Kaizen: A Factory Story, the Japanese production line sim from the creators of SpaceChem, gets a demo later this month and a full release in July
I had no idea that I wanted a programmable factory sim about assembling consumer goods for a Japanese corporation during the 1980s asset price bubble, and honestly, I don't think anybody could blame me for that. It isn't the sort of thing you wake up thinking about, unless what you woke up from was a coma after being hit on the head by a VCR.
Now that I'm aware Kaizen: A Factory Story exists, however, I feel a deep-seated need to play it. And luckily, I don't have long to wait, because as revealed on the PC Gaming Show 2025 it rolls off the assembly line next month.
Kaizen is the latest game from Zach Barth, founder of programmable puzzle game maestros Zachtronics. The creators of SpaceChem and Opus Magnum among other brilliant brain-tanglers, Zachtronics closed its factory doors back in 2022. But Barth is back with a new studio, wryly named Coincidence, that includes many of Zachtronics' former designers.
Like the aforementioned games, Kaizen is all about automation and optimisation, tasking you with building production lines for all the hottest gadgets and gizmos of the mid-eighties. Televisions, camcorders, primary-coloured plastic robots. All must have their components shaved, sculpted, and pieced together by a programmed machine of your devising.
Aside from its theme, the key difference between Kaizen and the Zachtronics games is that it is intended to be more accessible. As Barth explained to PC Gamer back in February, rather than having to rebuild machines from scratch with each new iteration, Kaizen lets players rewind the construction process of their assembly line and make adjustments at any interval, thus making it easier to alter your setup.
Of course, Kaizen isn't all about presiding over the factory floor. As seen in the trailer above, you'll also be able to take breaks and play the hot new pachinko-themed solitaire game Pachi-Sol, and engage your factory workers in rhythm-action based aerobics classes. Hey, just because it's a mandatory team-building exercise doesn't mean it can't also be fun!
Kaizen: A Factory story will be available on Steam on July 14. There's also a demo coming on June 9, in case you want to take its cutting-edge Japanese products for a test run before dropping any cash.