Silicon Zeroes

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Silicon Zeroes is an open-ended puzzle game that challenges players to build complex electronics from simple components. Set in Silicon Valley's first startup in the 1960s, players must prevent the company from imploding by resolving over seventy puzzles related to CPU design. Featuring an original soundtrack by Craig Barnes, Silicon Zeroes promises to be an engaging and educational experience for fans of logic and engineering.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

89%

Audience ScoreBased on 193 reviews

story8 positive mentions

optimization3 negative mentions

Silicon Zeroes offers a unique and engaging way to learn about CPU design and computer architecture through challenging puzzles.
The game features a well-crafted difficulty curve, gradually introducing new concepts and mechanics that keep players engaged and learning.
Many players appreciate the satisfying 'aha' moments when they solve puzzles, as well as the game's polished UI and visual aesthetic.

The game often restricts players to a single solution for puzzles, which can lead to frustration and a lack of creative freedom.
Some players find the dialogue and story elements to be overly political or distracting, detracting from the overall experience.
There are complaints about the lack of clear explanations for new modules and mechanics, making it difficult for players to understand how to progress.

story
45 mentions
18 % positive mentions
76 % neutral mentions
7 % negative mentions
The story in "Silicon Zeroes" is generally viewed as simplistic and less compelling compared to other games in the genre, such as those by Zachtronics. While some players appreciate the lighthearted context it provides for the puzzles, many feel it is shallow and not essential to the overall experience, often suggesting that the gameplay is the main draw. Overall, the narrative serves as a backdrop rather than a focal point, with mixed opinions on its execution and depth.
- “Silicon Zeroes is a highly accessible story about a tiny Silicon Valley company at the dawn of the computer age, building digital devices and trying to swim rather than sink in the ocean of the tech industry.”
- “The plot is funny and relatively compelling, and the gameplay - building digital devices with an easy-to-use, beautiful editor - is tight, interesting, and never too easy nor too hard.”
- “The story was neat - it wasn't in-depth enough that it detracted from the gameplay, but it got a laugh or two out of me, and the main story ending was pretty nice!”
- “Just do the game and skip the story; it reads like a woke circle jerk.”
- “Compared to other programming games I've played, Silicon Zeroes is really simple and dry, and all of the main story puzzles are very simple cases of 'take what you did in the last puzzle and add one element to it.'”
- “The plot is also disappointing.”
gameplay
21 mentions
48 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally well-received, featuring engaging mechanics for placing and moving hardware components, though some players found the introduction of new mechanics overwhelming and poorly explained. Despite initial challenges, the game offers a satisfying and varied puzzle experience with a beautiful editor, allowing for creativity and problem-solving. Overall, the gameplay loop is described as fun and rewarding, with a good balance of challenge and accessibility.
- “Despite these issues, the gameplay itself is well put together - wiring is easy to distinguish, you aren't constrained by space, the tools are mostly visually distinct, and it feels snappy.”
- “It's a great gameplay loop that will give the player many hours of fun and maybe even teach them something.”
- “The plot is funny and relatively compelling, and the gameplay - building digital devices with an easy-to-use, beautiful editor - is tight, interesting, and never too easy nor too hard.”
- “I looked at this and thought I would love it too, but the game drops you in at the deep end over and over, and I found that most of my time wasn't being spent solving the puzzle; it was spent working out how a new game mechanic actually worked because so much of the game is so poorly explained.”
- “Starts off slow and makes sure that you understand all the mechanics well.”
- “It constantly introduces new mechanics and different types of challenges and tasks.”
graphics
11 mentions
64 % positive mentions
9 % neutral mentions
27 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews; while many users appreciate the polished and slick visuals, as well as the nice retro aesthetic, some express dissatisfaction with the character artwork and the overall ambiance. The game is noted for its good graphics and a chill soundtrack, but there are suggestions for improvements, such as enhancing the resolution of certain screens.
- “A challenging hardware programming puzzle game with a nice visual aesthetic and chill soundtrack.”
- “Graphics are good, the ambiance/soundtrack are great too, and the story is a nice add-on to a game that doesn't need one.”
- “The graphics look polished and have a nice retro feel to them.”
- “That being said, the game is worse than other 'computer logic programmers' in content, puzzle difficulty being too steep, and the character artwork.”
- “The artwork is not to my preferences.”
- “I am still not a big fan of the art style.”
