While simulator games are a dime a dozen, it’s always refreshing to see one that’s set in a time period other than the present day. Mandragora’s upcoming ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs is one of the latter examples that lets you reminisce about days gone by while fixing old-school electronics. I spent a good hour and a half playing the free demo on Steam and found myself hankering for more virtual tinkering.
Managing a repair shop in 2000s Tokyo isn’t just about restoring old knick-knacks. You have to pay rent, bills, and purchase licenses and parts online to keep your business afloat. Though the characters you interact with have very little to say (they speak in unintelligible mumbles that are translated via textboxes), you spend most of the time alone and absorbed in your work.
The demo has you repairing a sizeable variety of electronics, ranging from knockoff Tamagochis to massive hand lamps. Upon receiving a commission , you must disassemble the electronic device and clean any dirty parts. Some parts may be broken, which will require you to source replacements by swapping them around between items you have or are currently repairing , or by buy them online.
The core process of disassembling and reassembling electronics is very satisfying. Screws are loosened and placed in a nearby receptacle (just as you would do in real life), and slotting in pieces always rewards you with the appropriate (and satisfying) audio cues.
If there is anything I have concerns with, it’s that the interface can be a bit unintuitive. There are times when you won’t know which parts are interactable unless you hover over them (this goes for electronics and your store in general). For electronic devices in particular, the vague shadows of the screws, highlighted parts, and dusty areas make it difficult to know if you need to rotate the device to complete a task.
Though repairing electronics in the demo is nowhere near as complicated as fixing them in real life, it does require some memory on your part. You need to actively remember which parts go where as you disassemble a device, or else you’ll be swapping pieces left and right to reassemble it later. Likewise, there are no indicators to help when purchasing replacement parts on the in-game computer, which can be frustrating as you need to switch between looking at the monitor and your current job.
While the demo features a day-night system, several orders are given to you in the first two days. This makes it feel a bit overwhelming at first, but things slowly calm down as you get into a groove of repairing devices and accepting new jobs.
The ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs demo gives players a sizeable taste of what’s to come. The interface could be a little less confusing, and a few helpful hints could be added, but if you like to unwind by taking things apart and putting them back together within the backdrop of some catch background music and satisfying audio design, then you should definitely give it a try.
ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs is set to release in 2026 for Windows (Steam).
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