Zachtronics Opus Magnum
Shares rank 30 of 45 puzzle games by recommenders
Polished, approachable many-step puzzle game that lets you solve problems simply or inefficiently, so you don't have to be clever to make progress.
Polished, approachable many-step puzzle game that lets you solve problems simply or inefficiently, so you don't have to be clever to make progress.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Lets you solve simply or inefficiently
“The game doesn't force me to be clever; I can be as simplistic and inefficient as I like.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “every problem can be brute forced if desired”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks”
Other puzzle games people recommend
The four most recommended other puzzle games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Wilds | 65 | 7 | 90% | 9 | — | Approved |
| enclose.horse | 64 | 10 | 86% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Witness | 60 | 19 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Braid | 36 | 5 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Zachtronics Opus MagnumThis page | 8 | 1 | 89% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It feels like punishment for taking the most direct route to get the cursor where I want it.”
“I just think it's a good starter, to get a gentler introduction to the many-step puzzles”
“The game doesn't force me to be clever; I can be as simplistic and inefficient as I like.”
“The rejection of Opus Magnum got a lot of attention at the time, which probably caused GOG to reconsider.”
“one of the most polished Zachtronics games IMO”
“every problem can be brute forced if desired”
“play OPus Magnum by Zactronics for some inspiration”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.