There's something special about building a contraption that works. Whether it's customizing an existing machine or putting together something on your own, actually getting a machine up and moving is a really good feeling.

Scrap Mechanic is all about that feeling, allowing players to put together fantastic contraptions and use them to interact with the game world. Whether the game lives up to its lofty goals, however, is another question.

On a conceptual level, Scrap Mechanic is just about building things.

On a conceptual level, Scrap Mechanic is just about building things. There's a bit of an excuse plot here, but nothing that matters beyond the building. You can definitely tell that the designers have played other crafting games and have noted that while you could certainly build cool items, those items never really felt alive.

By adding a sense of movement and some fairly solid physics to the game, it allows players to graduate from the simple building blocks of other games to something that feels a lot more like real engineering.

Chunky crafting graphics mixed with sub-par sound

Scrap Mechanic makes use of a graphical style that's becoming pretty common in crafting games. It's not exactly realistic, but it isn't too cartoony. It's just enough to keep you grounded in the real world while still allowing some very acceptable breaks in reality insofar as object collisions and physics are concerned.

There's nothing particularly bad about how the graphics look, but there is not anything that's going to stand out. It's a little hard to judge the music at this point, owing to the fact that the game is in Early Access. The music that's in place right now might be the final version, and that's honestly fine - it fits.

The world seems alive enough with sounds, and all of your machines will have their unique noises, so most people are going to be quite happy. Anything that the developer adds on the sound front, though, will probably end up being a welcome addition.

Early access means limited gameplay

Scrap Mechanic is one of those games in Early Access that has just enough gameplay to attract players, but not quite so much that it gives you any clue to what the eventual game is going to be like. At the moment, players are still limited to a Creative mode that is a lot of fun, but that's also the equivalent of dumping a bag of parts on the ground and allowing players to go wild.

The game will teach you how to make a few basic machines.

It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination; there's just not any guidance. The good news is the actual process of putting together contraptions is easy. The game will teach you how to make a few basic machines, and you can use your own brainpower to figure out where to go from there.

There's a lot of trial and error involved here, but you will feel absolutely brilliant when you solve mechanic challenges.

An effective teaser for what's to come

While Scrap Mechanic is a fun game, it's important to remember that it is still in Early Access. The game as it exists today might be a teaser for what's to come, but it is an effective teaser.

There is undoubtedly more to come in the future, but those who love to build will still find a lot to like in the unfinished game. If you aren't afraid to roll the dice on an Early Access title, you'll have a lot of fun with this game.

TL/DR

Scrap Mechanic is a clever building game that puts a focus back on crafting.