PCGame

SpaceChem

Programming-style puzzle game about designing factories for chemical production

Zachtronics · Released Mar 2, 2011

IndieSimulation

Reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
95% of 2,698
Recent reviews
Not enough recent
Players
13
daily peak, Nov 7, 2026
Steam Deck
Playable
Last update on Steam
3 months ago
Jul 19, 2026
Minimum PC
frame buffer support reco…
1 GB RAM · 0.3 GB disk
Full requirements

Metacritic: 84/100 (critic reviews)

What is SpaceChem?

SpaceChem is a single-player, 2D logic puzzle game. As a reactor engineer for a company that supplies frontier colonies, you design factories to turn raw materials into chemical products and revise them to meet production quotas across a series of puzzles.

For you if...

  • +you enjoy puzzles built around programming-style logic
  • +you like working through structured puzzles on your own

Not for you if...

  • −you want quick progress without lengthy trial and error

What players say

95% of 2,698 reviews are positive

Players praise the satisfaction of making their own designs work and finding more efficient solutions. Many describe later puzzles as extremely difficult, and some criticize the interface and tutorial as clunky.

How many players finish SpaceChem?

6.2% of Steam players have unlocked «Chief Executive Officer», the achievement for finishing the main story.

Share of everyone who owns the game on Steam, including those who barely played it. Updated weekly.

Screenshots and trailer

SpaceChem screenshot 1

SpaceChem system requirements

Minimum: frame buffer support reco…, 1 GB RAM, 0.3 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

Can my PC run SpaceChem?

The published requirements do not name a graphics card we can compare.

Set up my PC →

Minimum

OS
Windows XP SP3 / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
Processor
2.0 GHz Processor
Graphics
frame buffer support recommended
Memory
1GB RAM
Storage
300MB

Does SpaceChem have co-op or multiplayer?

No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared.

Does SpaceChem run on Steam Deck?

Playable Playable: it runs on Steam Deck with some adjustments.

  • Default controller config not fully functional
  • Sometimes shows mouse, keyboard or non-Deck controller icons
  • Some text entry requires manually opening the on-screen keyboard
  • Some in-game text is small and may be hard to read
  • The native resolution is not the default one
  • Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

PC version details

DRM
None declared on Steam
Controller
Keyboard and mouse
Platforms
Windows, macOS, Linux
Achievements
20
Steam features
Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
Languages
Text only: English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Spanish - Latin America.

Does SpaceChem use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Oct 25, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam

Tags

Recent updates

1 DLC available.

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