Builder Simulator Review (Switch)

I won’t lie to you, but I’m awful at DIY—so much, that the vast majority of my hanging decorations and canvases at home are on flimsy picture hooks and a couple of bent screws. It pains me to admit it, truly, but the fact is, I could never build a house, much less decipher the parts needed to lay the foundations for one. But I’m hopeful, alright, that, if I do pour enough time and effort into Builder Simulator, which supposedly holds the keys to a wealth of information about, well, building, then I’ll be able to harbor enough knowledge to make certain things happen. Failing that, then enough to be able to hang a wedding photo on a wall without resorting to dumb luck and wood glue.

Builder Simulator has just this moment arrived on Switch, thus ushering in a new generation of clueless contractors to build the homes of their dreams from the grassy roots up. To get ahead of this rather niche curve, I thought it’d be wise to give it a shot — if only to help broaden the mind and give myself something to be proud of. Again, I am not—I repeat, not—a prodigy in the field of construction, and so, if you’re looking for an in-depth lecture on how the process works, or even how component A aligns with component B or what have you, then allow this to be a gentle reminder that you have (probably) come to the wrong place. Still here? Well then, let’s dive right in.

Bricking It

As the title implies, Builder Simulator is all about the art of creating cozy dwellings and other homely things from the ground up—an art that has been passed around and funneled into more sandbox games than we’d like to admit. Like House Flipper, the game features a plethora of different tools to use, appliances to install, and other intricate improvements to make otherwise mundane textures a little less opaque. It sounds all rather simple on paper — and it is, so long as you have a basic understanding of what goes into the process of physically creating such things.

Unlike House Flipper—a game that frequently provides you with just the right amount of tools to make short work of slightly more complicated jobs—Builder Simulator instead grants you the opportunity to start from scratch. Sure enough, there are tasks that you need to tick off of a checklist, but for the most part, it’s merely the case of having a set amount of tools, and simply running with the ideas that you summon from your inner creative side. As the title suggests, too, this also means having to lay the bricks as they come—a task that, while inescapably daunting, can produce some pretty amazing results.

The thing with Builder Simulator is that it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not; it knows all too well that certain obstacles are best dealt with by mere guesswork and perseverance. And that’s just it. Truly, if you’re so much as prepared to lose yourself to several hours of slapping bricks down and lathering each one with a lick of cement, then you’ll likely find each of the five available modes in Builder Simulator an absolute delight to slug through.

More Bricks For Your Buck

There are several game modes to choose from in Builder Simulator: Contracts, which allows you to pick up odd jobs from clients and work through a series of relatively straightforward tasks; Sandbox, which essentially hands you the keys to build just about anything that tickles your fancy; Interior Design, which lets you bypass the general construction of the exterior and focus purely on fleshing out the inner quarters; and Planner, which lets you chalk up the outlines for your own dream home, be it a small shack or a lavish estate. Suffice it to say that, content-wise, there’s a tremendous amount to onboard here, and an infinite wealth of ideas to transmit onto the page, provided that you have the creative power to do so.

Whichever choice you decide to go with, the jobs in each mode mostly consist of carrying out one or two duties, with the most obvious being bricklaying and shell building. Unsurprisingly, it’s a bit of a slow burner, and it can take a concerning amount of time to really get the ball rolling and start enjoying the fruits of your labor. Having said that, I for one did find that, once the walls were in place, a lot of tasks soon started to feel a lot less, I don’t know, mundane. Thankfully, though, I had the Contracts to keep me busy between some of those slightly more ambitious projects, as well as a significant portion of blueprints to design, planners to authorize, and furnishings to implement. On that note, I was never bored; on the contrary, I often found myself learning, even when I thought I’d already mastered the tricks.

A Helping Hand

As it turns out, there’s this bot, of all things—a handy little fellow that often extends its arms to you to help teach you a few things. This bot, which can help steer you in the general direction of your next objective, is not only there to point you in the right direction, but also lumber you with a generous selection of useful tips and the likes, too. And I needed that, truly, because aside from being able to secure a brick or two, I hadn’t the slightest clue what I was doing, much less how to elevate my creations to perfection.

Builder Simulator does, for the most part, run smoothly — or at least, smoothly enough to maintain a constant flow of frames and withhold any major technical hitches, anyway. Granted, I did set my sights rather low when I picked it up on the Switch, but that was mainly due to the fact that it was a port from another version, and not, for example, a standalone game designed solely for the handheld device. Alas, it didn’t disappoint, and from what I could tell from the dozen or more hours I put into it, it was equally as functional as its counterpart on PC.

Graphically, the game certainly isn’t anything to write home about, as it’s more or less a souped-up version of House Flipper, only with the addition of a few picturesque backdrops. But again, that wasn’t what drew me to it; it was the fact that it allowed me to experiment with a vast array of tools and breathe life into a slew of untapped possibilities, regardless of the scale or presentation. It was all there, and at no point did I feel shortchanged or excused of being given access to a wider variety of tools.

Verdict

Builder Simulator offers a good selection of tools for both die-hard veterans and avid ne’er-do-wells alike, and it’s thanks to its diverse selection of modes and stepping stones that it’s not only easy to learn on the go, but also easy for returning fans to slide back into place and run with it. There’s certainly a learning curve to the process, but with the right amount of effort and dedication, it does become easier to turn even the most basic blueprints into fascinating landmarks that share a communal spirit and a sense of purpose. It isn’t a short road, I’ll say that much, and so, if you are looking for something that’ll allow you to sweep ninety percent of the work beneath the rug in a matter of minutes, then you might want to consider an alternative route.

It goes without saying at this point, but it does take a lot of time to extract some of the game’s best features; it’s so dependent on your ability to persevere, in fact, that it often hides a good amount of its goodies behind some form of progression wall. But that’s just the one or two modes. The Sandbox mode, on the other hand, is where you can truly flex your creative muscles and toy around with some of its mechanics and creative suites. Sure, it is, unsurprisingly, mostly the case of laying bricks and mixing cement, but it also has an entire catalog dedicated to interior decorating and architectural planning, too. Suffice it to say that, if you’re the sort of person who enjoys building homes in, say, The Sims, but isn’t overly concerned about the social aspects, then you’ll probably get a good kick out of this one.