Back when it was in Early Access, I took Infinifactory for a spin and wrote up my impressions in my Infinifactory Preview. Now that the game has seen a full release, let's take a look at what's new!
If you missed the preview, let me do a quick recap on Infinifactory's core game loop. You're an unwilling engineer abducted by some sort of alien manufacturing consortium, and tasked with building various devices from raw inputs. The difficulty stems from trying to get the blocks to do what you need them to do within the confines of the parts you have, and space you have to work with.
Like most Zachtronics games, Infinifactory is very optimization-focused. It's certainly possible to brute force your way through most puzzles, although the game definitely incentivizes clever, efficient factory construction. That said, it can be a very challenging game even if you're completely unconcerned with breaking any records. Space and time are both working against you constantly.
Infinifactory hasn't changed much since Early Access, and for this game that's good news. It was already pretty polished back in February, and there was already a lot of content on offer. Zachtronics said as much in the Early Access notes for the game - they wanted to release something close to complete, and then get player feedback to make small improvements before the 1.0 build.
Most of the stuff that I complained about in the preview has been improved tremendously, including the implementation of a bulk copy/paste function. Some of the levels have been tweaked slightly to make them easier or harder, based on player feedback provided at the end of each level. I've got to admit, it's a genius way to approach the problem of difficulty balancing!
New puzzles have also been added, as well as achievements and Steam Workshop support. Both add to the replay value significantly. The achievements are mostly tied to creating optimized solutions to the various base game puzzles. Meanwhile, if you get sick of the stock puzzles, there are hundreds of user-created levels available for Inifinifactory.