ServiceIT: You Can Do IT Preview

I got the chance to check out ServiceIT: You Can Do IT (wow, that’s a mouthful), an IT service simulator developed and published by picture4u in collaboration with FreeMind S.A. and PlayWay S.A. I have quite the experience with the publishers’ various job simulation games, and this doesn’t seem all that different from other efforts, so let’s see if I can learn how to fix PCs.

Upon starting a new game after picking my icons and a name for my company, I was met with a… “unique” voice in the form of Evelink. They're an A.I. companion that helps you on your journey, giving you tasks and teaching you the skills needed to become a great IT technician while also telling very lame IT jokes. I don’t know if it's text-to-speech or just a VA talking through a heavy filter, but I hope it gets changed to be a little more pleasant. Still, they do their job in getting you started. However, for some reason, there's a hacker who does not want you to succeed and will do their best to take you down by any means necessary. So that's lovely, isn't it?

Anyways, once you’re settled in, your day-to-day will be pretty standard for simulators like this. You'll be taking jobs, building computers, taking care of hardware and software issues, and repairing whatever comes your way, while also earning enough money to get courses to learn many more skills, and thus take more lucrative jobs, some of which are… less than legal.  It’s a very standard gameplay loop, but it at least lets you get into the nitty-gritty of things. And while it does streamline some aspects, such as terminal usage and programming, it does make you feel as though you are working on actual computers… which is ironic considering I played this game on an actual computer that might actually need a look at, now that I think about it. The only unrealistic thing I noticed is that you can directly copy and paste from your phone to your computer.

Eventually, you'll be moving out of the dingy basement you start at and into an actual shop with space to work with. You don’t have to work in squalor, as the game allows you to decorate your space with a variety of wallpapers, flooring, and furniture to make your workspace a little more cosy, minimalist, or absurdly gaudy. You do you.

Now, this would get kind of boring if you really aren’t really interested in this, but that dastardly hacker will throw a few wrenches into your work. I was actually very afraid that there would be a jump scare ala Welcome to the Game. They have the stupid Guy Fawkes mask and everything. This game is oddly ominous for what it is.

ServiceIT: You Can Do IT looks like it’s going to have some really interesting moments that contrast the fairly mundane tasks of setting up logins and fixing servers. If you want to check it out, it’s available on Steam Early Access.