Is this a good place to start with Zachtronics?

[casho333]

I haven't played any Zachtronics games yet. I was wondering if this game was a good way to get started? If not, would would you recommend? I don't have super intelligence, so I would like to start of with something that isn't going to be too challenging to get started with.

[Goblin]

Mostly no. The actual Zachlike parts in this are some of the hardest. You might still enjoy it dye to the higher amount of non-Zachlike content, but there's easier games to start with.

Opus Magnum is one of the easiest ones to complete, Exapunks is the easiest programming one, and Infinifactory is similar to Opus but in 3D, which in some ways is easier and in other ways harder. I'd usually pick one of those three as a first game to recommend, depending on the interests of the person asking.

[casho333]

Originally posted by Goblin:

Mostly no. The actual Zachlike parts in this are some of the hardest. You might still enjoy it dye to the higher amount of non-Zachlike content, but there's easier games to start with.

Opus Magnum is one of the easiest ones to complete, Exapunks is the easiest programming one, and Infinifactory is similar to Opus but in 3D, which in some ways is easier and in other ways harder. I'd usually pick one of those three as a first game to recommend, depending on the interests of the person asking.

Thanks for the advice. Opus Magnum looks great.

[Wok]

Opus Magnum is a good way to start indeed.

That being said, I have found most Zachtronics games too hard at some point in my playthrough and ended up quitting before the end... apart from The Last Call BBS. I believe it is because we have 8 small games here, and they do not go as far as the usual Zachtronics games in terms of complexity, except maybe for The Food Court.

[Doctor Lag]

Originally posted by Goblin:

Mostly no.

Agree for all the reasons he said, plus the minigames are just unpolished in general. If you start with Spacechem (my personal favorite) you'll get a much cleaner experience.

[Redglyph]

Originally posted by casho333:

I haven't played any Zachtronics games yet. I was wondering if this game was a good way to get started? If not, would would you recommend? I don't have super intelligence, so I would like to start of with something that isn't going to be too challenging to get started with.

I agree with what was said above too. Opus Magnum is also a very polished game.

EXAPUNKS is very good too, it has a little accompanying story and a nice progression.

Opus Magnum is about making mechanisms to produce items, and Exapunks is about programming little bots and hacking. Those two games are my favourites in the series.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/716490/EXAPUNKS/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/558990/Opus_Magnum/

[Boo Seta]

To be honest, this is the worst puzzle game from Zachtronic, in my opinion. I can't think of any other puzzle game from them that is worse than this one.

[Melbac]

Originally posted by Doctor Lag:

Originally posted by Goblin:

Mostly no.

Agree for all the reasons he said, plus the minigames are just unpolished in general. If you start with Spacechem (my personal favorite) you'll get a much cleaner experience.

Well yes. If you finish Spacechem you will easily beat all the other Zachgames...

Althoughthere is a slight chance you loose your mind at Ω-Pseudoethyne

[Timoi]

I've had a bit of a rough (though still quite enjoyable) introduction to Zachtronics with TIS-100. For most people, I also agree that the games mentioned would be a much better starting point.

[columbine]

There is no good place to start with Zachtronics. Each and every Zachtronics game will have a point where you tear your hair out and ragequit, and they only differ in how far along you reach that point.

But I agree that Opus Magnum will probably let you get furthest without losing hair.

Since this is really several games and some of them aren't even really Zachtronics-style puzzles at all, you might find some relief here. The solitaire and the modelbuilding is relaxing, and Dungeons and Diagrams suits the way my brain works, so I've been pretty much stomping all over those. Meanwhile, I hit a wall in the food court on the third puzzle. I looked at a solution, saw all those wires, said "this ramps up in difficulty much too fast," and may not go back for a while. Other people are probably breezing through that and can't figure out how the heck to do Dungeons and Diagrams analytically. It's a question of whether you can twist your brain into the particular pretzel shape required for that particular game universe.

[jet800]

+1 for opus magnum, probably best entry point and best polished game of all Zach games. It's based on old flash game by them (codex of alchemical engineering, which is also very good and which in fact had stanalone expansion called... opus magnum ;))

I would recommend against exapunks cause later stages of the game are BORING. The idea is very neat, but having to redo basic stuff each puzzle is very frustrating.

Also I'd recommed Spacechem as starting point, but be vary - while it's easy to start, later stages are really tough.

As for Last Call - the actual programming puzzles are hard in this one, so I would not recommend it as a starting point.

[Roxor128]

Zachtronics is the most prolific developer of games I love but never finish. I always get to a point where I get stumped, but I had great fun getting there.

I concur with the recommendations of Opus Magnum, EXAPUNKS, Infinifactory, and SpaceChem.

As far as the "pure programming" subset goes, TIS-100 and SHENZHEN I/O are particularly hard due to the extremely limited program space they offer. TIS-100 gives you something like 15 lines per node, and SHENZHEN I/O's programmable components come in several sizes, but they're still under 20 lines each. EXAPUNKS offers functionally unlimited lines of code, making things a good deal easier, though some of that is offset by the need to deal with interprocess communication between EXAs, and programs that are too long won't be considered for leaderboards.

[Shogal]

For quick start, the best is probably Opus Magnum because it doesn't require reading the manual. You play few tutorial missions and just jump right into the game.

[AaronLibra]

I'll also throw in a vote for Opus Magnum! It's a fun challenge that also involves a bit of creativity along with the typical logic required to solve the puzzles. The story is quite interesting as well and keeps you engaged and interested. None of the levels are impossibly difficult, but the challenge increase is done in such a way that you actually give yourself a quiet cheer when you figure certain things out (unless that's just a me thing lol).

I wouldn't be disappointed if a sequel was made...or even a completely different story and premise with similar gameplay.

Cheers and good luck!