ReStory has launched on Steam. From tinyBuild and developer Mandragora — the team behind I Am Future and Skyhill — it’s a relaxing, narrative-driven shop management sim about caring for and preserving classic gear and tech in mid-2000s Tokyo.
The numbers behind it are genuinely impressive for a cozy sim: over 700,000 wishlists ahead of launch, and a demo that landed in the top 50 most-played during Steam Next Fest with a 96% rating. That’s the kind of pre-release reception that suggests the core loop already works.
Fixing Things, Properly
The core loop is hands-on restoration. You take devices apart, clean them, and repair them with a full toolset — handhelds, phones, cameras, music players, home appliances and other nostalgic gadgets. Between jobs you manage finances, decorate the workshop, get to know your clientele, and browse a period-accurate Y2K-era web browser hunting for spare parts.
That licensing choice tells you something about the game’s priorities. Cozy repair sims usually settle for lookalikes; going to the trouble of securing actual Atari hardware suggests Mandragora understood that the appeal here is partly reverence for the real objects.
Every Repair Is Somebody’s Story
This is what lifts ReStory above the repair-sim premise. There’s an inherent intimacy in fixing someone’s personal electronics: you’re handling the object where they keep their photos, their messages, their whole digital life. A game that recognises that — and builds branching stories out of what you find and what you choose to do about it — has something genuinely interesting going on underneath the satisfying screwdriver work.
The branching is also explicitly replayable, with choices affecting the ending. For a $19.99 cozy sim, that’s a decent argument for a second run.
An in-depth cleaning and restoration system with multiple tools, across a wide range of nostalgic electronic devices.
Hunt for spare parts through a period-accurate mid-2000s internet — a lovely bit of texture as much as a mechanic.
In-person and online orders from a cast of unique customers, each with their own dialogue and situation.
A distinct, chill vibe of urban life in Japan, with a workshop you decorate to your own taste.
Who Made It
ReStory is tinyBuild’s latest in a notably busy stretch — arriving alongside the competitive platformer SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed in September and the cyberpunk shop sim Probably Stolen, currently in playtest. Three wildly different games from one publisher, with ReStory sitting at the cosiest end of that spread.
ReStory is available now on Steam for $19.99, with a limited-time 10% discount.
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