Laying Cable In Electrician Simulator - First Shock Prologue

Tiling, plumbing, and electrics are all fields I have minimal skills in, but if I could choose one to master, it’d be electrics. So, in fear of electrocuting myself or burning down the house, I’m pleased to have a go at Electrician Simulator – First Shock Prologue on Steam.

No exclusive here, folks: the demo is on Steam, so if you didn’t know, you could get it now. If you hang. On. My. Every. Word. Read on. 

Immediately we’re covering new ground as this isn’t a grandad simulator – you know the type; he’s dead, leaves you his legacy… This time around, it’s your dad, and he’s very much kicking about and wants you in on the family business. Considering the number of times he refers to you as a boy; this could be the new God of War and not that Ragnarok thingymajig.

Anyway, the old man wants you to learn on the job, so what better way is there to learn about electrics than clear the garage out and sell some boxes? Fortunately, this doesn’t last long, and Electrician Simulator – First Shock Prologue genuinely does have you fiddling with electrics after that.

The first job is to fix a fuse for a geriatric with little money, but he pays wells for a five-minute job. The first rule of electrical repair is to find the fusebox and switch it off. Surprisingly, this is easy to forget, and while it won’t result in a game over, it will set you back. When in down, flip all the switches.

As for actual repair work, it’s in the same style as House Flipper, where you will see a breakdown of a wall outlet, taking it apart screw-by-screw and then reconnecting the wires as per the tutorials and on-screen prompts. This element is very straightforward and, as expected, very enjoyable, but my interest dropped in Electrician Simulator – First Shock Prologue when it came to laying cable (heh).

Switching off the power and then donning a flashlight becomes second nature almost immediately, but connecting wires to switches then the lights was quite arduous, and I found myself both bored and frustrated. Worst of all, it’s easy to use up the supplies you purchase beforehand. It’s only a demo, it’s only a demo…

The redeeming factor for Electrician Simulator – First Shock Prologue was the workbench section. Clients (the first being a kid who types like a twat), ask you to fix their electronic device. Instead of going to their gaff, you take apart the device in your garage and then either buy the new parts or fix them.

A point worth noting is a component will cost something like $300 to replace, but if you buy the transistors, sensors and what-not and replace yourself, it costs peanuts and is effortless to fix. Art imitating life as I had a $1300 plumbing bill over the Christmas holidays where if I learned to fix the part myself, it’d have cost $240. DIY, kids… My point is, getting your hands dirty is rewarding.

But Electrician Simulator – First Shock Prologue is a simulation and not the real thing. There’s only so much accuracy. In truth, it’s very well presented (literally – the UI and visuals are excellent), and gameplay is much more enjoyable than the real thing if you’re not that way inclined. There are plenty of the typical traits of XP, earning money for jobs and then buying new gear and upgrades. Alas, tools have a durability to them, which was a letdown.

One more note on the visuals. I have a mid-range PC that seldom struggles with whatever I play, but at 1440p and all the settings maxed out by default, there were plenty of frame drops, so I dropped to 1080p and turned off all the extras, and it still looked sharper than House Flipper.

Besides the monotonous cabling, referring to the live wire as line (though that might be location-based) and frequent speling mistaiks such as assaemble instead of, well, you guessed it, Electrician Simulator – First Shock Prologue is yet another enjoyable (for the most part) simulator that I anticipate given the time to explore, I could find myself hooked for a few solid days in a row. It’s certainly safer and cheaper than the real thing.