Should I complete The Codex of Alchemical Engineering before playing Opus Magnum?

[DemonDom]

5+ years ago Zachtronics released two free flash games that act as a precursor to Opus Magnum, The Codex of Alchemical Engineering and he Magnum Opus Challenge. For those who have played these games, would it be a good idea to complete them before playing Opus Magnum, or will I not miss much by skipping over them?


I've dipped my toes in both The Codex and Opus Magnum, but am not sure which I should proceed with further first. They both play very similarly, so skills learned from The Codex probably carry over to Opus Magnum. At the same time though, there might be quirks in The Codex/Magnum Opus Challenge that don't work the same in the Opus Magnum that could lead to learning bad habits that have to be unlearned. What do you guys suggest?

[Turtle]

They're extremely different games, I wouldn't recommend it at all. The flash games are far, far more restrictive in what you can do compared to Opus Magnum.

[Silver Lining]

I only tried the game out briefly after hearing comparisons to Opus Magnum (mostly b/c I unsuccessfully tried to deny the urge to buy day one). And honestly, I'd recommend just going for this game. It has a lot eary puzzles similar to the ones in the flash one, and is honestly just crazy polished and way less confusing/annoying in the way it does things and teaching you the mechanics. You're honestly not missing out on anything save for some added frustration imo.

[inappropriately_gendered_fungus]

I would not recommend playing Codex before Opus Magnum. I never finished Codex, but this game is much easier to grasp and allows for much greater freedom in solving the puzzles.

[DemonDom]

Originally posted by Turtle:

They're extremely different games, I wouldn't recommend it at all. The flash games are far, far more restrictive in what you can do compared to Opus Magnum.

I actually went ahead and completed The Codex, and I definitely see what you mean by it being far more restrictive than Opus Magnum. It was pretty tricky (but not too frustrating) dealing with the limited amount of functions per arm, limited workspace, and lack of an easy way to move/adjuct arm functions/cycles. That being said, it was pretty rewarding to see my system successfully run after spending a considerable amount of time completing and optimizing it. Definitely not going to do a full complete of The Magnum Opus Challenge after seeing how complex some of those final levels are, but I'll probably give the first few levels a try.


Going into Opus Magnum, I'm very curious to make the transition from working on a traditional square grid onto a hexagonal one. I wonder how that will effect how the puzzles/mechanics work. Having a shared timeline for the arms will definitely make it easier to maintain synchronization between their cycles, especially with the quality-of-life features that weren't in The Codex. The addition of tracks and the ability to place reagents/products wherever you want will increase the freedom for puzzle solutions. I know that there's at least one thing I need to unlearn when playing Opus Magnum; that arm bases now have collision, where they did not in The Codex.