There’s nothing quite like the thrill of solving a good puzzle. It satisfies a fundamental need of the human brain, Opus Magnum: the need to create order from chaos, to reconstruct a seemingly indecipherable mystery, or to find the one safe path through an installation controlled by a diabolical killer robot.
These days, a puzzle enthusiast like myself has a wealth of options to enjoy. Between Blue Prince, Chants of Sennaar, and The Case of the Golden Idol, I’ve played some absolutely incredible puzzle games lately.
But only one game has offered puzzles that truly resonated with me. Only one game has presented me with a problem I pondered before falling asleep, only to wake up eager to try a new idea to overcome it. Only one game has captivated me, keeping me right on that edge where the solutions are always within reach, yet never seem unattainable.
This game is Opus Magnum, released by Zachtronics in 2017. I stumbled upon it while browsing the puzzle section of the Steam store, looking for a game that would keep me entertained for a long time.
In Opus, you play as Anathaus, a recently graduated and insufferably arrogant alchemist who strives to change the world with his transmutational inventions. The plot is quite simple, the graphics are beautiful yet minimalist, and the writing is competent and concise enough to keep you engaged without distracting from the gameplay. However, the real highlight of Opus Magnum is its gameplay.
Simple But Effective
Opus Magnum consists of five chapters and an appendix; each chapter contains approximately eight puzzles. Each chapter begins and ends with a brief update on the game’s plot in visual novel format. The puzzles are revealed gradually, a few at a time, so you can take a break and switch to another if one proves particularly difficult.
The game also includes an additional solitaire-style minigame called “Sigmar’s Garden,” which can be accessed at any time. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. While generally a relaxing experience, I had to think more strategically than expected to increase my chances of winning. Overall, it’s a nice distraction if you need a break from the more challenging puzzles. But it was the main game’s puzzles that truly captivated me.
Each puzzle begins in the same way. You are presented with an open workspace, a set of production tools, raw materials, and a blueprint for the final product. Your task is to arrange, combine, and transform the raw materials (alchemical spheres representing various elements) until you synthesise the final product.
The tasks start: taking a pile of lead and transforming it into a single pearl of gold. But as the tasks become more complex, the final products transform into fiendishly intricate mazes of interconnected chemical elements.
The Nuts and Bolts of Turning Water Into Wine
To create these little wonders, you have a set of tools divided into mechanisms and glyphs. Mechanisms are programmable machines that physically move the raw materials, while glyphs are magical platforms placed in the workspace that combine and transform these materials. Generally, you’ll always have access to a similar set of tools for each task, with additional functions becoming available as the game progresses.
Claw-like manipulators move materials from one point to another in the workspace. Pistons function similarly, but can extend and retract. Finally, guides allow for the movement of the manipulators and pistons, ensuring defined trajectories within the workspace.
Each mechanism is programmed individually by defining a sequence of commands on the timeline at the bottom of the screen. The command programming interface looks and functions similarly to video editing software. The controls for programming mechanisms are intuitive and easy to learn, though I would have liked access to additional features that would have made managing command sequences easier. Once you’ve built and programmed your machine, you can endlessly edit and test it, Rube Goldberg-style, without fear of time or resource limitations.
FREEDOM!
The true genius of Opus Magnum lies in the freedom it offers. And you have complete control over your machine. You can place as many mechanisms and glyphs as you want, wherever you want, although each piece of equipment has a cost. You decide whether to use five or fifty pistons. The only limitations are the raw materials provided and the final product shape.
This flexibility creates something incredible. Every solution felt truly mine. It was born from my imagination, not from a predetermined path. Every success felt earned. I used my own design and problem-solving skills to achieve it.
And what’s even more exciting is that solving a puzzle for the first time is just the beginning. After successfully creating a product, the game displays three histograms comparing your solution to those of other players who have completed the challenge, based on the cost, speed, and size of your machine. Achieving maximum efficiency in each of these categories often requires completely different solutions. It’s a brilliant way to show you that better solutions exist without revealing them directly. In my best moments playing Opus Magnum, I found myself frantically reworking my own designs, wondering, “How did they do it? Can I eliminate those last few unnecessary movements?”
One of the Best Puzzle Video Games
For me, a good puzzle game should possess two qualities: the satisfaction of the solution itself and the pride in the skill required to find it. In other words, a puzzle should be challenging and aesthetically pleasing.
Opus Magnum fulfils both requirements. Each puzzle constantly presented me with new obstacles that forced me to think outside the box to overcome them. The puzzles rarely became tedious or interminable. Upon completing each task, the solutions themselves were immensely satisfying. I spent more time than I’d like to admit watching the alchemical elements move across the screen, and the mechanical manipulators rotate around them in sync, revelling in my own ingenuity.
In total, the game took me about 60 hours. Still, the time can vary depending on how quickly you solve the puzzles, your obsession with finding optimised solutions, and how much you enjoy endlessly admiring your solutions on screen. The story, graphics, and music are excellent, but the highlight of the game is the mechanics and the puzzles themselves.
Many Steam reviews praised Zachtronics’ latest (and sadly, last) game, Last Call BBS (2022), but suggested that Opus Magnum was a better entry point into the developer’s games. I had such a wonderful experience with Opus Magnum that I plan to try Last Call BBS the next time I’m in the mood for another puzzle game.
If you enjoy challenging puzzles, or even if you played Mousetrap as a child, Opus Magnum will be a valued addition to your game library.