The game presents the player with a series of challenges, styled as sections (“Containers”) in the spaceship’s cargo hold. Each of these containers holds a certain mixture of materials (“Resources”), clumped together in fragments of various sizes (“Particles”).

The player’s goal is to build a sequence of Processors, machines that represent the various processes and treatments used on real-world waste streams in a simplified form. The player has a list of Processors that they have built with the Omnifacturer. They can place conveyor belts to connect the Container and the various Processors so that the incoming Particles are automatically separated or processed. Eventually, these conveyor belts have to lead to Receptors, a specific type of Processor that only accept Particles consisting of a single Resource. Each type of Processor separates or alters incoming Resources in a different way, with particular limitations and ideal use cases, partially rooted in reality and partially determined by the need for a balanced, challenging game. The game incorporates both wet and dry stream scenarios, which have similar player interactions, but each present their own unique challenges and modes of thinking.

At any given time, various “valid” solutions are likely to be possible. However, because of their particularities, the order in which Processors are used affects the efficiency of the solution to a great degree. In this way, strategies that lead to success in the game should naturally reflect heuristics in real-world recycling. Through trial and error, players should gain insight into these methodologies.
Any Resources that have been recovered from the Container are added to the player’s Inventory. The Inventory contains any Resources that the player has collected up to that point. These can be used to build new Processors, which allow the extraction of new Resources, or allow the player to make repairs to the ship, thereby making progress in the game.