Developer & Publisher: Pathea Games
Genre: Simulation
Reviewed For: PC (Early Access)
My Time At Portia is a solid life/farming simulation game that expands on the formula Harvest Moon established. While the game certainly has features that make it special, it suffers from performance issues and eventually feeling hollow. My Time At Sandrock is the sequel to My Time At Portia, dropping players into a desert settlement. It takes many of the features that made the first game great and added more, making this game feel much more full. Of course, My Time At Sandrock is still in early access, so it feels far from a completed game.
My Time At Sandrock takes place in Sandrock where players play as a newcomer builder in the mining town. This entry has a much greater emphasis on building, which is suitable for the setting. It features a workshop that is surprisingly customizable. Players can explore a nicely sized open world and collect materials that can be used to craft new tools and furniture.
The crafting in this entry is rather grindy, requiring players to spend a lot of their time farming for materials. Every item that can be crafted requires tools and machines that require their own resources. Even if players have access to everything, the crafting system does feel rather cluttered. Players that don’t mind the grind might find the process peaceful and relaxing, but it doesn’t feel as friendly as other games do with similar mechanics. It’s not a deal breaker, but as one of the game’s primary loops, it feels like it could be much more streamlined.
There are plenty of characters to befriend and romance in Sandrock, each with their own personalities. Quite a few of them are full of tropes, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t endearing. Befriending them is exactly how fans of the genre would expect at this point. Give them gifts, talk to them, and they will become a puddle for you. The NPCs have some nice stories that will flesh them out, and marrying them feels rewarding, especially with the promise of children growing up (Coming at a later update).
Befriending villagers has its benefits since every character has their own strengths. Some can make your farming life easier, while others will assist with exploration or crafting. Not every character is currently available, but more are expected to appear throughout development. As of now, they are serviceable, with enough people populating the town to entertain.
The combat isn’t the game’s strongest feature, as it is still rather easy. Still, it does feel more fluid and fun to play with. As players progress they can unlock more skills using trees to become more efficient in their day to day battles and tasks. The combat isn’t as deep as what you find in Rune Factory, but it is still more entertaining than what most of the genre offers.
When players aren’t building, farming, or crafting, they can attend festivals and play various minigames. So far there are the standard amount of festivals present, but there is plenty of potential for more to appear later. These minigames aren’t phenomenal, but they do a good job at breaking up the gameplay a little.
While the game is clearly unfinished, there is a lot of potential for My Time At Sandrock to be an upgrade over its predecessor in every way. It looks better visually, there are more features, and the setting is a nice change of pace for the genre. Everything that was in My Time At Portia is still here, so fans of the original will likely enjoy what the sequel has to offer. If the crafting process can become more streamlined, My Time At Sandrock can become a darling in this crowded genre.
