I Need to Fix My Dream Car (But I Work at a Junkyard)

Introduction

I Need to Fix My Dream Car (But I Work at a Junkyard), developed by GameFactory and Kai, released on Steam on 10 September 2026 at NZ$12.35. It's a first-person cozy simulator in which players dig through piles of trash, scrap and broken machines with a magnetic crane and a forklift, fulfil quirky repair requests from strange customers, rescue stray dogs to keep around the garage, and slowly rebuild a rusty dream car of their own piece by piece. Along the way, players search for hidden collectible cards and other rare treasures buried in the junk, and upgrade their tools and workflow as they go. The game ships on Windows with full controller support, including DualShock and DualSense input. It debuted with a small but clearly positive review base: 36 total reviews at the time of writing, 29 of them favourable, landing the game at Positive on Steam's own scale.

What's working: a satisfying crane-and-forklift feel and real junkyard charm

What comes through most clearly across the review sample is how consistently reviewers credit the game's core digging loop with real, tactile satisfaction. One reviewer sums up the appeal directly: "Came for the dream car restoration, stayed for the stray dogs running around my junkyard. Operating the magnetic crane and tearing through scrap piles with the forklift is insanely relaxing. Super chill simulator to put on some tunes and unwind 9/10." A separate reviewer, translated from Russian, frames the same praise in more specific terms: "The magnetic crane mechanic is implemented very pleasantly, forklift controls aren't annoying, but rather — engaging. I liked that the game isn't just about 'build the car', but about exploration: you constantly find collectible items or unusual orders that keep it from getting boring. The balance between routine and interesting finds is perfect."

Reviewers repeatedly single out the stray dogs as a specific highlight rather than a minor detail. One reviewer describes the experience as "Operating heavy machinery to sift through car piles, fulfilling quirky customer repair requests, and rescuing stray dogs to keep around your garage adds incredible personality to the daily routine." Another reviewer, translated from Russian, keeps it simple: "Fun and interesting game. The dog especially made me happy." A reviewer translated from Turkish echoes the overall tone: "I love these kinds of chill games, I didn't encounter any bugs, it's a very smooth and enjoyable game." Reviewers who had followed the game before launch also weighed in with satisfaction, one writing plainly, "Have been waiting a long time for this, and i have not been disappointed, i love casual games like this."

The honest problems: repair-state bugs, a movement glitch, and a repetitive core loop

Set against that praise, the review sample carries specific, launch-week bug reports worth weighing seriously. The most detailed comes from a Japanese-language reviewer who, while noting the concept is enjoyable, describes a repair-state bug that broke a car mid-repair: after the fix failed and they had to save and return through the menu before continuing, the car they had been repairing disappeared entirely along with the parts they had already recovered for it. The same reviewer also reports getting permanently stuck holding a box that could no longer be thrown or placed down, and concludes that because these bugs occur frequently, they cannot currently recommend the game, while noting they may revise their opinion later once it's patched. A separate English-language reviewer reports a different technical issue, writing: "The concept is fun, but the game is hard to play because you move in slow motion sometimes and your view jerks in a random direction. Need to be polished, I would love to give this game a try but cant play it in slow motion."

Beyond bugs, more than one reviewer flags the core loop itself as repetitive. One reviewer sums up their frustration bluntly, in just two words translated from Russian: "Boring and repetitive." Even reviewers who otherwise enjoyed the game raise smaller structural requests: one specifically asks for better, separated storage for individually scavenged parts, along with multiplayer support, while acknowledging they still enjoy the game as it stands despite "a few bugs." Taken together, the sample suggests a game whose core idea and atmosphere land well for the audience it's aimed at, but whose launch-week execution has real, specific rough edges that a patch cycle will need to address.

Verdict

I Need to Fix My Dream Car (But I Work at a Junkyard) backs up a small, clearly positive launch with a genuinely satisfying core loop: reviewers repeatedly credit its crane-and-forklift controls, its stray dogs, and its quirky customer requests with giving a simple scavenging routine real charm and personality. Its honest problems are just as specific: a repair-state bug that can delete an in-progress car and its parts, a separate movement glitch that drops players into random slow motion with an uncontrolled camera, and a core loop more than one reviewer found repetitive after the novelty wears off. None of that undoes what a clearly positive reception is responding to in the game's atmosphere and feel, but the bug reports are worth going in aware of, especially this early in its launch window. This is a cautious recommendation for cozy-sim fans specifically drawn to junkyard digging, dogs, and a relaxing crane-and-forklift loop.

Wanderer callout

A reviewer who reports a bug precisely enough to describe exactly what broke, a car vanishing after a forced menu reload mid-repair, while still noting they might revise their opinion once it's patched, is exactly the kind of grounded, specific evidence Wanderer treats as more valuable than a blanket complaint: it tells a buyer exactly what to expect at launch without writing off the game's underlying idea.