

One of the most daunting aspects of system-building is the idea that a mistake might break hundreds of dollars worth of kit, so there's value in going through the motions somewhere free from consequences. Using the message on that blue screen and a spot of Googling, it's up to you to fix whatever snafu you created inside the case. If you power a machine on and something's amiss inside, you might boot to the OS and then get a BSOD when you try to run 3DMark. It can even shine a light on troubleshooting.

cable management is handled automatically so every PC looks immaculate by the time it's finished. Frankly it's better to learn about frying CPUs in a cost-free simulation via friendly menu messages than it is by learning that smell. Not forgetting about thermal paste, installing RAM properly (down to the fiddly plastic clips at each end of the slot), and the basic order of component fitting.

PC Building Simulator teaches the basic procedure and its peculiarities. Do you know where the halfshaft goes? What does a clutch cover plate look like? And as lovable as Euro Truck Simulator is, does it really feel like that to reverse-park an artic? We take the game at its word. My Summer Car (opens in new tab) could be spouting all sorts of nonsense about building a car, for example, and most players would be none the wiser. No small part of the appeal here is that as PC gamers we're perfectly positioned to judge the authenticity of the experience, to a degree that's rarely true of sims in this ilk. Buy components, get them delivered, put them in people's machines. The premise is irresistibly simple: construct PCs in first-person from scratch in a virtual office, running an IT support/repair business as you go. Shrewdly, they called it PC Building Simulator and it's quickly garnered an Early Access fanbase which I'm very much part of. Recently the art of PC building took a turn for the meta when developers Claudiu Kiss and The Irregular Corporation built a fastidious simulation of the activity.
