MHRD

About MHRD

MHRD is a single player simulation game. It was developed by Funghisoft and was released on January 5, 2017. It received positive reviews from players.

MHRD is a hardware design game, in which you design various hardware circuits in a hardware description language. The hardware circuits you design get more complex as you go until you create a fully functional CPU design.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip Games Like MHRD

Looking for games like MHRD? Here are top simulation recommendations, selected from player-similarity data — start with Turing Complete, Shenzhen I/O or Silicon Zeroes.

95%2.6kreviews

Turing Complete

2021

Simulation

94%2.7kreviews

Shenzhen I/O

2016

Casual Simulation

88%233reviews

Silicon Zeroes

2017

Simulation

84%2.4kreviews

Human Resource Machine

2015

Casual Management

+13

97%4.7kreviews

TIS-100

2015

Simulation

87%3.6kreviews

while True: learn()

2019

Simulation

+16

84%279reviews

Prime Mover

2018

Simulation

94%376reviews

Virtual Circuit Board

2023

Simulation

83%555reviews

The Signal State

2021

Simulation

94%247reviews

Logic World

Reviews

87%Audience ScoreBased on 284 reviews

graphics7 positive mentions

grinding12 negative mentions

Educational and rewarding experience that teaches fundamental concepts of digital logic and CPU design from NAND gates to a working CPU.
Minimalist and retro aesthetic with a clear and well-structured progression through increasingly complex design tasks.
Suitable for enthusiasts or students with some background in logic or programming, offering a unique hands-on approach to hardware description languages.

Limited and clunky text-based interface including a constrained editor with no scrolling, lack of mouse support, awkward keyboard controls, and occasional input lag or freezing.
Short game length with roughly 20 levels, abrupt ending after CPU construction, and minimal replay value or sandbox mode.
Lack of advanced features such as debugging tools, visualization of circuit internals, custom component creation, extensive documentation, and useful feedback on optimization.

graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32% positive mentions, 54% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions
The game's graphics embrace a minimalist, retro 1980s aesthetic with monochrome text displays and no graphical interface for circuit design, which some find charming but others see as unintuitive and limiting. Reviewers suggest that adding a graphical drag-and-drop system for logic gates would enhance usability and help prevent design errors. Overall, while the simple visuals suit the theme, many feel more modern, visual tools are needed to improve engagement and clarity.
- “There’s no distraction, no unnecessary visuals, just the puzzle in front of you.”
- “I really enjoyed the minimalism and aesthetic of this one.”
- “On the whole a fun little diversion with a nice retro aesthetic.”
- “You're not going to find any fancy graphics here and you're going to have to do your own research outside of the game to be able to create the various circuits needed to build your CPU in the game.”
- “There is no mouse input or graphical display of your current designs (besides the stock ASCII design that is provided as a guide to create the circuit).”
- “No graphical interface for component design.”
gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24% positive mentions, 58% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions
The gameplay centers on designing and building computer circuits and CPUs through puzzle-solving, offering an educational and engaging experience focused on core mechanics without much visual flair. While generally enjoyable and well-designed for clarity and simplicity, some users report minor bugs and stability issues during extended play. The minimalist approach keeps the focus on learning electronics and logic design rather than variety or graphics.
- “The core mechanic for this game is designing your own suite of parts and using those to build other parts.”
- “Around half of your gameplay is going to involve writing out truth-tables and circuit-diagrams to figure out a solution, especially after the first few tutorial-levels.”
- “The gameplay is simple but allows you to learn a lot about electronics and how logic elements are built, as well as how CPUs and RAMs are made.”
- “The game is thoroughly enjoyable; however, I've been encountering issues with stuttering and crashing after 5-10 minutes of gameplay, regardless of using the native Linux compatibility layer or Proton.”
- “Lacks variety outside of core puzzle mechanics.”
- “Some minor bugs in puzzle validations, e.g., the CPU test doesn't validate the constant's padding, but this doesn't detract from gameplay.”
grinding
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is often described as tedious rather than challenging, with repetitive tasks like rewriting connections and typing multiple assignments feeling monotonous. However, features like the helpful intern "ted" alleviate some of this labor by automating repetitive work, reducing the overall tedium. While the game is generally short and easy for those familiar with logic design, the early levels can feel especially grind-heavy.
- “The prize for tediously rewriting the connections written out for you in the problem description into the syntax of a hardware description language is only a popup window with undecipherable testcases.”
- “Another game that confuses "tedious" for "challenging."”
- “Typing three assignments for every gate is just tedious.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The game frequently experiences random freezes and crashes, particularly within the editor, which is buggy and prone to slowdowns despite modest system requirements. Basic features like word wrap and global systems also suffer from reliability issues, making troubleshooting challenging and affecting overall stability.
- “Worst of all, the editor is buggy, lacks basic features, tends to slow down to a crawl and actually stops responding all the time which is somewhat ridiculous for a very basic plain text editor running on a multi-GHz quadcore CPU.”
- “The game doesn't run very well on my Mac: it randomly freezes for a couple of seconds now and then, and it crashed once, causing me to lose a few minutes of work on the decoder.”
- “Being a Linux user, I enjoyed visuals and sound (still wanted to tweak colors myself, though), but I just can't believe the game like this really needs 600 MB of RAM and can be so heavy as to cause lags and freezes.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions
The game suffers from performance issues such as stuttering and crashing after short play sessions, indicating poor optimization that disrupts the experience. Additionally, it lacks optimization challenges, metrics, and incentives for players to refine or improve their solutions, limiting the depth and replayability typically expected in such games.
- “I also wish there were optimization goals for replayability: most of these types of games offer personal & global top scores for things like 'parts used'.”
- “And since the parts you build are based on the other parts you build before it, all of your scores are based on how lean your previous components are, so you can really see how an inefficiently made operation at a low level can really affect performance at the higher level as you progress through the game, and go back and refine them to improve your final scores.”
- “It'd be nice to see the system pop up and say: 'we think that you could get ~50% better performance out of this gate, if you refactored it'.”
- “The game is thoroughly enjoyable; however, I've been encountering issues with stuttering and crashing upon extended gameplay (typically around the 5-10 minute mark), regardless of using the native Linux compatibility layer or Proton.”
- “The biggest downside for me is that there are no optimization metrics, and you are not able to revisit your old solutions without resetting the whole game.”
- “Other programming games usually have a bunch of optimization challenges to bite into after the main campaign, but not here.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions
The story in the game is minimal and largely serves as a basic framework focused on working at an 80s chip company, lacking depth or engaging narrative elements. It is not a story-driven game and offers limited replay value beyond personal optimization challenges. Overall, the storyline is thin and primarily functional rather than immersive.
- “It's a cool little game with a semblance of a story line.”
- “Aesthetically it's IBM business-drab 80's: you can choose any color scheme as long as it's green, amber or grey-monochrome, given that the entirety of the story-line is 'work at a 80s chip company' that's appropriate.”
- “It's pretty fun if you enjoy zach-likes, but in comparison to most popular games in this genre, keep in mind that MHRD has barely any story.”
- “There also isn't much of a story or any other real draw.”
- “There is a little framing story, but it's very thin.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The game currently offers limited replayability, mainly appealing to players interested in optimizing their solutions and improving efficiency. It lacks additional modes, goals, or scoring systems that could enhance long-term engagement. Overall, the replay value feels minimal and somewhat incomplete in its present state.
- “It'd add a significant amount of replay value to the game.”
- “Going back and trying to optimize some of your solutions to use fewer gates adds some replay value.”
- “Optimization goals for replayability, such as personal and global top scores for parts used, would enhance the experience.”
- “There isn't anything available other than the main story mode and it has little replay value, beyond small personal things like optimizing the number of NAND gates used in a solution and cleaning up your designs.”
- “There is very little replayability.”
- “While I enjoyed it, in its current state it feels incomplete and has little replay value.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 75% negative mentions
The game's music is minimal and unconventional, featuring ambient computer-like sounds rather than traditional electronic or melodic tracks. While this sets a unique tone and atmosphere, some players may find the lack of a full soundtrack less engaging compared to similar puzzle games.
- “Nice soundtrack.”
- “If you look for something closer to the Zachtronics-style of puzzle games, the lack of music, the UX, and its rather brief length might leave you longing for something more.”
- “It would be one thing if the game had some fancy interface, music, dialogue, or a visual editor, or something, but no!”
- “With most games using electronic music, this game simply has the background buzz and whir of a computer from this era, adding a very nice tone and environment.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 33% negative mentions
The game's humor is mixed, with some users finding it genuinely funny despite its technical simulator nature, while others feel it lacks the witty charm typical of Zachtronics titles. Overall, humor is present but may be subtle and more niche.
- “It's a simulator of real engineering in VHDL / Verilog, but very funny.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game's atmosphere effectively conveys the feeling of tackling real-world problems, creating an immersive and engaging experience.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game evokes positive feelings and provides an engaging challenge, though it may be too easy for players with relevant expertise, potentially reducing their enjoyment.