EXAPUNKS

Zachtronics are staying true to themselves with this game. If you like TIS-100 or Shenzhen I/O then you should definitely buy this game. Graphics are nice, nothing extraordinary but fitting. The music blends nicely into the background and lets you concentrate on programming. Story and atmosphere are very cyberpunk-ish. The zines are very nicely designed and really add to the experience. The difficulty is okay, there is not a lot of handholding going on, just enough to get you started. It is a little easier than in the previous games to find a first working solution, and just as hard to make it good (compared to the internet), but immensely rewarding when you get your solution "right". Great game if you like programming in your spare time.

1st note: I'm not a native english speaker. Be indulgent with my language errors. 2nd note: [Fair Warning] this is not an everybody visual programming game. you will have to learn some (simple) assembly language mnemonics (and actually use your keyboard to type instructions). Don't be shy about it; you will learn to like it (because of its elegance). You will have to invest a bit of your time at first. And that time spent will be very rewarding. I'm afraid I'm a fan of Zachtronics games. Reasons are: - designing great programming puzzle games. - get rid of annoyances (that's the difference between a game and engineering: only the fun parts are in the game) - empower user/players with great tools, and some frustrating limitations to offer a challenge ;-) - fun stories along the way. - statistics about your performances, so you know how to improve your designs. That game is no exception, and follows the previous predicates. Emphasis is on: - coding behavior of EXA (a kind of bot) in a simple assembly language. - coordinating a fleet of EXAs to reach goals. - EXAs are like viruses: a self replicating efficient little code base. - comments in your code are your best friend (I really mean it :-). - Mike Resnick / William Gibson-like 90'cyberpunk scenario (for the best). If you want a bit of fun programming challenge, just buy it. BTW: if you finish the game, you may consider an engineering degree. ;-)

I brought this game on a whim -- as I do with most of my purchases on GOG. And I am floored about how much fun this game is!!! A little background about me: I have been gaming since the late 70's (Yes, I remember PONG). I have over 300 games between Steam and GOG since moving from console to PC gaming exclusively (For the record, most of my collection is here on GOG since I prefer their DRM-free policy. I like owning my games. Thank you.). I am a self-taught programmer of over 22 years and I am well versed in C/C++ C#, Java and Visual Basic. And I should be teaching myself Python right now. But instead, I am up late having a blast playing EXA Punks! Lastly, I am a also professional software developer mentor/tutor. And I have to say this is an excellent game for ANYONE who is interested in learnng about the basics of computer programming. Computer programing is not math by the way -- it is linear thinking. Working out each step, one after the other, to get the computer to do what one wants the comptuer to do. As a game, EXA Punks completely nails that puzzle aspect of the computer programming -- the problem of getting the computer to do EXACTLY what you want it to do. It also really nails the principle of RTFM (that is, READ THE F----- MANUAL) in order to solve some of the earlier levels. Now I know that that this game will not be to everyone's taste. But in my opinion this game is so much fun and one of the best gaming purchases that I have made this the entire year! An easy 5 stars (and yes, I admit it! I am very biased) And again, one could do worse if one wishes to learn how to code than play EXA Punks. (like go to college - sheesh! Just my opinion, though) This is just a great game.

I'm a developer myself and brainstormed an idea similar to this game a couple years ago. After discovering this game, I completely threw out my idea and just reveled in how amazing Exa Punks is. If you ever wanted the sense that you are a hacker doing hackery things and are part of some elite underground culture (but operating out of your bedroom), this is the game for you. This game teleports be back to when I used to watch X-Files religiously. Where this game really excels is in the puzzle solving mechanics. The puzzles are fantastic and have a great backstory. They are deceptively hard and require that you read the Zines obsessively. The visual presentation of each puzzle is gorgeous. The debugging system is super easy to use and very intuitive. Finally, identifying the little clues are crucial to solving the problem. May times I over-thought the solution, whereas if I just read the instructions more carefully, I would have solved it much sooner. This is my favorite Zachtronics game so it easily gets a 10/10. I would only recommend this to people that like complex problem solving. I hesitate to call it a programming game because no programming/math experience/skills are needed. It just feels like programming without all of the pendantic, boring stuff.