The sequel to PC Building Simulator feels like it’s still under construction

Unreasonably excited for the next-up. PC Building Simulator. The original game was a great way to learn the finer points in building a PC. It also helped me combine technical aspects with the business management responsibilities. Unfortunately, PC Building Simulator 2.This doubles down on the annoying parts while adding only a handful of superficial features.

Like many simulators, PCBS2It is all about enjoying the simple things. Ordinary people don’t obsess over the differences between an NVMe SSD or a 2.5-inch hard drive or fine-tuning the voltage on a GPU, but these are the details that PC-building enthusiasts crave. 

As the original game. PCBS2You are now in charge of a computer repair shop. Start with a little money and a few jobs via email. If you haven’t played the original game, PCBS2This might seem a bit strange, since you will need to carry your character over to an on-screen computer to access your email. The tutorial is helpful and walks you through each step.

As you get more experience, each tutorial will explain the finer points in running your business. This tutorial will show you what to do when you first encounter a job. Unfortunately, there’s no way to easily revisit these tutorials if you’ve forgotten how to do something.

The jobs you take on range from cleaning the dust out of old PCs to overclocking CPUs or building desktops from scratch while keeping within your client’s budget. The jobs become an exercise in reading comprehension, much like the original game. Buried in each email, you’ll find optional requests that, when satisfied, net you access to higher-tier jobs. It’s just unfortunate that there isn’t more variety in the objectives, which are very similar to what we saw in the original PCBS. Some additional objectives are attached to customizing a client’s PCs with different decals and paint jobs or utilizing new components, but PCBS2 doesn’t add too many new wrinkles to the jobs seen in the original.

The greatest innovation is customization PCBS2This allows you to transform any desktop into a graphically offensive gaming icon. Any PC can be customized with layered vinyl skins or individual stickers. You can also spray paint it. The customization tools are clumsy, and while you’ll unlock new vinyl wraps and decals as you level up, there’s currently no way to use any custom assets, which is disappointing.

You can even customize your workshop! You could personalize your office in the original game. However, you can now get even more specific with the ability to change desk designs, wall decor and floors. There aren’t many personalization options, but this feature is a nice touch. While you can’t gut renovate your office, you have far more flexibility with your workspace this time around, functionally and aesthetically.

Once you’ve set up your workspace, you naturally have to build some PCs. Thankfully,  PCBS2Ships come with a wide range of modern PC components, including GPUs and water cooling blocks. Many of these components come from well-known manufacturers and are almost identical to their real-world counterparts by Cooler Master, MSI, NZXT and MSI. The past was PCBS has done an excellent job keeping parts lists up to date with free updates, which isn’t a simple task, considering we’ve seen a host of new hardware from Nvidia and AMD, not to mention Intel’s new ARC graphics cards.

Another notable feature is the ability to fit custom water cooling blocks to your RAM, GPU or motherboard. It is a good idea to get into the technical details. PCBS2, and de-lidding CPUs is a feature that’s apparently on the roadmap.

It’s clear that the developers are taking steps to streamline the overall experience of PCBS2. The tablet system, which allows you to access many of the functions that you used to have to go back to your office computer, is a welcome addition to the PCBS2 experience. Another clever addition is the ability to link purchased parts with in-progress jobs. This makes it easy to manage multiple open projects. There are some new features that you will find in the latest version of PCBS2You will also find a thermal imaging tool that can help you troubleshoot certain components as well as an in-game RAM voltage calculator to overclock your memory. 

Take into account how much time your spend on menus PCBS2They should be simpler and more intuitive. It’s a little confusing because many of the in-game apps you use mirror their real-world counterparts but lack any of the usability features you’d expect. Imagine navigating your desktop without the ability to resize windows or use any of the shortcuts you’re accustomed to; that’s what it feels like in PCBS2.  

This is not helped by the fact PCBS2This is very frustrating. On several occasions, I encountered jobs that I couldn’t complete. Although graphic glitches are rare, I have encountered instances where components were clipping through objects or levitating hardware. The most irritating, however, was a bug that made it impossible to interact with the game’s on-screen GUI. A good portion of your jobs require installing apps or modifying the BIOS on a given machine, which is impossible if you can’t interact with the screen.

Even with its myriad of bugs, PCBS2 shares the same addictive qualities as its predecessor that had me saying, “just one more job”. However, there currently isn’t enough content to keep me coming back. There is a rudimentary achievement system in place, but there isn’t enough of a metagame to keep you invested for very long. The original game had an end goal that was modest, namely to earn enough capital for your shop to be owned. Right now, there isn’t much to keep you playing over the long term other than leveling up to unlock new parts by completing progressively more complicated jobs.

Right now, the game doesn’t add enough or do things differently enough to warrant a “2” However, given how much the original PCBS has changed since its launch, I’m excited to see where PCBSWithin a year. However, for now, PCBS2He is more interested in exploring shallow features and not diving into one.

PCBS2 didn’t get its hooks in me the same way as the original, but despite its bugs and overall lack of content, I can’t overlook the game’s potential as an excellent educational tool. Before I played the original PCBS, I’d never built a computer. I was able to play over the years and build several desktops. And while I’m not going to be water-cooling my GPU or motherboard any time soon, PCBS2It certainly has piqued me curiosity.

PC Building Simulator 2. On October 12th, Epic Games Store launched the game.