The Game Census
SpaceChem cover art

SpaceChem

Zachtronics · 2011-03-02

SteamGOG

IndieSimulation

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

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!

SpaceChem is a 2011 Indie Simulation game priced at $9.99, with an estimated 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 owners and Very Positive reviews (92% of 5086 reviews).

9
playing now
92%
positive of 5.1k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
83/100
IGDB user rating (29 ratings)
1
Nexus mods (24 downloads)
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$9.99
steam price (US)

9 players in-game as of 2026-10-15 03:00 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.

Trailer

SpaceChem trailer thumbnail

SpaceChem Trailer

≈10,349 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 9 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 4% of 49,851 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 204k–408k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 5,097 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$9.99

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 38 of 73 observed days · $9.00 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

2022026-09-15 12:00 — 9 players2026-09-16 20:00 — 5 players2026-09-18 04:00 — 2 players2026-09-19 11:00 — 11 players2026-09-20 19:00 — 10 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 14 players2026-09-23 10:00 — 3 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 9 players2026-09-26 01:00 — 6 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 7 players2026-09-28 16:00 — 6 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 5 players2026-10-01 07:00 — 7 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 11 players2026-10-03 22:00 — 15 players2026-10-05 06:00 — 7 players2026-10-06 14:00 — 12 players2026-10-07 21:00 — 15 players2026-10-09 05:00 — 9 players2026-10-10 12:00 — 13 players2026-10-11 20:00 — 17 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 9 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 11 players2026-10-15 03:00 — 9 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
1639Jul 2012Aug 2026Jul 2012 — avg 116 · peak 273Dec 2012 — avg 45 · peak 105May 2013 — avg 25 · peak 48Oct 2013 — avg 24 · peak 49Mar 2014 — avg 24 · peak 49Aug 2014 — avg 84 · peak 367Jan 2015 — avg 81 · peak 190Jun 2015 — avg 66 · peak 154Nov 2015 — avg 44 · peak 265Apr 2016 — avg 30 · peak 63Sep 2016 — avg 28 · peak 59Feb 2017 — avg 28 · peak 62Jul 2017 — avg 46 · peak 115Dec 2017 — avg 55 · peak 154May 2018 — avg 26 · peak 66Oct 2018 — avg 23 · peak 61Mar 2019 — avg 22 · peak 43Aug 2019 — avg 18 · peak 39Jan 2020 — avg 19 · peak 47Jun 2020 — avg 24 · peak 54Nov 2020 — avg 27 · peak 51Apr 2021 — avg 17 · peak 35Sep 2021 — avg 16 · peak 40Feb 2022 — avg 18 · peak 33Jul 2022 — avg 22 · peak 42Dec 2022 — avg 15 · peak 34May 2023 — avg 12 · peak 27Oct 2023 — avg 12 · peak 29Mar 2024 — avg 11 · peak 25Aug 2024 — avg 14 · peak 28Jan 2025 — avg 12 · peak 28Jun 2025 — avg 12 · peak 31Nov 2025 — avg 9 · peak 19Apr 2026 — avg 9 · peak 27Aug 2026 — avg 10 · peak 22
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$9.99$0.992015-01-012026-10-152015-01-01 — 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 $4.992026-09-09 — best price $4.992026-09-24 — best price $4.992026-10-09 — best price $9.992026-10-15 — best price $9.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

60162026-05-31 — 42 pageviews2026-06-04 — 35 pageviews2026-06-08 — 36 pageviews2026-06-12 — 41 pageviews2026-06-16 — 47 pageviews2026-06-20 — 37 pageviews2026-06-24 — 47 pageviews2026-06-28 — 36 pageviews2026-07-02 — 49 pageviews2026-07-06 — 47 pageviews2026-07-10 — 35 pageviews2026-07-14 — 53 pageviews2026-07-18 — 42 pageviews2026-07-22 — 44 pageviews2026-07-26 — 35 pageviews2026-07-30 — 39 pageviews2026-08-03 — 29 pageviews2026-08-07 — 40 pageviews2026-08-11 — 39 pageviews2026-08-15 — 34 pageviews2026-08-19 — 33 pageviews2026-08-23 — 31 pageviews2026-08-27 — 40 pageviews2026-08-31 — 27 pageviews2026-09-04 — 16 pageviews2026-09-08 — 32 pageviews2026-09-12 — 53 pageviews2026-09-16 — 45 pageviews2026-09-20 — 36 pageviews2026-09-24 — 30 pageviews2026-09-28 — 42 pageviews2026-10-02 — 43 pageviews2026-10-06 — 41 pageviews2026-10-09 — 39 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

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2011-07-22 (Steam store data)

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.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2DIndieLogicSpaceCasualPuzzleSci-fiScienceDifficultAutomation

Census log

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

Recent updates

Players also track

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

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