Life | Gaming
Fixing Relationships in ‘Assemble with Care’
An analysis and review of a wholesome and minimalistic game about passions and understanding different perspectives
Assemble with Care is a game that asks to be taken seriously, with its minimalist artwork and narrative storyline.
It doesn’t just play a story where we know what will happen next. No, it shares with us an experience of seeing relationships failing and also healing. Aside from that factor, it also gives us cheeky challenges with the portions where we actually fix things.
So, come with Maria on this little ride to Bellariva. And maybe you’ll also feel the need to mend some broken ties. (Spoilers ahead!)
Let’s Unpack
Here we are, in the beautiful town of Bellariva, where we play as Maria. She is an antique-restorer who loves travelling, and is estranged from her parents who wanted her to remain at their antique shop.
She makes this clear in the first chapter where we get a hint of who she is. But she’s more than just a fancy repairwoman, which we get to find out in later chapters.
We also find out about some of Bellariva’s residents who don’t differ much from our protagonist. They, too, have their own struggles and passions that are neatly highlighted in further chapters.
We All Have Stories
At its core, Assemble with Care shares these very real narratives of people we can all understand. A grieving father who can’t make time for his unruly daughter. A sister who wants to be her own person but still asks for help from her older sibling.
We’ve all been in one of these characters’ shoes, going through life misunderstood or misunderstanding others ourselves.
But through this game’s lens, we realize that our stories are not so different from one another. If anything, stories are one of the things which make us all similar.
Excellent Immersion
Let’s commend this game’s ability to immerse the player into whatever’s happening. Whenever we have Maria’s narrations, we are blessed with the background sounds as well.
People chattering, passing by vehicles, clinking of utensils or whatever other sounds the space we’re in offers.
If not in the first, then by the second chapter — the story will pull you in because we have all faced loss one way or another. And the game doesn’t just bring out certain emotions but also evokes a sense of nostalgia through all the things it has us repairing.
If anything, it seems like it isn’t even a game and we’ve just gone back to that one summer. Listening to songs on a tape recorder, rewinding cassettes with pencils, or even play-calling someone on a rotary phone. Everything is immersive and nostalgic, even for those who haven’t grown up in the same time as old record players or slide projectors.
Antiques Being Unique (I just wanted to rhyme)
There are 13 chapters in this game, plus the epilogue which was the most difficult for me to complete. But I’m a little slow in terms of puzzles, so that’s just me.
In most of the chapters, we have to repair an antique object. It ranges from a cassette recorder to a cute music box. But all these objects have a certain story tied to them which brings more sentimentality to their existence and usage. It’s not just the characters who move the game’s story forward, but also the objects that keep the story from being just another narrative.
Because, let’s face it, we’ve all had things that held sentimental value even when they were broken. My little antique object is an old time analogue alarm clock which belonged to my grandmother. That clock was the most reliable thing in my life back then. It woke me up for school, and my grandmother for morning prayers. Later on, whenever it would randomly start ringing, I’d be reminded of that simple time with my grandmother. Sadly, it sits idly on a shelf now, showing the same time it did back when it stopped working.
My point is, Maria is an antique-restorer and we all need one in our lives. So play the game.
Confusing Controls and Gameplay
I know, I know, I tell you to play the game and then start mentioning confusing controls and gameplay. How contradictory of me, but it’s just a minor issue which can easily be overlooked.
Since I had played the demo version of this game on Android, I went into the PC version with high hopes. The Android version was smooth and easily understandable but playing the PC version was a little challenging for me.
There were moments when I didn’t know what to do since there were no hints, and no cues. Though I did discover how cute the pause button was in those moments.
The game is played only with the mouse, where we need to click, drag, and just move the mouse to unscrew…well, screws. Quite easy, right? No! It’s not easy when you don’t actually know all that.
Imagine me sitting dumbfounded, not knowing how to light a match, or how to get a wire off a board! I didn’t even know how to rotate objects in the starting chapters!
Now, this could all be due to the fact that I’m slow, as mentioned before, but I looked into this. I’m not the only one who had problems with the controls. But enough about that. Let’s jump into the gameplay which is terrific, with a little problem.
When you do something wrong, the game doesn’t tell you about it. There are no hints and there was a moment when I finished getting everything together, but missed a cog or a screw. I had to find my mistake myself, no matter how long it took. The game did nothing to help me out, which actually reminded me of real life. Oh, real life.
Let’s Pack Up
I cried a little, if I’m being perfectly honest. But I also laughed and, at times, I mourned with some of the characters. I was also saddened when the game ended because I liked the idea of fixing up old things even if I was bad at it.
It was all one excellent experience which taught me two things. One, we have to leave in order to grow, and two, life is all about looking back.
We enter Bellariva in the first chapter with a suitcase filled with objects that all hold meaning to Maria. But when we leave Bellariva in the 13th chapter, we take with us objects that mattered to the people we had met there.
This was the highlight of the game as it neatly tied up everything. Maria had been moving further away from her parents and their expectations, while also experiencing new things in life. She needed the growth from witnessing different people and their struggles in life and relationships in order to understand her own bond with her parents.
She left but she also chooses to look back.
But this theme is not limited to Maria. It also ties quite nicely with Carmen and Helena, as well as Joseph and Izzy. These two relationships also heal when all of them understand their own isolated struggles. They heal when they choose to reach out to one another and help each other out.
I know it’s hard to do, but its an essential part of life as well. Relying on others once in a while.
Oh, a third lesson from the game; rely on other people sometimes.
So, with all the good aspects along with the okay ones, we pack this up as we prepare ourselves for our next journey, just like Maria.
(P.S. The original soundtrack of the game will make you smile, trust me.)
I hope you enjoyed reading this piece on the 2020 cozy puzzle game Assemble With Care by ustwo games. Feel free to watch me struggle in this complete playthrough of the game. You can also find and support more of my work here on Medium. Thank you for reading!
