What makes a repair sim so satisfying?

There's a specific kind of satisfaction in taking something broken apart, finding the fault, and putting it back together. Gearsprocket Workshop, a clockwork repair sim, bottles that feeling and sells it to you one machine at a time.

Each job is a tiny puzzle. You open a contraption, spot the jammed gear or snapped spring, and swap it out. When the machine whirs back to life it's a genuine little hit of accomplishment, and the sound design sells it perfectly.

The danger with these games is grind, and this one does eventually repeat itself. But for a good long stretch the loop of fix, upgrade, take on stranger jobs kept me happily tinkering.

If you like the calm competence of solving small problems, cozy sims like this are worth a look. They're the digital equivalent of tidying a drawer, and I mean that as high praise.