In the first five minutes of Zachtronics’ Infinifactory you’re abducted, scanned, fitted with a red jumpsuit, nearly sucked out of an airlock and introduced at length to your new alien overlords. Then the real fun begins.

Infinifactory is out of Steam Early Access. Described as “like Spacechem in 3D” by, er, the creator Spacechem, Infinifactory is an excellent sandbox puzzle game about constructing factories for alien overlords. You get to solve devilish puzzles your way. It also makes for some mesmerizing GIFs.

2011 saw its share of disappointments, but it was also a year that contained a good number of nice surprises. Some were games we just didn't see coming—they snuck up on us and grabbed us with their excellence. Others were games that we thought were going to be terrible or at best so-so, but which would up being…

It can be a challenge to buy a gift for your brainy, science-obsessed friend. What kind of games might he or she like? The science brains among us can be so intimidating, partly because it's always scary buying things for smart people, but partly because who knows what those science people even like? Do they want…

A friend who was recently planning his amusement for a 14-hour flight asked me for a game recommendation.

Rarely does a game with such a boring name and such a boring premise turn out to be so damn addictive.