optimization
7 mentions
29 % positive mentions
29 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
The game's optimization aspect challenges players to engage in complex CPU design and optimization, often requiring near-optimal solutions to progress. While the introduction of a new execution time metric enhances the experience, many puzzles tend to have a single optimal solution, which can diminish the excitement of exploring multiple approaches. Overall, the focus on specific metrics for judging solutions may limit the depth of the optimization experience.
- “80% of the puzzles have basically one solution, so the graphs showing how you did are basically pointless, but it's worth it so you can learn how to make your own CPU pipeline, complete with cache, speculative execution, CPU bugs that only appear after passing 37 tests successfully that probably make your chip insecure, and pseudo hyperthreading, all in the name of maximum performance.”
- “By giving a single metric for optimization, it makes the goal of optimizing every puzzle maximally a reasonable one, which I always appreciate.”
- “I've played with designing my own CPUs for FPGA in the past, but by the end of this game, it's challenging me to do more complex optimizations than I've attempted in real life.”
- “80% of the puzzles have basically one solution, so the graphs showing how you did are basically pointless. However, it's worth it so you can learn how to make your own CPU pipeline, complete with cache, speculative execution, CPU bugs that only appear after passing 37 tests successfully, which probably make your chip insecure, and pseudo hyperthreading, all in the name of maximum performance.”
- “In other words, you have to devise a near-optimal solution to most puzzles just to advance, rather than optimization being something you pursue after successful completion - not that optimization is all that interesting either in this game, due to the particular set of metrics solutions are judged on.”
music
6 mentions
67 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, contributing positively to the ambiance with a chill soundtrack that complements the visual aesthetic. However, some players find it repetitive and simplistic, noting that it can become monotonous due to its short loop. Overall, while the soundtrack enhances the experience, its lack of variety may detract from prolonged gameplay.
- “A challenging hardware programming puzzle game with a nice visual aesthetic and chill soundtrack.”
- “Graphics are good, the ambiance and soundtrack are great too, and the story is a nice add-on to a game that doesn't need one.”
- “Well designed gameplay with a great soundtrack.”
- “The only downside is the background music; it's simplistic and on a very short loop, so it gets monotonous almost instantly.”
- “The music can get a bit repetitive, but it's subtle enough that it doesn't intrude into your thinking.”
grinding
2 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the initial puzzles engaging, but the grinding aspect becomes tedious as they progress, with cumbersome automatic paths and laborious manual component management leading to frustration.
- “The first sets of puzzles are great, but I got tired of the tedious hoops you have to jump through to build the remainder.”
- “Automatic paths quickly become a mess, and handling them manually is incredibly tedious when moving components around.”
humor
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the witty and humorous writing in Zachtronics games, which adds an engaging layer to the compelling plot and motivates them to continue playing. The humor complements the gameplay, which involves building digital devices in a well-designed editor that balances challenge and accessibility.
- “I find the writing in Zachtronics games to be witty and funny, and an incentive to keep pushing through.”
- “The plot is funny and relatively compelling, and the gameplay - building digital devices with an easy-to-use, beautiful editor - is tight, interesting, and never too easy nor too hard.”
replayability
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
-100 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game offers some replayability through the ability to revisit and optimize earlier machines, though some users feel it may still lack in this area.
- “The game offers multiple paths and choices, making each playthrough feel unique and engaging.”
- “With various character builds and strategies to explore, I find myself coming back for more every time.”
- “On top of that, you can go back and optimize earlier machines for additional replay value.”
- “It maybe lacks in replayability.”
atmosphere
1 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game resonates well with fans of Zachtronics, offering a familiar and engaging experience that complements its storytelling.
- “If you like the atmosphere and story of Zachtronics games, you'll feel right at home.”
emotional
1 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players express a sense of frustration and inadequacy when their problem-solving approaches differ from the developer's intended solutions, highlighting an emotional struggle with feeling outsmarted or less capable.
- “This game honestly made me feel really stupid for not thinking exactly like the developer, despite coming up with viable, albeit slightly slow, solutions.”