SpaceChem Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 115 Ratings

  • Summary: Zachtronics Industries 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! Streamline your designs to meet production quotas and survive encounters with the sinister threats that plague SpaceChem. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 13
  2. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Sep 7, 2011
    90
    Due to its extreme complexity, SpaceChem will never be a title for everyone. Too deep and articulate for casual players, it will be appreciated only by those who are willing to engage themselves with the deep game mechanics Nevertheless Spece chem is no doubt one of the most brilliant puzzle game in the history of videogames.
  2. Mar 15, 2011
    90
    The triumph of SpaceChem is that overcoming these situations is more a case of inventing a solution than discovering one - creating a technique on your own terms that, once learned, you find yourself reusing in later stages. [Apr 2011, p.101]
  3. Mar 7, 2011
    85
    What I enjoy the most is the fact that there is no right way to come up with a solution. If it works, you win.
  4. 70
    An excellent puzzle game that can convert the suffering from hours of chemistry at high school to an entertaining experience. [Issue#201]

See all 13 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 45
  2. Negative: 3 out of 45
  1. 9
    WOW! If you like challenging puzzles, especially involving thread synchronization, optimal paths and most efficient utilization of resources, you're going to LOVE this game! Expand
  2. This has a linear learning curve, satisfying level design, and even a few bonus rounds and boss battles to excite while remaining strictly casual. The music and sound effects aren't particularly painful, the graphics are functional and smooth. There's also a plot, although interesting and grisly; it doesn't impact gameplay in any meaningful way. It's not groundbreaking, but for 15 bucks on Steam, it's a fair value that won't disappoint novices or vets in the puzzle genre.
    To Mortlach: you can click-drag a selection box across the whole field and press delete to reset most of everything.
    Expand
  3. 5
    I want to like this game so badly, but I'm stuck in the beginning levels, only barely introduced to multiple reactors (multiple of the puzzle screens connected in one level, to make more complex results). I made it through Braid and Portal and a bunch of similar games. This is just above me. It's worth trying (the demo), but expect to fail if you're just an average person like me. Expand
  4. This game really makes no sense to me. I've done the tutorial numerous times and I can't seem to grasp the key elements of this game. I only played it for the Team Fortress 2 items and I wont be playing it again. Expand

See all 45 User Reviews