Just makin' some drugs

Molek-Syntez is to SpaceChem as TIS-100 is to Shenzhen I/O. If you've played Zachtronics games before, this analogy should be a fairly complete description.

Like TIS, it has a pretty simple base instruction set: synthesizer lasers can add and remove hydrogen atoms, move and rotate molecules, and perform a couple of other miscellaneous functions. Goal molecules must be synthesized from input molecules by executing these instructions in the right sequence.

Unlike TIS, your resources (instruction memory and playfield space) aren't dramatically limited. This leads to a much "freer" feel in Molek-Syntez's puzzles; without resource constraints, there's more room for unoptimized or experimental solutions.

Of course my ultimate goal is still to run those lasers in parallel and get the job done in as few cycles as possible, but I love having the option to brute-force my way through and optimize later.

There is a flip-side to that openness, though -- later puzzles ramp up in difficulty not necessarily by requiring more cleverness, but by requiring more work. Complex molecule transformations take more hydrogen fiddling, more surgery to remove extra atoms, more shifting molecules around to position their numerous atoms for lasering...

It's certainly not to the absurd scale of Infinifactory's end-game bonus levels (where you had to build a whole damn space station out of single blocks), but the chemistry puzzles have already become intimidating enough that I'm ready to move on.

It doesn't help my motivation that, like TIS, this game drip-feeds a barely-there story.

I feel kinda bad for bailing on a Zachtronics game without finishing its main puzzles, and especially bad that I still haven't caught up to one of my Steam friends in the optimization leaderboards. That may haunt me enough that I need to return to the synthesizer someday. But for now, I'm satisfied with what I got out of Molek-Syntez.

Better than: Opus Magnum
Not as good as: SpaceChem
I would say, equitable to: TIS-100

Progress: Completed 17 puzzles.