SpaceChem

I am still very far from finishing this game: the rating is, oddly enough, based on why playing this is on hiatus.

It is a type of a coding puzzle, where various atoms or molecules are brought in and somehow you need to come with a process that combines them in a way wanted: once you have the process plan ready you just click it to run and see if it works (and if not, why not). Some bits are based on real chemistry, but a lot of it is made up too, but it works on abstract level.

As usual, it starts quite simple, and gets more complicated as it progresses. I was drudging along with varying success, coming up with some ideas how to deal with increasing complicated processes, but eventually I hit the wall, having a series of processes where I couldn't quite get the timing right and the overall program always chokes.
So I caved and went to look online how to solve the problem, and the optimized solution included a number of ideas I hadn't even thought about. That solution mocked me, making it obvious that my SpaceChem-fu was sorely lacking.
So I put the game on hiatus, but some day I will return to study it like a good Padawan.

The best kind of puzzle game, where there is not just one solution but also room for optimization, imagination, creative thinking and what feels like genuine engineering. A great example of innate replayability in a genre that often lacks it.