Worth buying?

[GoldHoxton]

I saw someone talk about this game on CMS2021, and this has caught my attention far more than CMS2021. Is it worth buying? and is the Dev still active on this game/sim?

[EssBee]

In my personal opinion this game is an absolute gem.

I have CMS 14, 15, and 18, and also have My Summer Car, Automation, and Biker Garage: Mechanic Simulator too. None of those titles even come close to the realism/simulation aspect that Wrench offers.

This game has kept me entertained for the past two and a half years since it first hit early access even though it still has limited content compared to what they have planned for it and what some of the competition offers, and that's coming from an ex-motorcycle mechanic who knows and understands the real in's and out's of cars/bikes, and expects a simulation game to be just that... a simulation.
None of the titles above came anywhere near holding my attention for that long, or meeting that expectation.

But that's just one person's opinion.
If you want more proof/persuasion then your best bet is to jump on Discord and look at what everyone is saying on there.

To be fair, I'm about the only person that checks the Steam forums these days. Everyone else is on Discord.
One of the devs does check in here occasionally, but they are both (yes, BOTH... only two guys working on this whole project) quite active on more or less a daily basis on their Discord server, and do communicate with the players on there when they have time. (Obviously, with only two of them working on this game they have more than enough to keep them busy so will pitch in as and when they can.)

They are also both still very much active with new content, as you will see from the '#things-we-are-working-on' channel on their Discord.

So yes, I would say this game is very much worth it, even though it doesn't yet have masses of content. What it does have though is quality.
CMS has the content, but lacks the quality and depth. That's where Wrench excels, and puts all others to shame.

Like I say, if you're on the fence about buying it then go check Discord for a clearer picture, and also consider the fact that as more and more content is added to the game, the more the price rises... so buy it early and save yourself a few quid!

If you like CMS, like full-on simulation games that don't hold your hand and do half of the job for you (like CMS does), then I reckon you're gonna love Wrench!


I have two guides up on Steam too which are pretty in-depth, (although they're both going through updates again at the moment as every game update renders the guides more or less obsolete), so feel free to check those out too if you like. They too will give you an idea of what you're in for.
Just bear in mind that those guides only cover the current car that's in-game, but there's a new car/chassis on the horizon which will likely use the same engine we currently have in-game, but they are also working on a new V8 engine which we will be able to use for engine swaps too.
There's also more enhanced tuning on the way too with a dyno planned for engine jobs, and more in-depth tuning options planned on the suspension side.
So don't be put off by only having one chassis and one engine in-game right now. Both devs (one (Alec) works mainly on the artwork and the other (Jim) on the coding) are busy working on the new engine and chassis, and there's a ton more stuff still to come.

So if that doesn't sell the game to you, then checking Discord quite possibly will! :D


Here's the links to the guides if you want to take a look and get an idea of how in-depth Wrench really is. You'll soon see how Wrench is a true simulation game and CMS is just an 'arcade sim'.
You may wanna set aside an hour or so to read those guides. There's a lot to digest.
There's no 10 minute engine builds in Wrench. This is proper nuts and bolts simulation, so be prepared for an hour plus just to build an engine! ;D

ps. to cut to the chase, jump to section 5 of the engine guide, and section 6 of the chassis guide. The first few sections of both guides will make more sense if you actually have the game as it covers a few areas that new players struggle with. It won't be of much use of you don't have the game already.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1631544923
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1638916184

[GoldHoxton]

Originally posted by Steph:

In my personal opinion this game is an absolute gem.

I have CMS 14, 15, and 18, and also have My Summer Car, Automation, and Biker Garage: Mechanic Simulator too. None of those titles even come close to the realism/simulation aspect that Wrench offers.

This game has even kept me entertained for the past two and a half years since it first hit early access even though it still has limited content compared to what they have planned for it and what some of the competition offers, and that's coming from an ex-motorcycle mechanic who knows and understands the real in's and out's of cars/bikes, and expects a simulation game to be just that... a simulation.
None of the titles above came anywhere near holding my attention for that long, or meeting that expectation.

But that's just one person's opinion.
If you want more proof/persuasion then your best bet is to jump on Discord and look at what everyone is saying on there.

To be fair, I'm about the only person that checks the Steam forums these days. Everyone else is on Discord.
One of the devs does check in here occasionally, but they are both (yes, BOTH... only two guys working on this whole project) quite active on more or less a daily basis on their Discord server, and do communicate with the players on there when they have time. (Obviously, with only two of them working on this game they have more than enough to keep them busy so will pitch in as and when they can.)

They are also both still very much active with new content, as you will see from the '#things-we-are-working-on' channel on their Discord.

So yes, I would say this game is very much worth it, even though it doesn't yet have masses of content. What it does have though is quality.
CMS has the content, but lacks the quality and depth. That's where Wrench excels, and puts all others to shame.

Like I say, if you're on the fence about buying it then go check Discord for a clearer picture, and also consider the fact that as more and more content is added to the game, the more the price rises... so buy it early and save yourself a few quid!

If you like CMS, like full-on simulation games that don't hold your hand and do half of the job for you (like CMS does), then I reckon you're gonna love Wrench!


