Announced last week, War Mechanic is an upcoming sim that puts you in the boots of an enterprising grease monkey who has to build, defend, and make profitable a military base in an alternate future where we're still fighting the big one.
The game imagines a world in which the Soviet Union attacks the US during World War 2, leading to a protracted conflict. We're tasked with collecting resources, building a base, and defending it against the Soviets as we take contracts to repair vehicles and achieve war objectives for the good ol' stars and stripes.
Like some unholy lovechild of Satisfactory and Medal of Honor, the Steam page describes collecting resources with an "incredible blaster tool", which looks kind of like a combination of a giant wrench and a blowtorch. Those resources turn into buildings to repair tanks, new bits and bobs for your combat vehicle, and some sweet anti-aircraft guns. Eventually you'll be able to automate a bunch of this stuff with an army of robots, the first of which looks like an adorable clone of Claptrap with some era-appropriate goggles on.
As much as I tell myself I'm never going to chop a tree or swing a mining pick ever. Again. I always keep coming back to it. This looks like a fresh take on the tried and true survival formula, although I do wonder if I'll be missing the oh-so-satisfying M1 Garand ping (it looks like we won't be doing any shooting in this one). With any luck, driving a custom built WW2 jeep/truck/tank/rover thing around a mysterious island will keep me occupied.
Apparently it's also got a war campaign mode with a storyline, featuring "intriguing characters" such as Crazy Man and Wild Bully. As much as those names kinda sound like alpha placeholders, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt—the idea of my base builder survival game having a strategy aspect where I try to conquer other bases sounds sweet.
War Mechanic should appeal to the tinkerers, the explorers, the (alternate history) World War 2 buffs, and anyone who came to the correct conclusion that Claptrap should shut his gob and get to work repairing tanks for me. It's slated to release in early 2025.
