loads of hours in this game (lots of the time it was idling while I was doing other stuff... honest). I would say 60% through the story campaign the difficulty noticeably ramps up and each level can take many hours at this point.

I thought that as a puzzle game you would use logic and come to a solution, but in SpaceChem I found my self crafting a solution with lots of trial and error, that at times did not follow 100% with logic. The upside of this is I think my solutions would be fairly unique to others efforts.

This is a very recommended game.

When [if] I beat it I'll put it on my resume.

A scientific puzzler with a nice interface. Found it a bit difficult to pick up. but it's satisfying once you know what you're doing. Maybe try it if you like difficult puzzle games and chemistry.

First things first – if you like puzzle games you need to play this game. Need.

Now­­­… I’m not sure I am qualified to ever finish this game. I could cheat, sure, but where’s the fun in that? According to steam only 3.7% of players have the “game completed” cheev – but that is a cheevo very hard earned.
One of my fav things about this game is the replay value, which is super rare among puzzles. For each level there are charts to show how you ranked vs the rest of the internet over 3 separate criteria. Even when winning you sometimes know you can win better.

My only complaint would be a lack of deep tutorials. There’s a steam page out there with “Things I wish I knew while playing SpaceChem” that I honestly can’t consider cheating but I wish the game had taught me these things instead of asking the internet for tips & tricks.

Who should play: People get a boner at the thought of a multi-layer logic puzzle
Who should not play: Everyone else, particularly people with little patience

Quite a great spare-time puzzley game.