I have two guides up on Steam too which are pretty in-depth, (although they're both going through updates again at the moment as every game update renders the guides more or less obsolete), so feel free to check those out too if you like. They too will give you an idea of what you're in for.
Just bear in mind that those guides only cover the current car that's in-game, but there's a new car/chassis on the horizon which will likely use the same engine we currently have in-game, but they are also working on a new V8 engine which we will be able to use for engine swaps too.
There's also more enhanced tuning on the way too with a dyno planned for engine jobs, and more in-depth tuning options planned on the suspension side.
So don't be put off by only having one chassis and one engine in-game right now. Both devs (one (Alec) works mainly on the artwork and the other (Jim) on the coding) are busy working on the new engine and chassis, and there's a ton more stuff still to come.

So if that doesn't sell the game to you, then checking Discord quite possibly will! :D


Here's the links to the guides if you want to take a look and get an idea of how in-depth Wrench really is. You'll soon see how Wrench is a true simulation game and CMS is just an 'arcade sim'.
You may wanna set aside an hour or so to read those guides. There's a lot to digest.
There's no 10 minute engine builds in Wrench. This is proper nuts and bolts simulation, so be prepared for an hour plus just to build an engine! ;D

ps. to cut to the chase, jump to section 5 of the engine guide, and section 6 of the chassis guide. The first few sections of both guides will make more sense of you actually have the game as it covers a few areas that new players struggle with. It won't be of much use of you don't have the game already.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1631544923
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1638916184

I really do thank you so much for writing all this. I will definitely without a doubt join their discord. I have been interested in CMS2021 by playing the demo, that got me to want to understand and learn more about how a car works. Hence looking for a good simulation. This alone tells me that you, a mechanic approve of this game deeply which is enough to grab my attention by a massive margin. Knowing that the devs are still active is a great thing. It's great how such sim has great depth and quality to it, that's what i've been looking for. I'd really love putting up a challenge, sitting for an hour to actually understand how to put an engine, chassis, etc together. A proper nuts and bolts sim is just what I wanted! So thank you once again, i'll definitely check out your guides too!! :)

PS. I think only one chassis and engine is enough for me right now, it'll take a long while before I move on to the next one when it releases xD

[EssBee]

Yep, I don't think you'll be disappointed if you're happy with just one engine and chassis for the time being.
It's deffo in-depth enough with just that to lose you if you have no prior knowledge of cars and how they work and don't pay attention to what the game tries to show/teach you. But in the event that you do get stuck then there's plenty of help on hand on Discord to bail you out, usually within just minutes or possibly even instantly! It's a pretty lively and active community on there. Just pop a ping in the #Help channel and someone will likely come to your rescue pretty soon. It's all pretty friendly too, so don't be afraid to ask questions.... no matter how trivial you may think they are. Everyone has to start somewhere.

[Sagara Sousuke]

This game needs a lot of updates still, people are going crazy because it has a lot of potential, but the content it has right now, it's pretty basic for me.

[EssBee]

When there's only two guys working on this whole project (one on artwork, one on coding) you have to expect development to go a little slowly.
They'll get there. You just have to be a little patient.

[Simrealism]

I don't know how anyone can stand discord.
Yuk.

[EssBee]

To be fair, I only use it for Wrench, and that's only because I've been heavily involved in helping it to grow since it was first released in to Early Access.
I don't use it for anything else.
Don't really use social media at all. Really not my thing.

[missingdigitgames]

@james
I don't know what other discord communities are like but ours is generally friendly and helpful.

[EssBee]

I'd say more than just 'generally' friendly and helpful, and more along the lines of 'very' friendly and helpful. ;D

I've never seen anyone have a real pop at anyone else on there, ever.
Sure, they may have discussions and not always agree on things, but noone ever lays in to anyone else or turns nasty. It's always polite and friendly even if they don't agree.
Don't get that too often on Steam! ;D

[Gaviscon]

The game is great, I just wish there were some old beaters to work on.

[EssBee]

Modding is coming eventually.
Not too sure of the details of it all yet as the devs haven't yet properly sat down and figured this one out.
But you never know, when they do finalise it all and it does become available then you may end up with all sorts of options open to you to make your own cars to tinker with.

[Simrealism]

Originally posted by missingdigitgames:

@james
I don't know what other discord communities are like but ours is generally friendly and helpful.

It's not the community. It's Discord itself. As a person with visual impairment the messy disorganized #everything-in-your-face-at-once layout is more than I can tolerate. Maybe it's different for perfect people.

[DruidsNectar]

Originally posted by James:

Originally posted by missingdigitgames:

@james
I don't know what other discord communities are like but ours is generally friendly and helpful.

It's not the community. It's Discord itself. As a person with visual impairment the messy disorganized #everything-in-your-face-at-once layout is more than I can tolerate. Maybe it's different for perfect people.

Nope, I don't like it either.

I find that if you're not on there permanently you lose track of what has gone on since your last visit (in my case it can be weeks, maybe months between visits). At least on the Steam Discussions everything is ordered in conservation threads, I can quickly dip in conversations that interest me, without having to scroll walls and walls of text, trying to follow a conversation or find the answer to a question asked.