Opus Magnum is a puzzle-based programming game that tasks players with creating alchemy machines, with challenges to complete them in the most efficient ways possible.
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Pros
Pro Endless ways to solve challenges
There's no single way to solve any challenge. You're free to make machines that work in a small space in a few steps, or a wide, spread-out space in a series of longer steps. As you progress and become more skilled at the game by completing each task, you'll naturally find ways to optimize the process.
Pro Fun experimentation
Making machines more efficient involves narrowing down the cost of parts, the speed of the working machine, or the space that the mechanisms and glyphs take up. Using cheaper parts may cause the machine to work slower, or having a faster machine might take up more space on the field. It's up to you to experiment and find the best solution.
Pro The game mechanics are explained well
As part of the story, you are an alchemy graduate from the Imperial University’s College of Alchemical Engineering, tasked with creating workable solutions to a number of tasks, such as turning lead into gold or making a sealant to water-proof ships. You then have a set of available reagents, like lead and quicksilver. You must align moving metallic mechanisms and sets of glyphs that engineer the reagents into the final product. The game does a great job at explaining the purpose of each tool at your disposal and how each part fits into the working puzzle.
Pro Community-generated puzzles offer plenty of replay value
Online play in Opus Magnum includes player-created puzzles to solve, expanding the scope of the game well past the available challenges in the campaign. The in-game editor offers ways to create new products with a set of reagents, mechanisms, and glyphs, with an incredible amount of possibilities and combinations of puzzles.
Cons
Con Story mode feels short
With so many puzzles to solve in so many different ways, the 20-hour campaign can go by too quickly. Opus Magnum more than makes up for this with replay value in making more optimal machines, as well as the player-created puzzles.