As one of Zachtronic's final puzzle games Molek-Syntez feels like a bleak note to end on. It has all the mechanical and functional feel of a zach game, but its stylistic minimalism and the blunt game design leave it feeling as cold and lonely as the narrator. A slightly dire send off for old fans and far from the place to start for those new to the series.
Your goal here is to program tools affixed to the edges of the board to re-arrange base elements into new ones, but how you do that is left to your experimentation as there's no instructions or tutorial. This hands off approach may leave you feeling helpless or empowered depending how much experience you have with the series. Long time fans will be able to intuit most of the gameplay while newcomers will be at a loss quickly with no guidance except what little guidance the fan base have put together.
If you enjoy zach games this is very much more of the same with some new twists - it feels like an experimental remix of Opus Magnum minus the flare and pageantry. The story is limited to some on-screen text so there's no characters, art, or animations, just you and the puzzles. As for the style and music, if you think of Exa as the stereotypical US themed game, Shenzen as the Asia one, and Opus as the Western Europe one, Molek is very much the Eastern European game with the cold and sardonic tone tropes at play.
I feel like zach games have always struggled to make their titles feel more fun than functional, but here the pretence is eschewed and you're left with the mechanics laid bare. If you're familiar with Opus you can expect a similar albeit more challenging experience, and if not you should start with something more accessible like EXA-Punks or Opus Magnum. This isn't one for newcomers and will likely give you a polarising introduction to the premise of these games.
Your goal here is to program tools affixed to the edges of the board to re-arrange base elements into new ones, but how you do that is left to your experimentation as there's no instructions or tutorial. This hands off approach may leave you feeling helpless or empowered depending how much experience you have with the series. Long time fans will be able to intuit most of the gameplay while newcomers will be at a loss quickly with no guidance except what little guidance the fan base have put together.
If you enjoy zach games this is very much more of the same with some new twists - it feels like an experimental remix of Opus Magnum minus the flare and pageantry. The story is limited to some on-screen text so there's no characters, art, or animations, just you and the puzzles. As for the style and music, if you think of Exa as the stereotypical US themed game, Shenzen as the Asia one, and Opus as the Western Europe one, Molek is very much the Eastern European game with the cold and sardonic tone tropes at play.
I feel like zach games have always struggled to make their titles feel more fun than functional, but here the pretence is eschewed and you're left with the mechanics laid bare. If you're familiar with Opus you can expect a similar albeit more challenging experience, and if not you should start with something more accessible like EXA-Punks or Opus Magnum. This isn't one for newcomers and will likely give you a polarising introduction to the premise of these games.