Chris- 0 Comment
- October 17, 2022
Pc Building Simulator 2 is finally here. When it comes to real life, most of the time building your own PC still is, even though PC parts are finally dropping around the world, not in the affordable range for most countries. So in the meantime, I tried out PC Building Simulator 2 to help scratch my itch, finding that the new title was fantastic and a massive upgrade over the first game.
The first PC Builder Simulator by Spiral house is over three years old, and even though it still holds up in portraying PC building, its sequel just pushes it over the edge offering you more parts, with more immersion. I have played more than 30 hours of this game and counting, trying to grow my PC empire and had a blast so far doing it.
As I mentioned earlier, the team has really tried to immerse you more when it comes to PCBS2, right down to the new storyline and how you end up in this run-down shop that will soon become your tech universe. “Uncle Tim” has given you the opportunity to look after his burnt and ruined shop, and aside from it looking like you would need a vaccine after leaving the place, it is very spacious and will soon become much cleaner, as you will be able to customize it with the design you want.
“ More Features, More Fun “
Most -if not all- simulator games start you out with “busy” work, as you start from the bottom and make your way up. The same can be said about PC Builder Simulator 2, as in the first few levels the game will slowly introduce you to the mechanics and how you can grow your empire. The first client’s orders will be simple, like changing the cables, removing viruses or replacing a broken part.
As you progress, you will be able to obtain new parts and try out the new features they have added. Some consist of minor adjustments, like being able to add the thermal paste to your parts, while others are completely new systems. You will now have the ability to do some case mods in the form of paint or stickers, along with the ability to fully water-cool all your parts, from the motherboard to graphics cards. Along with the graphics overhaul, this just adds the multilayer immersion that I totally love and feels so close to the real thing.
Your primary source of income will change once you unlock the Spares’N’ Repairs app: an app that lets you buy PCs for cheaper, as they host broken parts. But with your skillset, you will be able to flip the restored system for a tidy profit, providing you have an available part to change and don’t sink too much money into it, as with used PCs the profit margin can still be huge if done correctly. It is a quick and efficient way to earn some good cash, especially with the new Shop front to sell your PCs to the public.
You will still want to make sure to focus on the client’s orders, and as you progress they will gradually become longer and more complicated: you will find yourself immersed in full builds or custom water-cooling loops, and it really becomes a balancing act. Once you have enough budget though, the best way to get a hefty profit is doing a full build from scratch for your shop to sell. If you are a fan of building PCs, this is where the creativity really comes in; the ability to check the rating of parts you have available to buy can be a good indication of what will sell the best, guiding your process if your main goal is performance and profit. Finally getting your hands on a 3080Ti and building a custom water-cooled pc around that feels good and rewarding. If you are anything like me and want the best 3DMark score, you will spend hours testing and trying different parts and overclocks just to push your new system to the max. And boy, does it feel rewarding to see that 3DMark score jump up 3000 after spending some time overclocking your CPU, RAM and GPU.
I can honestly say I came across a hefty amount of bugs in the game that felt infuriating, and really made me frustrated to build my own masterpieces in PCBS2. For instance, I was building my own custom water-cooled PC, with an SLI graphics card and an ample power supply that had more than enough power slots on it, but a dialogue came up that I ran out of slots and needed a splitter, despite some of them still being free. At this point I thought I would humour the game and added the suggested splitter with no avail, finding myself still stuck in the same situation. Long story short, after trying a fix multiple times, I had to practically scrap that SLI build and turn it into something different from what I originally envisioned. This is not the only issue, as there was also a PC case I had unlocked and wanted to use in a new custom build, but I kept getting dialogue saying the case was not “correct for the job”. After getting the same problem over the newly re-purchased part, I have assumed that developers have linked these parts to customers’ jobs, and even though the parts are displayed as unlocked, until you do the customer’s Jobs that teach you how to use that part it will functionally lock for your own builds.
“Bugs Need to be Squashed”
There were also numerous things that I feel still need improvement from the first PC Building Simulator, like the auto-routing of cables. It’s true they have given us the ability to route hard tubing ourselves, but without applying a similar mechanic to the wiring, the whole build can be ruined by cables that decide to run across the motherboard no matter how much space is available to route them.
Leaving all of this aside though, with all the new features, parts and beautiful graphics updates, this title is definitely a much-improved sequel, and I love every minute of getting lost in my builds.
- An Awesome Sequel That Has So Many New Features8
“ An outstanding improvement over the first game, and with the ability to sell and upgrade broken PCs, or customise your case and original builds with full water-cooling loops, it feels more like a simulator game with added immersion. Well worth the bucks if you are a fan of PCs or simulators in general. “