Atomcraft

Wonderful sand-like automation game. This has got me up long nights, and I still think about the machines I could build. Finding industrial process for all elements gives it a real ever-lasting long term goal. If you like playing with sand and building precise machinery, you'll love this game.

good idea well applied.

Every pixel is a real element and reacts the way it should. What starts out looking like a falling-sand toy turns into a proper survival and automation game where you're smelting ore, running electrolysis, and piping the hydrogen into a forge you built yourself. I've learned more chemistry by accident here than I meant to. Machine building is the best part. Production chains work because the simulation works, so you end up designing things instead of following recipes. Performance holds up well for how much is going on under the hood. The dev is active and patches fast. A few systems are still rough, but for $15 it's an easy recommend if you liked Noita, Terraria, or Oxygen Not Included and want something with more chemistry in it.

a fun science game im sad i only found recently

Hell yeah. Seems the dev is very active.

It's a great game that teases your neurons without rug pulling you entirely. I have recommended it to a few friends I know would be into it. Achievements, though. A damn shame... Swing and a miss. It takes 5 seconds to come up with an infinite number of challenges and achievements to pursue in any media, including games... It takes far more effort to constantly have to ignore the game clapping its hands at you and throwing confetti every step you take, patronizing and predating on your ego, trying to highjack your natural instinct to discover and explore new things in lieu of injecting false rewards. Sucks a huge chunk of fun out of any game it's in.