Game simulating real jobs is nothing new, esp. on Steam. Be it trucking, farming, Collectible Card Games, or even workshop sims. Their appeal comes from the therapeutic effect you receive from doing menial tasks (with just enough video-game elements attached to ease the friction), which melts away the hours.
Amongst these comes “Restory: Chill Electronics Repairs”, a simulation & narrative-adventure hybrid where you run an electronics repair shop in 2000s Tokyo. The game involves taking requests to repair the electronics of customers, serving some of whom would advance the story.
Living the New Millennium
The game gives an excellent impression from the start. Just as you open the game, you’re tasked to clear rubbish from the shop to the trash. As you do, you get a sense of place for your little shop, as well as how everything in-game is physical and not just menus. As in you need to put your electronics on shelves and have to pick them up separately when you start working on them. It begins with a small job for cleaning an Atari controller – picking it apart piece-by-piece, unscrewing screw,s and cleaning wherever the dust is. Great care is put into all these actions, with just the right amount of friction without becoming tedious.
Soon, you will get more requests for other electronics, all with funny fake names. You have your Pokia 3310, the NONY PMP, Eggotchi, and Autorolla Razor. Only the Atari electronics (the 2600 console and control) retain the branding. As you earn money, you will get requests to repair electronics as well, which involves sourcing parts from other non-working electronics or buying directly viathe in-game online store directly. You also need expensive licenses to work on more complex machines. So loop is mainly about taking requests to buy parts, used electronics, upgraded tools, and progressing the story. Complexity never goes beyond the cleaning, repairing, and maintaining your space of bought electronics, which is just perfect. There is a clock showing in-game time, and when to close to midnight, you close the shop for the day.
Lo-Fi Beats to Repair Cellphones with
The plot has you taking over from a previous master of the shop, who left without warning, and seemed to be in a bit of trouble. Immediately after opening the shop, the owner slams you with rent and berates you for repairing his cell phone for cheap when you could overcharge people. Then you slowly meet new characters, including a socially reclusive gamer and your delivery guy, who gets you parts online or helps sell you parts. Some small-town intrigue is present, but do not expect anything out of the plot or writing. What sells the mood is the nice atmosphere. There is a Radio which provides diegetic lo-fi hip hop music to the game, and sets the tone of looking back at the 2000s with a nice, nostalgic lens.
Initial Impressions
Once I finished the playtest story, I restarted just to tinker with the repairing/cleaning mechanics again. They have nailed the mechanical aspect of being a repair guy handling different kinds of electronics. The gameplay loop of buying parts (or salvaging parts from older machines), taking requests from customers, repairing/cleaning,g and using money to buy better tools (or certifications for more complex machines), is really satisfying. I really hope the full games expand on this the most. The atmosphere created, the music, and the coziness of the repair shop were great. The story is there and provides a good motivation to see what is next, but it was not the primary drive for me.
