Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Jul 30, 2022

  Silicon Zeroes is a great game for people who like (or are studying) computer architecture. It doesn't quite scratch the same itch as what you might be expecting if you've played similar puzzle games. It's not as abstracted-away as Zachtronics' titles, and not as low-level as something like Turing Complete (no logic gates, etc). However, it goes a lot *further* into the weeds of CPU design than any of those games. If you're studying microarchitectures then this game is a must. It covers about half the content you'll see in a specialised undergraduate course. You won't build a register in this game, and bits are completely abstracted away, however you *will* learn how to implement pipelined systems and basic vector processing. As far as I know, this is the only game that covers those topics. If you're *not* particularly interested in learning those more advanced CPU features, however, then it's a toss-up. The puzzles aren't particularly open-ended, and the general aesthetic isn't all that appealing. The game is also fairly short, with only a handful of truly-difficult puzzles. I'd recommend at least giving the game a go if you're into computer-focused puzzle games like MHRD, TIS-100, etc. but it's definitely not a game for everyone. All in all: - If you don't like CPUs, give this a pass - If you *do* like CPUs but don't want to study them formally, give this a try - If you're planning to take a course in CPU design, this game should be required reading - Also buy "Turing Complete"
• gamedeal user

  Nov 25, 2022

  First the straight up bad: the puzzles can be quite frustrating because the game has only 1 solution in mind. Worse, the game gives you tools in one level and then takes them away in another. So your brain might be figuring out how to solve the puzzle one way, but it's a dead end because the game doesn't let you do that in the current level, you've got to start from scratch and think about the solution in a totally different way. Now the comparisons: <*>Do you want good programming puzzles? Go play some Zachtronics games first (if you don't know where to start try Opus Magnum or Shenzhen I/O) <*>Do you want the best introduction to CPU architecture? Go play Turing Complete first In 2022, this game is B tier at best for the genre. Having gotten all that out of the way... if you've tried other games in the genre and you're looking for more, I highly recommend this game. There's a lot to love here. If you like the atmosphere and story of Zachtronics games, you'll feel right at home. If you're here to learn, this game has a lot to teach. It'll force you to think about solutions in new ways that no other game in the genre does. Take for example timing. In Turing Complete dealing with timing is a number (delay) that the game lets you optimize for, but it doesn't fundamentally change how you think about the solution. When you get to the later parts of this game, each component has its own delay and you have to be careful about indeterminate values before each component has settled. It turns timing into an interesting, complex synchronization problem, just like in real CPU architecture. Did I mention that by the end of the game you'll have built a CPU from latches up? The game UI for designing components is in many ways still the best in the genre. It feels like you're doing actual hardware design (compared to, say, the weird, disguised programming of some Zachtronics titles) but in a way that doesn't feel like you've turned work into a game (the literal programming in some Zachtronics titles, or the meticulous wire layouts of Turing Complete). Finally, the game feels like it was a labor of love to make. Plus the main developer behind the game is friendly and engages with the community in a supportive way, even after all these years since releasing the game. I hope we see more games like this in the future.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 19, 2017

  I was lucky enough to play this game while still in beta, so you'll see I don't have many hours officially logged, but I spent many hours with it. It's an absolutely *incredible* game. If you've played Kerbal Space Program, you'll know what I mean when I say how much more fun it is to play a game where you learn interesting new concepts while you play. This is like the KSP of computers. I'd say it starts a little dry, but stick with it. Once you get to the point where you're beginning to build a working processor, it'll blow your mind. Learned how to build a working computer processor. 10/10 would build again.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 19, 2017

  This is really fun and promising game, it is in the style of Shenzhen I/O but it is by itself a unique and very interesting. I think this will become very popular in the niche of programming/hardware puzzle games.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 19, 2017

