Assemble with Care
By Chris Morris,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Heart-warming tale blended with fun gameplay.
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Assemble with Care
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Based on 1 parent review
What’s It About?
In ASSEMBLE WITH CARE, you play Maria, a traveler and antique restorer who ends up in Bellariva, a small town preparing for an annual food festival. Maria drums up work by handing out flyers, meeting and befriending many of the town's locals who ask her to mend broken items. You'll do this on screen, replacing broken components and insuring that everything goes in the right place. But it quickly becomes apparent that Maria isn't just mending items, she's mending people's lives and relationships.
Is It Any Good?
This puzzle game manages to dive into deep emotional concepts while at the same time presenting a fun, enjoyable set of spatial challenges for you to solve. Assemble With Care is a zen-like masterpiece that teaches empathy as it entertains you. The game's core mechanic of fixing broken objects is relaxing, without any real pressure from a clock or demands from characters. You'll have to finish the tasks, but at no point will you feel rushed to do so. (And the puzzles aren't hard at all.) The real heart of the game is the character interaction, learning the stories of the people of Bellariva and acting as their therapist.
It's a short game that can be completed in an hour or so, but because it's part of the all-you-can-eat Apple Arcade bundle, there's no feeling that you overpaid -- and frankly, if this were the only game in the bundle, the price would still be a fair one. Assemble With Care is a game that shows the best in people and, with a little luck, can bring out the best in players as well.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about loss. Death is a part of life, so what messages do you want to leave for your loved ones? Can you deliver those now?
If something is broken, does it needs to be replaced? Do some items carries more sentimental value, even if they don't work?
Game Details
- Platform: Apple Arcade
- Pricing structure: Paid (Part of the Apple Arcade bundle)
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: ustwo games
- Release date: September 16, 2019
- Genre: Adventure
- Character Strengths: Empathy
- ESRB rating: NR for No Descriptions
- Last updated: October 8, 2019
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