WW2 Rebuilder is a House Flipper style game with a bit of a twist and you might be able to recognize where. I’ve played a few hours of the house that Frozen District built with PlayWay, and while I enjoy the sedate and sometimes cozy American reality TV Show that is refitting radiators and sorting beds, something is missing. I won’t say there isn’t a point to House Flipper, but beyond listening to podcasts and making a profit in a game so I can pamper my mucky pup, I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. Rebuilding Europe after Hermann Goering and Arthur “Bomber” Harris had their fun, now that’s getting somewhere!

Set when you could outrightly say that Nazis are bad and not get abuse on Twitter from a social media owner and his fans, it is a period that is looked back on fondly. Some look at it as a time of great unification of humanity. The period spawned the European Union, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, NATO, and a few other intergovernmental systems set up to try and prevent the outbreak of war or large-scale conflicts. One of the first multinational efforts was the clean-up and reconstruction of large parts of Europe (and the world): Following Dresden being nearly flattened in April ’45, Dresden Cathedral wouldn’t be fully rebuilt until around the early 60s.

WW2 Rebuilder (sometimes subtitled “Cities from the Ashes”) doesn’t have you bashing out an entire cathedral in an afternoon of podcasts. However, you are doing the tidy-up work across the UK, France, West Germany, and Poland. The latter is your sandbox mode. Where Frozen District opted to go for an open-ended kind of gameplay loop, Madnetic Games chose to tell a story with its progressive reconstructions, limiting some aspects of gameplay, and generally creating a tighter experience.

Don’t confuse that for a better experience, as I’ve seen a few issues in my interactions with Dr. Trevor Grant’s time. From the typical visual glitches here and there to the occasional performance issue despite running on a PC that shouldn’t be taxed by WW2 Rebuilder. This alongside the oftentimes persnickety nature of some objectives and the dialogue of the story being that of a mid-2000s Discovery Channel documentary on the location of Hitler’s “secret” bunker (it became a car park!) doesn’t elevate the experience. That is hard to do when dealing with such a heavy topic.

You wouldn’t have to tell me that the station down the road from what is now Lambeth North’s terracotta façade, or even tell me the history of Aldwych (but I’ll listen), was the Necropolis. It is easily one of London’s biggest landmarks of the era. To say WW2 Rebuilder is a jolly happy time of tidying up would be far from the truth. The overall color palette and style are typical of PlayWay’s games and those specifically in the Unreal engine, AKA a bit shiny and grim. In truth, the art direction fits for once, contributing to the overall sense of rebuilding from the damp, soot-coated ruins of these familiar locals.

The controls aren’t the most comfortable, especially for those of us with a temperamental middle click on our mice. You’ll also press F enough times to count for almost all estimated 35-60 million deaths as a result of the war. Instead of the middle click, I’d opted for the action wheel to open with the Alt key which works but is still annoying. Conversely, you could use the wheel to scroll through your materials and tools, but given there are several of each, it is quicker using the click or the Alt key. A statement that is difficult to say given the selection of whatever you want can depend on the whims of action-wheel gods.

The building is sometimes quite slow but in that enjoyable “I am a boring old man” kind of way. Building a brick wall, you place each brick one by one but thankfully not with a slow and boring animation. It is a simple press and hold-F while dragging the mouse over highlighted places. Elsewhere it is as simple as clicking on highlighted markers for specific objectives, such as building an entire column or walls for an entire townhouse. I don’t mind the corner-cutting in places, especially when it is such a large building for Brian “Bomber” to be lying on his tod.

Where I think some of the other mundane simulation titles outshine WW2 Rebuilder is their polish or entirely fun elements. I’m thinking of your PowerWash Simulator, Gas Station Simulator, Construction Simulator, Bus Simulator 21, or otherwise job-related simulators. They all tend to have a recursive gameplay loop that is either fun or refined to an effective point, but WW2 Rebuilder is something I think would be referred to as “edutainment” without being overbearing. Every level is preempted by a cutscene denoting the area’s history and involvement in the war, and throughout the level, shadows act as echoes of the past as the location was ruined.

You start small doing the rebuilding and picking up rubble by hand before you realize that’s the point of the shovel. You’ll later move on to rather arcade-y heavy machinery. The most useful among the lot of them would be the bulldozer, despite the fact it gets stuck on the smallest of mounds of debris. I can’t for the life of me work out the wrecking ball on the end of the crane. Though they help in breaking up the desolate ruins of England, France, and West Germany, it doesn’t speed up the otherwise slow gameplay.

Ultimately, WW2 Rebuilder (Cities From The Ashes) is much more respectful of the heavy topic than I think most games would actively be. Being so respectful, WW2 Rebuilder might be harming itself in making the entire experience as fun as can be, hence my suggestion of it being “edutainment.” Interesting and delightful in that “I’m a boring old man way”, the appeal for Madnetic games’ latest release lies mostly in its relaxing and calm nature. Not the next big hit to spawn thousands of sequels or DLCs, but worth the few hours it takes to clean up the ruins of Europe.

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$19.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Great glimpses into history.
• Fun and slow old-man gameplay.

Cons

• A little temperamental on placements.
• Some controls are a bit, bleh?