Human Resource Machine

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Human Resource Machine is a game that has you giving commands to an employee who needs to sort through various boxes on an incoming conveyor and put the correct boxes on an outgoing conveyor. However, players do not do the sorting directly. Rather, they create a list of commands for the employee to follow, and only by correctly instructing the employee can they complete the task. This game was originally released on Wii U and PC in 2015, and has subsequently been brought to various mobile platforms, with the game coming to Nintendo Switch in 2017.

As with the prior games from this developer, World of Goo and Little Inferno, people are depicted as crude drawings, but unlike those game’s there aren’t any cute gooballs or interesting fire effects to spruce up the visuals. As a result, what’s here works, but isn’t doing anything visually interesting. The level of satire has been toned down a bit in this game too (though after Little Inferno had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, perhaps this is for the best).

When it comes to the gameplay, the game may not say as much, but what you’re essentially doing is creating programs using a rudimentary programming language to solve simple tasks (add every two numbers together and send the results forward, send only positive numbers forward, and so on). This results in a rather clever Puzzle game that can also act as an introduction to basic programming concepts like GOTO, IF THEN, and stored values, and should get players thinking about the process of solving various math problems more than the solution.

Having said that, some of the puzzles here involve complex solutions that may be a bit too difficult for more casual players to think through. I have experience with programming language, so I was really amused with this crude depiction of them, but someone who isn’t great with math and unfamiliar with programming languages would likely find this game to be a nightmare.

I should mention that this game controls wonderfully on the Nintendo Switch, supporting Joy-Con motion controls very well, as well as allowing the use of the touchscreen in handheld mode. This is about the best-case scenario that could be hoped for in a Nintendo Switch port of this game.

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed Human Resource Machine, but I also recognize that its appeal is a bit niche, and that niche will depend largely on the player’s math skills and logical problem-solving skills. I wouldn’t recommend this to a kid who isn’t so hot at math, but for someone who understands how basic math works, this is not only a fun and challenging Puzzle game, but an excellent introduction to basic programming language concepts well worth trying out.

tl;dr – Human Resource Machine is a Puzzle game about creating a set of instructions for an employee to take boxes from one conveyor and process them properly before placing them on another conveyor. In essence, this is a game that has players using a rudimentary programming language to solve tasks, and it does a good job of making that a fun challenge. However, those who struggle with math concepts may find this too complex for them. However, for Puzzle fans who enjoy a thoughtful challenge, this game is well worth a look.

Grade: B

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