If you’re a gamer who loves a good logic puzzle, happy to trial and error your way to a satisfying solution, programming games are for you. This niche genre of video games has found a home within Steam’s expansive library, and playing them is a great way to learn new skills and fundamentals, especially if you’re looking for more exciting ways to practice coding.
While some programming games emphasize that no prior coding experience is needed, others are more challenging than they appear. Whether you’re interested in levelling up your problem-solving skills, refreshing fundamentals, or exploring the world of programming for the first time, these games guarantee a beginner-friendly, fun experience that will have you thinking like a programmer in no time.
9 7 Billion Humans
7 Billion Humans is a funny puzzle game and a great introduction to programming logic for any curious gamer. The game is set in a world where robots have ensured that humans never need to work, which sounds great, but humans still demand good-paying jobs. Of course, the robots happily oblige with an office building teeming with puzzles and datacubes to keep everyone busy.
The game teaches you to code line by line, giving you a variety of commands to use when writing your program. You'll be assigning actions for multiple humans in the same room, tasking them to shred datacubes or organizing them in the right order. Don't worry if you need to debug your code or ask for hints from your floor manager. Asking for help is all part of the learning process!
8 Silicon Zeroes
Silicon Zeroes lets you travel back to the beginning of modern computer design, taking place in the 60s inside Silicon Valley’s very first startup. If you’re interested in learning about computer hardware design and solving logic problems, this game is definitely for you and by the end, you’ll certainly know how to build a fully functioning CPU.
While Silicon Zeroes introduces some pretty complicated concepts, you don’t have to be a computer enthusiast to have a fun time. The beginning slowly introduces you to components and basic concepts, prepping you to solve more complex puzzles later on. It’s always satisfying to reach those “aha!” moments, but you’re never forced to stick out a puzzle if you’re particularly stuck; puzzles will save your progress, so you can go work on a different one until you’re ready to come back to it with fresh eyes.
7 Autonauts
Don’t let the adorable low-poly graphics fool you, Autonauts is an automation programming game with tons of depth that combines elements from farming sims and resource management titles. The premise involves building your colony using robots called workerbots to build, craft, fish, and more to keep your colonists happy.
Automation involves using a visual programming language similar to Scratch. Rather than writing lines of code, you can program your bots by teaching them what to do. For instance, you can show your bot how to chop down a tree and the game populates a script specifically made for that very thing. It’s as simple as it sounds. You also have the freedom to edit your scripts and add parameters that will take your code to the next level.
6 While True: Learn
Parents, teachers, and beginner programmers who are looking for a fun, easy intro to logical thinking and coding concepts will love While True: Learn, a puzzle simulation game all about building a cat-to-human speech recognition system. You play as a machine learning specialist whose cat is very talented at coding, perhaps even better than you, but you can’t work together if “meows” are your only form of communication.
No coding experience is needed to enjoy this cute, charming title as the puzzles are designed to be educational. It’s a fun way to get comfortable with the building blocks of machine learning, and you’ll enjoy simulating life as a freelance data scientist as you accept contracts, make money, and upgrade your hardware. Even better, you get to buy fancy outfits for your cat!
5 Robo Instructus
Write, debug, and test your own code to help your robot navigate the frozen planet of Bright in Robo Instructus, a programming puzzle game inspired by real-life programming languages. It’s a great title for people who have never tried programming, and it also provides enjoyable challenges that will test your problem-solving skills.
Like most beginner-friendly programming games, you'll start with the basics, navigating the world with simple movement commands, and as you complete levels, you’ll learn more complex ways to write your code. Plus, there are multiple ways to solve each puzzle, giving you countless opportunities to experiment and optimize.
4 Code Romantic
Oftentimes programming games favor puzzles over stories, which can occasionally feel more like work than play. Well, Code Romantic is a visual novel that strikes an amazing balance by blending post-apocalyptic storytelling, educational coding mechanics, and a watercolor art style to create a charming and unique approach to learning C# code.
You’ll play as Mina Lovelace, who joins humanity’s last-ditch effort to hack the robot army threatening the world. But the biggest threat to Mina is her heart as she tries not to embarrass herself in front of her childhood crush and coding partner, Leon. You get to experience their love story across 14 chapters while also solving puzzles using real code and concepts, which the developers designed to be the equivalent of an entry-level computer science course.
3 One Dreamer
Game development is undoubtedly a labor of love, with developers often dedicating years to creating something fun, and burnout is a common roadblock along the journey. One Dreamer is a story-rich adventure that follows the life of a game developer named Frank, who is deep in debt and nowhere close to finishing his dream game. Struggling through creative burnout, he needs help rediscovering his love for video games.
Reprogram objects, fix bugs, and solve coding puzzles along your quest to help Frank fulfill his dream. The game’s programming language is a simplified version of C#. You just click on the commands to add them to your script, which is great practice for getting comfortable with fundamentals. Perhaps the best part is exploring and editing code for nearly all interactable objects you come across in One Dreamer’s 2.5D pixel-art world. From turning on a coffee machine to unlocking a door, you'll find many fun ways to use your new coding skills.
2 Manufactoria 2022
If you loved the original Manufactoria from gaming’s Adobe Flash days, you’ll likely get a burst of nostalgia with this sequel. Manufactoria 2022 is a colorful, lightweight open-ended puzzle game that teaches you to build assembly lines by programming conveyors and machines.
You’ll definitely find your mind challenged in satisfying ways across the hundreds of puzzles at your disposal. Lighthearted writing is present in each level, poking fun at job-stealing robots or wondering if robots can truly create art. While you don’t write lines of code, you do get to learn the fundamentals of Turing machines as you stamp robots to program their movement, place pipes on your grid, and even deprogram robots by removing commands from their tape.
1 Opus Magnum
Opus Magnum is a captivating open-ended puzzle game and it's the most beginner-friendly title from Zachtronics, an indie development studio that built a legacy making amazing puzzle titles, encouraging creativity, and helping you think more like a programmer with each problem you solve.
A mixture of science and magic, the fantasy premise of Opus Magnum has you playing as a promising alchemist. You’ll master alchemical engineering by using the transmutation engine — a powerful tool that creates remedies, gemstones, weapons, and poisons. From programmable arms to base components and customizable tracks, you’ll design and build machines with free rein to come up with your own solutions, making your machine as inefficient or optimized as you like.