ReStory Review
Take apart, clean, repair, and rebuild old electronics while getting to know the customers of a tiny Tokyo repair kiosk in ReStory.
ReStory. Credit: Mandragora / tinyBuild
As a kid, I loved taking apart old electronics, even when I didn’t really know what I was doing. It was always fun to see what was inside. Mandragora’s ReStory caters perfectly to that old fascination of mine. There’s something deeply satisfying about restoring old gear in the game, thanks to its simplified approach to electronics repair that makes restoration accessible without divorcing it completely from reality. I enjoyed the experience, even as repetition and a thin narrative began to wear me down.
You take over as the new “master” of a tiny electronics repair kiosk in mid-2000s Tokyo. Customers come to you for help with their phones, toys, game consoles, cameras, and more. While you get most of your jobs via email, you’ll slowly build relationships with the customers who come to you for help in person.
What you say in conversations with clients can affect the choices they make in their own stories as you get closer to them. Even so, I always felt distant. Being stuck behind the counter contributes to the natural detachment of a professional-to-client dynamic, and the writing doesn't do enough to make those relationships feel more personal. There’s a lot of missed potential in the drama that develops: a clearly ex-Yakuza landlord and his failson, a perpetually drunk salaryman, a klepto hostess and the delivery boy infatuated with her, a jealous competitor. The game never fully capitalizes on the colorful cast.
ReStory. Credit: Mandragora / tinyBuild
ReStory. Credit: Mandragora / tinyBuild
But let’s talk about the actual repair work, the game’s centerpiece. You take things apart one piece at a time, removing screws and cleaning components as you go. Replace broken parts, then put the device back together. I've opened up some of the devices in the game myself, and ReStory does an excellent job simplifying their innards enough to make repair accessible without losing the feel of the real thing. It all feels wonderfully tactile, whether using a mouse or controller. Your set of tools grows from a screwdriver and a cleaning brush to things like a soldering iron and airbrush, while certificates you buy expand the roster of devices you can repair.
The game’s biggest flaw is repetition and unlocking access to more electronics doesn’t solve the problem. After taking the same things apart over and over, the mystique evaporates. ReStory should create the same zen-like concentration that makes PowerWash Simulator so easy to disappear into, but it lacks the scale. Instead of moving through increasingly elaborate spaces, I'm essentially replaying the same tiny, 45-120 second level over and over and over again.
This problem doesn’t completely kill the appeal, as evidenced by the number of hours I sank into the game. Rebuilding things still feels good. I just wanted the repairs and the people attached to them to develop further as I went deeper, and they never did.
ReStory
ReStory captures the satisfaction of taking old electronics apart and putting them back together, even when repetition starts wearing away the mystique and the writing underwhelms.
ReStory puts you behind the counter of a tiny Tokyo repair kiosk, restoring old electronics and building relationships with the colorful customers who bring them in.