  Okay so, I've never played any programming games before and this is all totally new to me. But I decided to give this game a try since it looked kinda fun and had a free demo for me to try out. So I gave the demo a go and found it was actually pretty alright once I understood how each module worked. It's all a matter of figuring out how to organize them to satisfy the objective. Demo hooked me so I bought the game and now I'm slowly making my way through each puzzle, some being harder than others and once in a while the game will introduce new modules. I kinda had to play with some of the modules to figure out how they worked, but once you get it you'll be good to go. It's also nice how most of the time you have a choice between which puzzle you want to tackle first in case you want to take a break from one and try another. There may be some puzzles you'll have to sit through thinking out how to solve for a while (currently I'm stuck on this one normal puzzle that I can't figure out for the life of me for some reason), but once you finally figure it out it feels so satisfying and you actually learn through the process which will help you solve even harder puzzles. I'd recommend to anyone who likes to challenge themselves or if you just love puzzles in general. If you're unsure on if you'd like it or not, you should definitely give the demo a try! Pros: - lots of fun and challenging puzzles - I'm sure anyone can pick this up and have a good time - progression of difficulty seems pretty good - have a choice for which puzzles to do - Puzzles save your work if you decide to exit out or work on a different puzzle - soundtrack is pretty good and adds to the game - Simple story but adds some context to the puzzles Neutrals: - could add more hints? that's just my personal preference since sometimes I get stuck for hours on a puzzle and just need a little push in the right direction, but its not nessesary. Cons: - Sometimes the game introduces to you a new module and you don't fully understand how it works until you play around with it - maybe lacks in replayability? Not sure I haven't finished the game but unless something's added like a workshop or mod capability, you'd finish all the puzzles the game has to offer and that would be it
• gamedeal user

  Sep 19, 2017

  Great Game! I always wanted to learn how to build a CPU. Honestly this game is similar to Kerbal and infinifactory where you really learn somthing from the game. Well done!
• gamedeal user

  Sep 20, 2017

  A solid entry in the "Zachtronics" genre of engineering games. Well worth it if you enjoy other engineering puzzle games in this style, like MHRD, TIS-100, ShenzhenIO, etc.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 21, 2017

  If you like programming puzzle games like TIS-100 and Human Resource Machine, then you'll almost certainly like this. How this one differs is that instead of writing a program in assembler, you are building a machine that will execute assembler. So you are given a program, and a set of test data, and you have to wire together components (adders, registers, selectors, readers, writers, ...) so that the program will run and generate the goal state of the test data. The puzzles start slow as they introduce you to each component, but quickly move on to be much more challenging. And just when you've built your first general purpose CPU and think you've got the hang of things, a whole new timing concept is introduced for the next set of levels providing all new challenges. The drag-drop and plugging together mechanics for building machines is very satisfying. And there's a lot more levels than I originally thought, including a whole set that opens up after you complete the main story. On top of that you can go back and optimize earlier machines for additional replay value.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 23, 2017

  This was the game I needed today. A few moments of joy I had so far: [list] [*] Me: "Cool an input selector, that's totally a mux." Next Level: "Yup that was totally a mux" Me: "I knew it!" [*] Me: "Wow I could do this so easily if I had part x and y from a few levels ago" Game: "Yup, that's why you won't be getting those parts here. GLHF" Me: "HAHA, a cunning strategy I will need to create" [*] Me: "There got that level in x parts." Game: "Cool, We know you can do it better though, Best case is x-1" Me: "Hmm, how best to make every part count..." [*] Me: "As a Zachtronics player always knows: ‘Save your first working solution, then branch off to get better’” Game: “Sure, you could do that, but I will just autosave the last successful run for you, or you could save it to your clip board.” Me: “… I have always wanted that” [*] Just watching the movement of data… I love those little cycles spinning. [/list] Will you like this? I don’t know. It’s a bit higher level than a game about logic gates, a bit lower than others. All I know is I like it.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 2, 2017

  If I didn't know this wasn't made by Zachtronics, I'd probably be willing to bet money that it was. There is a lot in the theme of this game that reminds of the super fulfilling puzzles that Zach had been creating over the years. These type of games, which allow building complex systems through a set of a few simple rules that are quite well defined, are my cup of tea. I also love the mystery of trying out new parts of the system as they are introduced, some defined, some not -- and those that are not, are left for you to discover. The style of puzzles and testing system is quite similar to Zach's game, and those familiar with the "cram it in the least cycles and least parts as possible challange" will feel right at home here. The story is kind of meh, though to be fair , while Zach's story telling is much more intriguing than Silicon Zero's, I don't really play these games for the story, IYKWIM. Those with some background with logic components (eg. Latches, Registers, CPUs, ALUs, Muxes, Demuxes, etc), will immediately recognize many of the parts available in the base game. But the best part is -- you don't need to know how these actually work to play! So give the game a go, I think it's quite fun and challenging! Thanks for a great game, guys!