Zach Barth is one of our favorite developers. A game designer who can accurately be described as an auteur, Barth’s work through his studio, Zachtronics, is almost instantly recognizable, incorporating signature elements and themes: intricate framing devices, a passion for historic (and imagined) computer culture, and above all, a fascination with intricate systems, from factories to laboratories to circuits.
While Barth’s games offer building blocks and construction systems for intrepid engineers and programmers, they’re far more than playgrounds. Zachtronics games are deeply designed, often featuring elaborate puzzles with specific solutions in mind.
Whether those solutions are achievable for the average player is another question entirely, but even at their most difficult, they’re inspiring.
While Barth closed down his studio in 2022, his games are still available, and the publisher is currently running a sale on Steam, so now is a perfect time to catch up on the genre named after the man, the Zachlike. To help you along, here is a list of…
IGR’s Favorite Zachlikes (in Ascending Order of Accessibility)
Ironclad Tactics
Something of a rarity from Barth, 2013’s Ironclad Tactics is centered on combat, specifically battles between giant robots in an alternate-history Civil War.
Its card-based battles and speed – IGR reviewer HappyWulf called it “fast-paced to the point of almost becoming an RTS” – make it easy to pick up and start playing. It also made the Honorable Mention list of our Top 10 Games of 2013.
Read our complete review of Ironclad Tactics.
Last Call BBS
Barth’s final game is also the ultimate ode to his aforementioned love of computer culture and carefully crafted framing devices; Last Call BBS is actually an anthology of games presented as downloads from a simulated BBS.
That realized simulation and the variety of games on offer make it an ideal entry point to Barth’s obsessions. There are easily accessible offerings here, like an arcade game, a couple of new Solitaire variations, and a Gundam model-building simulator, and there are also some complex, brain-melting puzzle games, ranging from automated cafeteria management to circuit board design.
That combination of variety, craftsmanship, and unique artistic vision made Last Call BBS one of our Top 10 Indie Games of 2022.
Read our complete review of Last Call BBS.
Infinifactory
Well before Factorio or Satisfactory came along, Zachtronics had already pioneered the “manufacturing on an alien world” sim with Infinifactory, an Honorable Mention in our list of the Top 10 Best Indie Games of 2015.
Unlike those more open-ended offerings, this 3D factory simulation presents its challenges in the more traditional form of discrete levels, but each has multiple solutions. As Adam Fimio pointed out in his review, its “free-flow approach to puzzle solving could easily fall apart in a different game, it actually enhances the feeling of being dropped in an alien world and having to solve a puzzle. It also naturally adds replay value.”
Read our complete review of Infinifactory.
Exapunks
An intense combination of strategy and programming, Exapunks is an ode to ’80s cyberpunk in general and William Gibson’s Neuromancer in particular.
While its simulated program language is powerful enough that pioneering players have coded entire other games inside it, IGR editor-in-chief Indie-Game-Freak praised the way Exapunks “feels smooth, feels fair, feels logical for anyone with the tenacity to roll up their sleeves and try stuff” in his coverage for our Top 10 Indie Games of 2018 list.
Spacechem
Like Infinifactory, Spacechem is all about science fiction manufacturing, but it’s more abstract; its circuits, pathways, and conveyor belts are a series of lines and symbols in primary colors rather than 3D-rendered machinery.
An Honorable Mention in our list of Top 10 Indie Games of 2011 – it’s funny how many of Barth’s games end up on our Game of the Year lists, but he really is that good – our coverage acknowledges the game’s complexity and difficulty while also praising it as “a highly polished, brilliantly realized challenge” for players willing to persevere with it.
TIS-100: Tesselated Intelligence System
TIS-100 shows Barth’s obsessions with historic computer culture and programming puzzles at their most impenetrable and arguably their most impressive. It’s not a computer simulation. It’s not even a programming simulation. It’s an ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE simulation.
We’ll be entirely honest: we couldn’t solve any of the earliest and most rudimentary programming puzzles in this game without looking up solutions, and even then, it took us multiple attempts.
But we’re still in awe of the ambition behind this one. Even if we can’t fully comprehend it, we can at least appreciate the framing device of a long-lost early ’80s computer prototype, complete with a printable manual, discovered in someone’s attic.
Read our complete review of TIS-100: Tesselated Intelligence System.
Check out the Zachtronics sale on Steam, and let us know your favorite Zach Barth games in the comments!
