Turing Complete
- October 2, 2021
- LevelHead
- 8h median play time
Get on SteamTuring Complete is a challenging puzzle-platformer game where players control a small bug-like machine. The game features over 50 levels, each requiring you to reprogram the machine's abilities to solve complex puzzles. With its unique gameplay mechanics, Turing Complete offers a fresh take on the puzzle genre, perfect for players who enjoy problem-solving and programming concepts.
Mac OS
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Windows
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Reviews
- Turing Complete provides a fantastic and engaging way to learn about computer architecture, starting from basic logic gates and building up to a fully functional CPU.
- The game encourages problem-solving and critical thinking, allowing players to experiment and discover solutions on their own, which enhances the learning experience.
- The gradual progression of complexity in the puzzles keeps players engaged and provides a satisfying sense of accomplishment as they unlock new components and capabilities.
- The game can be quite challenging for beginners, as it often lacks clear instructions and assumes prior knowledge of computer science concepts, which may lead to frustration.
- Some players have reported bugs and crashes, particularly when moving components or during complex operations, which can disrupt the gameplay experience.
- The user interface can feel clunky and unintuitive at times, making it difficult to manage wires and components effectively, especially in later levels.
- story50 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally perceived as minimal and somewhat inconsistent, serving primarily as a humorous backdrop rather than a central focus. While some players appreciate the quirky and light-hearted narrative involving alien abduction, others find it lacking depth and engaging content. Overall, the story adds a layer of charm to the gameplay, but many agree that it is secondary to the puzzle mechanics.
“Other than that one problem, this really is a great game, with truly riveting story-telling!”
“The environment is friendly, the minimal storyline is fun and unobtrusive, and the puzzles are challenging.”
“The abduction story is charming and humorous.”
“Great game idea, fun story, music okay, execution terrible.”
“The story behind the campaign itself is somewhat weak.”
“The 'storyline' is also very much 'fluff' -- I think the game would be fine if it just asked you to build a CPU and didn't give you some silly 'aliens' based reason to do it.”
- gameplay44 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is centered around solving puzzles related to computer science concepts, offering a blend of educational and engaging mechanics that can be both satisfying and challenging. While the interface and controls may feel clunky at times, the game effectively teaches players about digital logic and computer mechanics through a well-designed difficulty curve and diverse puzzle elements. However, it may not appeal to beginners, as a foundational understanding of the subject matter is beneficial for fully enjoying the experience.
“The gameplay may not appeal to every player, but anyone with a bit of curiosity and a taste for puzzles will enjoy it and learn a lot about how computers work 'deep down'.”
“It has an incredibly satisfying gameplay loop, and it will probably save my ass at university in the future.”
“The gameplay gives a good feeling for the buildup in complexity from simple logic gates to more complicated things like a one-bit adder up to a full computer.”
“If you do not already have a firm grasp on the computer science concepts needed to solve the puzzles, you will not learn them through this gameplay.”
“Bad UI, not very good controls, boring gameplay.”
“The game itself is all digital logic, but some of the mechanics aren't especially well explained, such as logic level precedence.”
- music41 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 49 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players praising the soundtrack as engaging and fitting for the gameplay, particularly enjoying its synthwave style. However, some users find it repetitive or annoying, and a few mention the absence of music in certain levels, which detracts from the experience. Overall, while the music enhances the game's atmosphere for many, others prefer to mute it or play their own tracks.
“The soundtrack is literally fire, and you really do end up learning a lot about computer engineering and the raw mechanics of computers.”
“On top of that, it's very relaxing to play with hypnotic music letting you enjoy the flow of engineering: build something new, solving a problem from first principles and building an actual computer that you can use to solve problems.”
“Great game, very enjoyable soundtrack.”
“Great game idea, fun story, music okay, execution terrible.”
“The music is pretty diabolical but I just turn it off.”
“The only disappointing thing is the lack of any soundtrack whatsoever, but hopefully EA will fix this.”
- graphics32 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed feedback, with some praising the clean and colorful visuals that enhance the learning experience, while others note that they lack sharpness and can be confusing, especially with overlapping elements. Although the art style is described as simple and somewhat alien, it is generally considered polished and effective for its educational purpose. Minor graphical issues and a few aesthetic disagreements were mentioned, but overall, the visuals contribute positively to the gameplay experience.
“The sound design and visuals are also perfectly on point.”
“Visualizing your creations is aided by clear and colorful visuals.”
“Even though there have been a few other attempts on Steam to gamify the same topic (building a computer from basic logic gates), this iteration is graphically polished and well thought out, despite being in 'early access.' The interface (sort of a sandbox electronic board) takes a few minutes to get used to, and with intuitive drags and drops, and input settings, it turns into a potentially very valuable hands-on learning experience.”
