ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs

I love refurbishing electronics and I have even worked as a service technician - this game was made for me. But, unfortunately, I couldn't help but think that this is a waste of a really good idea. You can't fail a job by installing a bad or untested part - the worst the game will do is nag you about installing a "dirty" part and not let you deliver it to the customer before fixing it which makes the jobs feel frustratingly pedantic and impossible to fail. While being able to manage a spare parts bin is a really great idea on its own, I found myself rarely buying second-hand devices to use for donor parts when the game makes purchasing specific replacement parts extremely easy and ubiquitous. Using the tools is also a mediocre experience - soldering amounts to just tracing predefined blue lines with your mouse without any thought or problem analysis, and there's not even a multi meter in this game about repairing electronics (it would've been a great opportunity to teach the player how one works!). The game's story just gets in the way and doesn't directly influence the game beyond just giving you an incentive to get a "repair license" for a new device you haven't worked on yet, and at one point it suddenly just...ends. There's really not much to these characters beyond what a one-sentence summary can describe them as, and I didn't feel a particular connection to them which made the constant intrusions of the story especially annoying to me as a player looking for depth to the gameplay. They also aren't helped by the poor voice actors basically just doing annoying hums either. The Japan setting is a strange decision since it never really felt like the game ever took advantage of that aside from appearing as a "cozy Japan game" on the storefront. It's not like there's nothing to do with this setting in a repair game context - you could introduce repair jobs for stuff like MiniDisc or LaserDisc or karaoke machines, things that were incredibly successful in Japan but failed or had almost no market presence in the West. Instead there are a lot of jobs for repairing Western-adjacent things like the Atari 2600 and Lynx (you can't tell me they were that successful over there...) Look, I'm not asking for an in-depth simulator, but there's so much more that could've been done with this premise. I know the "cozy" tag used for marketing certainly played a role in how this game turned out, and it's just sad to me since I see a lot of potential in this idea and, as already mentioned, this type of game is made for me. If anything, the "cozy" stuff just feels pedantic and shows a lack of respect for the player's own intelligence - the act of refurbishing and repairing stuff is by itself cozy and relaxing with the right mindset, and that's a great jumping-off point for a game like this. I know the developers have promised continuous updates according to their Steam posts, but I'm judging the game based on what my 20EUR provided me with today. A really unfortunate waste, in my opinion.

I would highly recommend this game. It is a very neat game.

gg

I adore this game! It gives the right cozy early 200s electronics vibe. It fully sells the fantasy of working at a small repair shop.

Я так и не увидел этого человека, который принесёт на ремонт телефон, лицензию на ремонт которого я купил за 3 годовых бюджета Зимбабве. 9 тамагочи из 10 блэкберри.

В момент "не знаю во что поиграть" - эта игра отличное решение. Заходишь не в игру, а в уютную атмосферу, приятный геймплей и механики, читаешь приятные диалоги приятных персонажей. Спасибо разработчикам, эти несколько дней прохождения были классным, небольшим, но очень приятным путешествием.