Gather scrap, get your crashed ship running and build bases and vehicles in Scrap Mechanic, a survival and building sandbox from Axolot Games. You play a mechanic whose ship crashes on a farming planet, where the field robots have turned hostile. The crash leaves you with few supplies, so your first job is to stay alive by gathering scrap, food and parts from the wreckage and nearby ruins, and by fighting off the robots that come after you.
Getting the ship running comes next, because that unlocks the crafting you need. Install the Master Battery you find near the crash site, and the ship's Mini Craftbot and Ship Terminal switch on. Wire the ship's console back up, and its Logbook points you toward the Mechanic Station. A quest then walks you through building your first car, which cuts down on the walking between ruins and stations.
After that, the game opens into a few kinds of work. You grow crops for food, build bases and vehicles to carry supplies, and follow a story that uncovers the planet's secrets. Later on, drill-equipped vehicles let you dig into an abandoned mine underground. If you want less pressure, Creative mode gives you every item with no fuel or power needed, while Challenge mode asks you to build or repair machines with limited materials.
- Developer
- Axolot Games
- Publisher
- Axolot Games
- Release
- Early Access: 2016-01-19 · Full release: 2026-07-24
- Platforms
- PC (Windows)
Game data
Interactive Parts
Interactive parts are the functional pieces in Scrap Mechanic that act once they're wired up, including engines, seats, pistons, bearings, controllers, logic gates, timers, sensors, storage containers, mounted weapons and bot capsules. Blocks form the body of a build, while interactive parts make it move, react and run on its own. Players link them with the Connect Tool so a signal from a seat, trigger or sensor reaches the parts that do the work.
Blocks
Blocks are the basic building pieces in Scrap Mechanic, made from materials like wood, metal, stone, glass and plastic. Most are crafted at the Craftbot in Survival, and many come in numbered levels. Some blocks also have a sloped wedge version, and each block has its own weight, durability, buoyancy and fire behavior.
Crops
Crops are the plants you grow on farmland in Scrap Mechanic's Survival mode, and they feed your character while supplying cooking ingredients, ammo, fabric, and paint. Tomato, potato, and cotton seeds are available from the start, and most other seeds unlock through Grow Labs before you buy them at the Farmers Hideout. Each crop adds its own value to a farm's raid total, so pineapple and broccoli draw the strongest robot attacks.
Scrap Mechanic gameplay tips
- Fill every bucket at the pond and use them to put out the crash-site fires. Walking into the flames is risky, and more buckets mean fewer trips back to the water.
- Reach the Mechanic Station early, and activate its bed as soon as you find it. The station offers better crafting, and the bed sets your respawn point before the next fight.
- Wait for a robot to start its swing, step out of reach, then strike. The hammer's reach and the robot's swing timing punish anyone standing too close, so the step back keeps you out of most of its hits.
- Protect your fields before you plant a big one. Robots raid crops, and a single bot can destroy a full harvest. Set up water, storage, healing supplies and a defensible spot first, so you never grow more than you can guard.