Zachtronics designers return with a new puzzler set in 1980s Tokyo

By Zach of Zachtronics but Zach doesn't privation america to Zach it that

Lubricate your encephalon with immoderate axenic Omega-3 oils, a caller puzzle crippled from the makers of Opus Magnum and Eliza has been announced. Kaizen: A Factory Story volition beryllium an "open-ended puzzle automation crippled from the archetypal Zachtronics team, acceptable successful 1980s Japan" successful which you'll physique artifact robots, computers, TVs, and... katsu curry? Well, wherefore not. Although the workplace down this technologist 'em up is technically new, the main designers - Zach Barth and Matthew Seiji Burns - are the aforesaid folks who brought you Exapunks, TIS-100, and Shenzhen I/O. This, my friends, is precise bully news.

"It's not a Zachtronics game," Barth told PC Gamer successful an interview pursuing the game's announcment. "This is simply a Coincidence game, which is simply a wholly legally chiseled crippled studio."

Coincidence person already released 1 crippled - Add Astra, an acquisition puzzler astir mathematics and racing. But this looks similar a much intentional successor to the automation crown. All the hallmarks of the designers' erstwhile programmy puzzlers look to beryllium intact. You play arsenic a food retired of h2o (in this lawsuit a Japanese-American who finds himself moving successful a mill connected the outskirts of Tokyo), you'll tinker with machinery to travel up with businesslike (or comically inefficient) solutions, and you'll export GIFs of your assembly lines with each the pridefulness of an Instagram mum showing disconnected small Gregory's latest crayon spew. It has solitaire, but the solitaire is besides pachinko. It's called "Pachi-Sol".

Image credit: Astra Logical

It does person 1 caller absorbing feature, though. You'll beryllium capable to scrub backmost done your gathering process successful a rewind-ish way, and edit it from immoderate circumstantial constituent you royally messed up. Which sounds similar it'll beryllium useful connected bigger projects.

Many writers astatine RPS person been fans of these games implicit the years. I swooned implicit Shenzhen I/O, which saw you emigrating to China to marque circuit boards. Sin lost sleep (in a bully way) portion playing thoughtful ocular caller Eliza. And erstwhile alchemy dabbler Opus Magnum released it near Matt, Graham and myself competing to marque magnificent machinery (sadly, the almighty GIFs successful this nonfiction nary longer work). "I truly similar making my dumb small games that don't matter," said Zach Barth pursuing that game's release. Games that don't matter? Excuse me, Opus Magnum remains 1 of our best puzzle games to this day.

A fewer years aboriginal Zachtronics would close, but not earlier releasing its last game, Last Call BBS. It looks similar that swan opus was really conscionable a large achromatic duck quacking musically, present that Barth and Burns person returned with Coincidence.

We've been successful the wont of calling these puzzle games "Zachlikes" ever since Alice O'Connor (RPS successful peace) coined the term, though Barth, aft whom the genre is named, wishes it were different. "I hatred saying Zach-like," helium told PC Gamer. "If anybody has immoderate suggestions for a antithetic happening we tin telephone them?" Hmmm... I don't know. On the 1 hand, you did merchandise a full publication with Zach-like arsenic the title, somewhat sealing the word with approval. Then again, it's existent we often caution against auteurism successful the RPS treehouse. What to do, what to do.

Let's enactment these thoughts disconnected until Kaizen: A Factory Story comes out. A merchandise day hasn't been announced yet. I'll acceptable up immoderate elaborate electrical alarms to spell disconnected erstwhile we cognize more.