Recent reviews by tobybug

This survival game presents a challenge like no others of its kind. Imagine you're trained by Mark Watney to survive on Mars with nothing but a few potato seeds and a dream. Synthesize your own air, water, and food from environmental resources using real chemistry, and engineer the optimized air conditioner of your dreams. This game is so realistic you could reenact almost every survival-related story beat from the Martian down to the genetics of the potatoes and the molar composition of the atmosphere. Yes, even the part where he blows himself up by releasing hydrogen into the air.

Disclaimer: The game is still in early access at the time of writing, so there are many bugs, though none are game-breaking, and the state of the game steadily improves by the month. The development team is incredibly committed to making the game as feature-rich as possible without increasing system requirements, though this sometimes comes at a cost of old worlds no longer working with the newest version. However, they make good use of Steam's beta feature to give players access to years-old versions of the game before those save-breaking patches.

If you enjoyed the minimalist style of TIS-100, this game is for you. It has all the brainbending puzzle stuff but not a lot of extras. Personally, I liked that.

I think Zachtronics has shown steady improvement in programming games over time, as they've learned from their players what works and what doesn't. I have enjoyed almost all of Zachtronics' games but limitations such as the pipework in tight spaces between the reactors in Spacechem or the size of the circuit boards in Shenzhen I/O have sometimes frustrated me more than challenged me in a stimulating way. Perhaps I should have been more patient with myself as I struggled to figure out how to construct a working factory or device within the limitations of these games, but I think the average player might prefer to limit that struggle to the time after solving the puzzle when they wish to improve upon their solution. This is why I like EXAPUNKS. The challenges in this game come more from the complex logic underlying each puzzle than from frustrating limitations. It is the second Zachtronics game than I plan to finish the main campaign of, alongside Opus Magnum. I would definitely recommend this game first out of all Zachtronics' selection.

(Also it's about time Zachtronics made a hacking-themed game.)

Really liked this game.
Where else can you crash Jupiter into the Sun, meticulously make your own Earth, or make Pluto huge to give it planet status again and smash it into the Moon? Also, I could listen to that majestic music all day.
11/10