A cozy game about running an electronics repair shop in Akihabara during mid 2000s Japan that is highly addictive.
Play as the new master of a cozy electronics repair shop, fixing phones, cameras, controllers, handheld game systems, consoles, and more. This is all while juggling dealing with the local police, a band of thieves operating out of a maid cafe, a yakuza gang, competition from other electronics shops, foreign tourists, neighbours needing help with their electronics, and a plot to demolish a block of shops - including yours - to build a massive mall.
Gameplay begins with you opening your shop in the morning, usually being visited by someone stopping by the shop with a request, the mail courier dropping off mail / packages, and checking your e-mail for order requests. Orders can be accepted via your e-mail, showing the product type needing cleaned, repaired, painted, or some combination of them all, along with the amount of yen you will receive for your work. Occasionally someone will physically stop by the shop with a device for you to fix, moving the story portion of the game along upon its completion. Cleaning and repair both take place by disassembling the device in question, taking each component apart in a specific order, brushing away any dirt or dust, replacing any damaged parts, resoldering areas around chips, then reassembling the item before doing any painting / sticker placement / reprogramming. Replacement parts can be found by either purchasing and disassembling devices to add to your parts box, buying boxes of random parts, or purchasing specific components online. Any completed orders can be shipped out to their owners, payment being dropped off by the courier upon pickup.
Money rolls in at a pretty good pace, especially once you get better tools in your shop to make your work go faster and smoother. Different tools, devices, furniture, paint schemes, operating licenses, and decorative items can be bought online to upgrade your shop and expand the type of devices you are legally allowed to work on. Bigger brushes will make cleaning go faster, same with a motorized screwdriver to make removing screws instant. There are devices you can buy, mainly a shredder and a bath for parts, with the former giving you money for shredding parts and the latter cleaning X number of parts depending on the version of the device you own; I never used the parts cleaner since you have to dump in parts one by one instead of just dropping the device in. Buying a spray paint gun open up the ability to change the colour of devices, nabbing you more money as people request different paint jobs. Decorative items can be bought online too to give your shop a bit more charm; replacing existing shelves, putting up new ones, buying lights, paint, and random items like Godzilla figures, stormtrooper helmets, The Sims green diamonds, and more for display.
Locals dropping by your shop are the main way of moving the story component of the game forward, your decisions leading to either saving the shop district or turning it into a corporate owned shopping centre.
Visually, the game is quite charming, capturing the feeling of a cozy, quaint electronics repair shop from the mid 2000s. Items are designed to be legally distinct from their real life counterparts, being easily recognized though. Locals have a touch of a cartoonish anime style to them, following stereotypes quite closely based on their individual professions or how one might think of an American tourist in Japan.
I had such a good time with ReStory: Chill Electronics Repair, not even minding that I was cleaning / repairing the same devices over and over again. Genuinely, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to sleep at night, I would have sat and finished it in a single sitting. I can't recommend ReStory enough to anyone who might be interested in it - I hope we get a sequel of some kind in the future.
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