Kaizen: A Factory Story on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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Kaizen is an open-ended puzzle automation game from the original Zachtronics team, set in 1980s Japan. Design, build, and optimize production lines to create iconic products, like calculators, camcorders, and arcade machines.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is a programming, strategy and simulation game developed by Coincidence and published by Astra Logical.
Released on July 14th 2025 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux in 11 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Portuguese - Brazil.

It has received 377 reviews of which 346 were positive and 31 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.5 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Kaizen: A Factory Story into these genres:

Programming Strategy Simulation Puzzle Automation Logic Difficult Education Singleplayer 1980s Retro Building Indie 2D Solitaire Stylized Hex Grid Sandbox Story Rich Economy

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Kaizen: A Factory Story through various videos and screenshots.

Kaizen: A Factory Story screenshot
Kaizen: A Factory Story screenshot
Kaizen: A Factory Story screenshot
Kaizen: A Factory Story screenshot
Kaizen: A Factory Story screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 3 GB available space
MacOS
  • OS: macOS 10.9, or later
  • Processor: 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 1366 x 768
  • Storage: 3 GB available space
Linux
  • OS: Ubuntu 10.10+, SteamOS
  • Processor: 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: OpenGL 3.3, 1366 x 768
  • Storage: 3 GB available space

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

July 2025
Don't call it a Zachtronics game, but it's totally a Zachtronics game. If you know what that is, skip to the next paragraph. If you don't, welcome! Zachtronics games are about learning a novel programming or factory design language, then solving puzzles that test your understanding and creativity with them. Each one has its own theme and story, and each design language is unique enough to add interesting twists to later puzzles. Also, there's almost always a Solitaire variant. To that template: Kaizen succeeds on all marks, but exceeds by having a compelling story that I quite liked. The theme this time is optimism around continuously improving one's craft, and how important it is to not lose sight of that as tools and automation improve. There's some tongue-in-cheek to this optimism given the year of the setting (prior to the decline of the Japanese economy in 1990), but for the most part, it lands as sincere and uplifting throughout the game, with tiny nods here and there to other Zachtronics games and the modern tech industry. Especially at a time when every piece of business software is integrating AI slop powered by mountains of stolen data, the not-so-subtle message here is that creativity and specialization matters and outperforms in the end. Which, as a professional in this space from before CEOs decided to develop AI brainrot, is absolutely correct. And if you think that nonsense is the future, you might just need the lessons from this game. The characters are also, for a not-quite-but-quite-Zachtronics game, extremely charming and well written, possibly the best the team has ever written. The dialog sections came away as much more sincere and charming than the reskinned email interface ever could in earlier titles. And then there's the Solitaire. The variants here aren't bad, and the theme for it this time is really compelling. But it's not going to stretch your understanding of the game or challenge you quite as much as previous variants did. That's fine, as it's not the focus, but it felt somewhat underwhelming. And that's it! I quite liked my time with this one, and the story left off right where it needed to with its puzzle complexity. As with the others, I plan to come back in some months to see what puzzles they've added in that time. Recommended.
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July 2025
This is a polished, fun, and breezy Zachtronics-adjacent(-yet-legally-distinct) game. The presentation is the most refined out of any of their games: the soundtrack is my favorite, the story is endearing, and the factory UI is clean and tactile and has some new quality of life features. The ability to edit your factory at intermediary states and instantly see the results is innovative. But it also changes the brain workout that you get. It enables you to iterate quickly, though you miss that certain brutal Zachtronics-style joy and satisfaction of needing to do the work in your head. But this isn’t a Zachtronics game. It was developed under a ‘legally distinct business framework.’ And overall their first Zachish effort is quite fun, but also comparatively quick and straightforward. I think the idea was to make just that. And it succeeds. Having said that, I like how ‘inaccessible’ their older games are. If you stick with them then you figure them out. They give you an opportunity to stretch your brain. So I feel like that seeming inaccessibility is a strength. But, this game proves that a simpler Zachlike can be fun. It’s nice to have a joyful, quick, and tasty Zachlike. Though I still love the Zachlikes of yore. And perhaps it was just a coincidence that the older entries turned out the way they did--were they purposefully somewhat abstruse, or did they just not feel the need (or desire, or know how, or have the resources) to make them be any different than the way they turned out? (am I being abstruse now?) So, why is the game the way it is? Is this simply what they wanted to make? Was there a business decision to try to reach a wider audience? If they are trying to reach a wider audience, will the people find this game? What counts as success? How will that affect future games? I wouldn't mind playing something similarly polished yet more challenging. I’m curious to see what comes next. And in the meantime I’ve got some solitaire to play.
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July 2025
The eighth best Zachtronics game is still worth playing. The strong part is the slice of life story. If you've already played Magnum Opus, Infinifactory, Exa Punks, Shenzhen I/O, and Space Chem, then Kaizen: A Factory Story is a pleasant, if thin, addition to the genre. If you haven't played all five of the previous games--well, they're all cheaper and better.
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July 2025
It's okay. It's a little simplistic and lacks the flavor of other Zachtronics games. That being said, it's not like Molek-Syntez, Opus Magnum, or Infiniminer were "realistic," and this fits in that general category of "puzzles that capture the flavor, not the mechanics of a theme." I find it hard to not like Zachtronics game plots because Zach and I appear to have grown up in the same time and pop-culture space, but this plot is spread so thin, and while I appreciate the voice acting, I'm not sure it was needed. It just seems a lot of work for a tiny part of the game. But credit where credit is due: it's exactly the quality you'd expect. The graphics, sound, and interface are all the level of polish you'd come to expect, and if you're into histograms, they're back! No Zachtronics game is for everyone. TIS-100 and Exapunks needed a certain interest and skillset, and I had trouble getting into Mobius Front. This game is part of the subset of Zachtronics games where the limits, if there are any, are very generous. I'd hate to call it "entry level," since it requires more than a little planning, even with all the space provided. It's certainly not top-notch Zachtronics, but if you're interested in the gameplay loop provided in the demo, then I'd recommend this. That being said, it is all just variations on a theme, so if you don't like the demo, don't expect it to have any major gameplay additions.
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July 2025
Like all the Zachtronics games of the past, an incredibly fun Solitaire game bundled with an impostor syndrome simulator.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Kaizen: A Factory Story is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.99€ on Steam.

Kaizen: A Factory Story received 346 positive votes out of a total of 377 achieving a rating of 8.48.
😎

Kaizen: A Factory Story was developed by Coincidence and published by Astra Logical.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is playable and fully supported on Windows.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is playable and fully supported on MacOS.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is playable and fully supported on Linux.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is a single-player game.

Kaizen: A Factory Story does not currently offer any DLC.

Kaizen: A Factory Story does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

Kaizen: A Factory Story does not support Steam Remote Play.

Kaizen: A Factory Story is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Kaizen: A Factory Story.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 30 July 2025 00:46
SteamSpy data 29 July 2025 16:36
Steam price 29 July 2025 20:58
Steam reviews 28 July 2025 21:54

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Kaizen: A Factory Story, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Kaizen: A Factory Story
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of Kaizen: A Factory Story concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Kaizen: A Factory Story compatibility
Kaizen: A Factory Story
19.99€ Visit Store
8.5
346
31
Game modes
Features
Online players
187
Developer
Coincidence
Publisher
Astra Logical
Release 14 Jul 2025
Platforms
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