If you’ve been following us for a while now, you’ll know that we here at Sirus Gaming love our simulator games, particularly repair and restoration games. We’ve covered games from the humble Piece by Piece to more stylistic ones like ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs. Right now, I am covering a game that’s showing a lot of promise. That game is called Reshine. And if you like your restoration game to be on the more meticulous and realistic side, you are going to like this game a lot.
Reshine is a restoration simulator where you take up old objects and gently restore them to their former glory. The game is described as a minimalistic, relaxing experience with nothing more than classic music playing in the background. The demo features 3 classic objects to restore: a compass, a coffee grinder, and a gramophone. Each repair grows in complexity and will require the use of more high-tech cleaning options like a laser cleaner.
The repair process starts like every game we’ve known so far. You take the object apart piece by piece until all the parts are ready to be cleaned. That part of the process often involves the removal of screws and nails. You don’t really see many games utilizing anything other than screws, for simplicity’s sake. So, it’s pretty much a good thing if you’re looking for a game with a more immersive experience, as objects from the 19th century and earlier also used nails and metal flaps to hold two surfaces together. After that’s done, the nail and screws and put in the ultrasonic cleaner as you play a minigame to determine the right frequency to shake off all the grime.
You then pick and choose which individual part to work on. Wooden parts need to be sandblasted to remove all residual paint; the same also applies to the metal parts. The stage following that is all about making the parts as good as possible. For wooden parts, that means applying a new coat of paint (of your choice), while metal parts are blasted with finer particles of sand to bring out that long-lost shine. But that doesn’t apply to other metals. Their rust can go so deep that it requires a laser cleaner to finish the job. Patience is the key here. Thankfully, the game is all about the experience and cares not how long you take, as long as the job is done right. If, at any time, you get stuck on any part, you can always shine a UV light to reveal any persistent grime you might have overlooked.
The final part of the process is the assembly. Not much to do except to take it all in and take pride in your work. Sometimes, you have to enjoy the simple things in life, even if it’s in a virtual world.
So, what are my expectations for the game at release? I’m okay if the game doesn’t have much of a story attached, aside from introducing new objects. I’m pretty sure that the game is going to be focused solely on the restoration process and nothing more.
I hope that we get enough objects to restore. I wouldn’t mind if the count ran in the dozens. I also hope that developers have more than just screws and nails in mind. I’d like to see more options to taking apart fastenings like taking tweezers and bending metal flaps. It might be too much of an ask, but I’m aiming for the moon here while I still can.
The final image in the demo shows a vault that you can restore. I’m curious as to how the dial is removed. Hopefully, it’s more than just pulling it out of the socket. Apart from that, I also would like to know what the contents remained inside. It’s small details like this that go over very well with players like me.
And lastly, the game allows you to change certain elements of your worktable. In this demo, you can change the work mat, the weather, and the time of day. You can even change the appearance of your feline companion. I hope we are not restricted to just those elements when the game releases.
Reshine puts much of the emphasis on detail and realism when it comes to its visuals. It also helps that performance remained solid on my mid-range PC, despite all the sand particles being blasted out. Because of this, I expect the game launch to go well. Whether or not it resonates with the audience will largely depend on the content and general experience. But at least I’m not expecting a dramatic drop in PC performance.
Reshine is shaping up to be a must-have game for players who would like to take a step back and take part in the noble art of restoration. And you don’t have to wait for this game’s release, as it is set to launch at the end of November as of the writing of this article. So, if you are interested in this kind of game, you may want to check the game’s Steam page. Oh, and one more thing. The game’s developers have put a point of emphasis that “No AI was used in the creation of Reshine. The game is handcrafted by humans, by fellow humans.” If that’s important to you as a consumer of media, the developers have made their stance clear.
