I played Assemble With Care on Jan 1st 2021, almost a year after it seemed the entire world had been turned upside down by the pandemic. My first impression of the game was actually negative. Watching Maria, a twenty-something with no money and seemingly no care in the world stepping boldly off a train on the next stop on her 'antique-restoring travel adventure' made me roll my eyes. I assumed we would be following her through a superficial story of festivals, night life and love interests, fixing items on the side to help fund her fun. It was nothing I wanted to see as a twenty-something stuck inside for months on end, hundreds of miles away from family and friends.

I was completely wrong - and am so glad I decided to keep playing despite my initial reaction. Maria's first customer, a little girl called Izzy, trades a yo-yo and some buttons for your help fixing a cassette player. She excitedly asks you questions as you work, then once you finish and go to test it for her, the quiet recording of a woman singing starts to play. Izzy goes quiet. And that was the exact moment I realised this was something I needed to keep playing.

With the gameplay itself, if you enjoy puzzles or games which involve organisation (such as Wilmont's Warehouse) you will definitely get a lot of enjoyment from the repair sequences. They are relaxing, very satisfying to complete, and have a lot of unobtrusive visual and auditory information for you to use if you're unfamiliar with how the object works. I hugely enjoyed the quiet, practical nature of figuring out how to repair each item.

The story... well, after discovering the developers also created puzzle game masterpiece Monument Valley, it's no longer surprising to me that it was so special and well crafted. Far from being a superficial travel jaunt, the best way I can describe Assemble With Care's story is one of loss. Through the objects you repair and the customers you befriend, you encounter many forms of it - loss of purpose, loss of relationships, loss of loved ones - as well as the ways in which each character chooses to overcome their own struggle. I honestly wasn't expecting it, but became so invested I ended up playing the game from start to finish in one go.

There was one particular character whose story so closely mirrored a recent loss I experienced that I was brought to tears. After spending much of the pandemic working through the pain of not being able to say the words I wish I could've said, watching a character speak that pain out loud and find a way to begin moving forward is one of the most powerful emotional experiences I've had in gaming for a long time. Just as Maria is slowly moved by her customers' stories to address a personal issue in her life, I felt really encouraged to do the same, and begin the new year looking forward instead of back.

Thanks ustwo games for creating such a beautiful little title, and although it's a short experience (around two hours) I believe it is one I will carry for a long time. Definitely worth every penny of its asking price.