Episode 168 - Should the Chip Face North? - Infinifactory

There is surprisingly little use for the podcast block. Welcome
back to the podcast! Today, the dice have ordained we talk about
Infinifactory. This is a game that has been on our list for many
years at this point and the main reason we ended up putting it on
the (now comical misnomer) Mystery May table was mostly out of
fear. Fear of exposing our deep inability to play puzzle games with
any kind of ability. Infinifactory is a game by Zachtronics, who
are known for creating this sort of puzzle game in which you create
machines to accomplish a task. This happens to be one of their most
literal. Tasked with creating factories that create specific
outputs from a never ending conveyor of inputs in the form of
blocks. Using a litany of different tools including welders,
rotators and pushers, you orient blocks and combine them together.
This ramps up in complexity shockingly quickly and it’s both
impressive and intimidating, as the objects you create become less
abstract and more like actual things. This plays into the game’s
thematic elements as you are creating these products for an alien
race under duress. This plays into the visual and interstitial
elements of the game, but also into a surprising narrative. Less
surprising because of its content, more due to its existence at
all. We’re going to be talking about our struggles with the game as
it progressed, the relaxed atmosphere of the game, and how
difficult it sometimes is to buy burritos. Thank you for joining us
again this week! We may have been slightly out of our depth in the
second half of this game, but we wanted to play it because it is,
at first glance, the most approachable of Zachtronics’ games. And
this largely bore out. Are you a long-time Zachtronics fan, or do
you find these games kind of unapproachable? Let us know in the
comments or over on our Discord! Next time, we do not get to rest
our brains, as we are playing Obduction, from the creators of Myst
and following very much in its footsteps, so if you aren’t as
mentally exhausted as we are, we hope you’ll join us for that.