The Game Census
SpaceChem cover art

SpaceChem

Zachtronics · 2011-03-02

SteamGOG

IndieSimulation

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jun 30, 2012 (Android), Oct 01, 2011 (iOS), Jan 01, 2011 (Linux), Jan 01, 2011 (Mac), Jan 01, 2011 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Zachtronics is back with an ambitious new design-based puzzle game. Take on the role of a Reactor Engineer working for SpaceChem, the leading chemical synthesizer for frontier colonies. Construct elaborate factories to transform raw materials into valuable chemical products!

20
playing now
92%
positive of 5.1k reviews
Very Positive
steam rating
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
83/100
IGDB user rating (29 ratings)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$9.99
steam price (US)

20 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 17:00 UTC (census sample)

SpaceChem is a puzzle and indie game by Zachtronics Industries, based on principles of automation and chemical bonding. In the game, the player is tasked to produce one or more specific chemical molecules via an assembly line by programming two remote manipulators that interact with atoms and molecules through a visual programming language. SpaceChem was the developer's first foray into a commercial title after a number of free Flash-based browser games that feature similar puzzle-based assembly problems.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 20 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 56 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~7/week).
  • · Review velocity up 8% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 9% of 18,104 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 203k–407k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 5,086 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$4.99-50%
lowest across shops (ITAD)$4.99-50%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.99 at Steam (2014-11-26) · bundled 10×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $9.99 · on sale 19 of 35 observed days · $4.00 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
303020182026Week of 2018-01-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 6 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

2032026-08-06 21:00 — 11 players2026-08-07 05:00 — 9 players2026-08-07 13:00 — 10 players2026-08-07 21:00 — 17 players2026-08-08 05:00 — 16 players2026-08-08 13:00 — 13 players2026-08-08 21:00 — 13 players2026-08-09 05:00 — 10 players2026-08-09 13:00 — 10 players2026-08-09 21:00 — 15 players2026-08-10 05:00 — 5 players2026-08-10 13:00 — 3 players2026-08-10 21:00 — 4 players2026-08-11 05:00 — 6 players2026-08-11 13:00 — 11 players2026-08-12 21:00 — 13 players2026-08-14 05:00 — 9 players2026-08-15 12:00 — 12 players2026-08-16 20:00 — 10 players2026-08-18 04:00 — 17 players2026-08-19 11:00 — 7 players2026-08-20 19:00 — 17 players2026-08-22 02:00 — 8 players2026-08-23 10:00 — 11 players2026-08-24 18:00 — 11 players2026-08-26 02:00 — 11 players2026-08-27 10:00 — 6 players2026-08-28 17:00 — 14 players2026-08-30 01:00 — 9 players2026-08-30 17:00 — 20 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$9.99$0.992015-01-012026-08-302015-01-01 — best price $0.992015-10-30 — best price $4.992016-02-12 — best price $9.992016-11-29 — best price $9.992017-11-28 — best price $9.992018-06-18 — best price $9.992018-11-21 — best price $2.492019-04-02 — best price $9.992019-09-24 — best price $2.492020-01-24 — best price $2.492020-05-27 — best price $2.492020-11-20 — best price $2.492021-02-15 — best price $9.992021-06-28 — best price $9.992021-12-01 — best price $9.992022-03-23 — best price $9.992022-07-27 — best price $9.992022-10-24 — best price $2.492023-02-10 — best price $9.992023-04-27 — best price $4.992023-08-10 — best price $9.992023-12-06 — best price $9.992024-03-01 — best price $9.992024-05-21 — best price $4.992024-07-26 — best price $4.992024-10-11 — best price $4.992024-12-03 — best price $9.992025-02-25 — best price $9.992025-05-29 — best price $4.992025-08-26 — best price $4.992025-12-18 — best price $4.992026-06-17 — best price $4.992026-08-30 — best price $4.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

76232026-05-31 — 42 pageviews2026-06-03 — 39 pageviews2026-06-06 — 33 pageviews2026-06-09 — 38 pageviews2026-06-12 — 41 pageviews2026-06-15 — 39 pageviews2026-06-18 — 39 pageviews2026-06-21 — 33 pageviews2026-06-24 — 47 pageviews2026-06-27 — 28 pageviews2026-06-30 — 29 pageviews2026-07-03 — 63 pageviews2026-07-06 — 47 pageviews2026-07-09 — 56 pageviews2026-07-12 — 41 pageviews2026-07-15 — 34 pageviews2026-07-18 — 42 pageviews2026-07-21 — 36 pageviews2026-07-24 — 43 pageviews2026-07-27 — 37 pageviews2026-07-30 — 39 pageviews2026-08-02 — 45 pageviews2026-08-05 — 27 pageviews2026-08-08 — 47 pageviews2026-08-11 — 39 pageviews2026-08-14 — 40 pageviews2026-08-17 — 35 pageviews2026-08-20 — 39 pageviews2026-08-23 — 31 pageviews2026-08-26 — 37 pageviews2026-08-28 — 76 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

20
achievements tracked
35.9%
earned "Polar Expedition"
8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudSteam LeaderboardsFamily Sharing1 DLC

8 supported languages: English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Spanish - Latin America

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)19,5077%20

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2DIndieLogicSpaceCasualPuzzleSci-fiScienceDifficultAutomation

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsImagine EarthUnclaimed WorldENDLESS Legend™RimWorldJudgment: Apocalypse Survival SimulationAnother Brick in The MallMashinky

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