I’ve run across an interesting game called WW2 Rebuilder:
It’s by the same people who did Train Station Renovation if anyone is familiar with that. The premise is that you arrive at an area that is in dire need of renovation. You go around cleaning up debris and junk. Once that’s done, you have to complete a series of tasks to restore the area to the way it once was. As you do that you earn credits, which can be used to upgrade your tools so you can complete your tasks faster or more efficiently.
I find this type of game a chill experience on par with Power Washer Simulator in that there’s no time pressure and for the most part completing the challenge is not terribly difficult. So it’s a good game to play while watching tv or other videos. Or for just relaxing and building stuff.
They’ve modified the formula a bit with some storyline elements: it’s set in the aftermath of WW2, so the locations are here and there in Europe, and you’re cleaning up areas that were destroyed during the war. In addition it seems that at certain points you see ghostly videos of the venue before it was destroyed. In the demo there is some audio relating to the events that caused the destruction. These hooks make you a bit more invested in the game. In addition, they’ve added collectibles to the locations, so you can run around to try to find posters, letters, memorabilia and the like. I don’t believe these are required to advance but again, it’s a feature that promotes a little more engagement with each site.
I thought the game had been released but I see that on Oct 7 they announced it was being pushed back to deal with some crash bugs and localization. So the release date is officially “coming soon.” There is a demo that lets you play through the tutorial and the first level.