“I wanted to get this game for a long time, but like the superficial human being I am, the price and the graphics on the Steam page discouraged me for a long time.”
“Overall, the graphics don't look as sharp as one expects.”
“While it's wonderful to learn how computers work, for a game that is graphically this simple, the performance is unacceptable.”
- grinding23 mentions
- 4 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 96 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight that while the game offers an engaging tech tree progression and a fun building experience, the grinding aspect can become tedious, particularly in programming and circuit assembly. Users express frustration with the interface and the repetitive nature of tasks, such as moving elements and writing code, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. However, some players appreciate the depth of learning and the ability to create complex circuits, suggesting that the grind can be rewarding despite its challenges.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Having switched between the beta branch and the base game, I can say that playing the base game feels way more tedious now. The programming interface is a fantastic addition to the game, and I love how easy it is to make assembly instructions.”
“Only allows you to add keywords for byte-sized constants, making the programming a lot more tedious when using wide instructions or any sort of complex instruction setup.”
“The UI is also hard to understand, and the circuit assembly process is tedious and entirely ungamified.”
- humor22 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as a mix of funny storylines, amusing character quotes, and light-hearted commentary, particularly from an alien narrator. While some players find the humor engaging and a nice addition to the educational content, others feel it can be inconsistent or not fully integrated with the gameplay. Overall, the humor adds a charming layer to the experience, making it enjoyable for those interested in digital logic and engineering.
“The music, the steadily increasing complexity, the humor, the technical accuracy, and rock-solid UI make this a must-play game for anyone interested in digital logic and computers.”
“The alien quotes are very funny as hell.”
“The narrative is pretty funny.”
- stability19 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits significant stability issues, with numerous bugs affecting controls, visual displays, and functionality, particularly in higher levels and during the 10kHz simulation mode. While players find it enjoyable despite these glitches, many report frequent crashes and a lack of clarity in certain tasks. Overall, the game remains playable in its early access state, but it requires further polishing to address its stability problems.
“The game is unfortunately a little buggy and crash-y sometimes.”
“It's also buggy.”
“The GUI needs to be improved; it's quite buggy and even basic stuff like the output indicator doesn't work as it should.”
- optimization17 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The optimization aspect of the game is both rewarding and addictive, allowing players to enhance their designs and solutions, which in turn benefits future builds. However, the game lacks feedback mechanisms to guide players towards more efficient solutions, and while performance updates are promised, current stuttering and crashes detract from the experience. Overall, while the modularization and puzzle-based optimization are engaging, the absence of clear optimization guidance and performance issues are notable drawbacks.
“It's rewarding when I optimized a solution for a component that was previously introduced because every design that I build later on that uses that component gets optimized too.”
“This game has no punishment about solving puzzles in a 'stupid' way, while also encouraging you to do some basic optimizations in a certain scale (because it would benefit you in the later levels).”
“Yet, somehow the appeal of iteration, componentization, and optimization has kept me coming back to this one with a passion and feeling of ownership I haven’t experienced in a long time.”
“Turns out the game is getting updated and it will be a huge performance increase, which was one of my problems with it as it would stutter when I tried to load certain things and even crash.”
“It's crucial that the game should be able to tell the player, 'What you did is correct, but there's actually a better way to do it...' but currently there's no such feature; as long as it works, the game gives no guidance about optimization other than to provide a brick wall for users to ram their heads against.”
“While it's wonderful to learn how computers work, for a game that is graphically this simple, the performance is unacceptable.”
- emotional9 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players describe the game as an emotional roller coaster, evoking a wide range of feelings from pride to frustration, and even tears. Many express that it effectively conveys a sense of both insignificance and empowerment, while also challenging their skills and emotions. Overall, the game is noted for its strong emotional impact, leaving players feeling deeply affected.
“I cried.”
“This game is an emotional roller coaster.”
“This one really made me feel small and yet powerful...”
- replayability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability, particularly due to its extensive programming challenges available online, enhancing both its educational value and gameplay experience. While some puzzle elements may limit replay value, overall, players find it enjoyable with good replay potential.
“Aside from the educational value, it has great gameplay, visuals, UX, replayability, and a committed and caring developer.”
“So to sum up, a really enjoyable game, with good replay value.”
“Replayability-wise, the simulator is immensely powerful - even without a direct prompt from the game, there are plenty of programming challenges on the internet that can be solved within this game.”
“As to be expected with puzzle games, it has almost no replay value.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's monetization model is praised for its transparency, as it is entirely free of microtransactions and manipulative tactics, aligning closely with its advertised features.
“The game runs well and is free of microtransactions and psychologically exploitative tricks.”
