My Time at Sandrock is Pathea’s take on the life simulation of video games. It’s one that, for better or worse, brings exciting new things to the genre while making it still somewhat familiar to the fans that have supported it ever since the first title dropped in 2019. However, while I can’t say I fully remember the time I had in Portia, Sandrock, which is the sequel’s world, is far more interesting and somewhat a bit more challenging.
It takes a lot of Portia’s good traits that I enjoyed back when I reviewed it on the PlayStation 4 and adds more to it so it doesn’t feel like you’re playing the same old game, with the same old mechanics.
My Time at Sandrock, as I have just mentioned, is a life simulation game. In scale, you can compare it to the likes of Stardew Valley or just about any of the many games the genre has busted out over the years. Fae Farm, for example, was one of the more recent ones I had managed to get my hands on a few months back and it’s one of those that really stood out to me in a few ways.
While Stardew Valley and to a certain extent, Fae Farm, dives a bit more into the farming aspect to start you out, Pathea’s My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock tackles it with a more craft-heavy approach. This already gives My Time at Sandrock a bit more of a separation from the usual things we’ve had so if you ever wanted to play a life sim game and really didn’t want to plough your lands and till the soil for the hundredth time, My Time at Sandrock might just be the kind of thing you would feel familiarity but at the same time, different.
Multiple story paths, multiple relationships
When it comes to its actual content and story, My Time at Sandrock follows three different paths, each of which has its distinct features that also switch back and forth with the other. There’s the story behind a gang of bandits which pretty early on, you will get to see a glimpse of as the days go by. You also get to explore the abandoned ruins after a couple of story bits that Yan, the game’s resident lazy ass forced upon you which leads to a path to unlocking forgotten items invented in the ancient world.
Then there’s, well, you know, the mutant lizards attacking the town… Do you get to beat the crap out of them so, hurray? But outside of its three main stories, you also get to live a life in a desert wasteland, completing tasks from its residents and making a name for yourself as the best builder in a town that doesn’t really have a lot of competition anyway… so that’s great, I guess.
As a life simulation, My Time at Sandrock is a pretty solid addition to the genre. It’s a bit more on the crafting and commission side though which leads to a lot of scavenging around the desert or exploring the abandoned ruins and mining its precious resources.
It’s a completely separate experience to Fae Farm where my days start off by caring for my plants before venturing out in the depths of the caverns compared to here where you usually start it off by finding a task in the commission board and then eventually diving deep in the ruins before heading back to your workshop to build and finish said task. Similarly, stamina management is usually something that’s tied to these types of games and this is no different.
You get quite a bit of it, however, where it kind of starts to rot is when you’re doing a task like fighting an enemy or mining an ore for their precious resources only to be one whack short to deal the final blow.
Being the best builder like no one ever was
There are a lot of things that really make My Time at Sandrock a fun place to explore. The town which has quite a bit of nooks and crannies even provides you with quite a bit of hidden treasure chests to unlock to reap their rewards before dismantling them for resources. You’ve also got quite a handful of unique residents that range from the basic pets that you’d normally see in households to a talking crow from an untalkative man.
So, getting their friendship levels to eventually settle down with someone is a huge part of the game and ties up pretty well as you unlock new tasks from them before actually tying the knot ‘til death do us part. Meanwhile, its combat system and weapon types do provide some form of, well, let’s say, strategy. Strategy that involves having a much higher HP pool than your enemy and hacking and slashing away at them as they drop dead, vanish and eventually turn to dust before giving up resources like it’s some kind of reward.
But hey, at least there are a couple of weapon types that you can try out from a sword and shield that allows you to block attacks to a greatsword that boasts power at the expense of attack speed.
A world that’s barren yet full of life
My Time at Sandrock’s world is somewhat vast while still somewhat barren. It makes sense as it is a desert wasteland and things like drought which leads to a lack of water sources means that your machines need them to prevent them from overheating. This leads to some bit of challenge as you’re less inclined to just break down everything you obtain and throw them into the recycler or craft stuff at an excess should you need it. However, you do eventually get more quality-of-life improvements as you progress.
Things like dew collectors that are unlocked by researching them in the research centre allow you to collect dew as the name implies and this can be used on a handful of things like increasing the stored water in your reservoir. Eventually, you do get to unlock more space for yourself. At the cost of some gold, you can unlock tiny bits of land to place your machinery and other facilities like barns and stables. You can even fully build and customize your own house or add greeneries and trinkets to make it unique. Imagination is your only limit here… and maybe the amount of gold you currently have.
Sadly, My Time at Sandrock isn’t the perfect game. I had a couple of times where the game started to feel off. One of those reasons was when I was doing a task that involved unlocking the horse from the town’s stable. At first, it all seemed well and dandy while I was following the NPC, however, it all went south when said NPC just straight up didn’t move at all after saying that I should follow them. This ended up with me just running back to my bed which led to a failed task.
There are also no fast travel points in the world so having a horse definitely helps a lot which, in a way, is better than walking but controls can be a bit awkward if you need to turn around in a cramped space while mounted. This last bit is more of a nitpick but I really liked how Fae Farm does its tool management. There you can automatically equip and use the right tool like a pickaxe or shovel as you get close to certain resources.
My Time at Sandrock and honestly, every other game similar to this just has hot bars for your tools and other stuff so you still need to manually scroll through them to do certain tasks which is not exactly terrible but it’s just that Fae Farm has spoiled me a bit on this one.
Conclusion
My Time at Sandrock is fun. The time I had while playing My Time at Sandrock, exploring its ruins and crafting all sorts of items to help the townsfolk was a worthwhile experience. But even more so, I just enjoyed it as a game that leaves me with a lot of fun memories as I delve into its intricate stories and relationships. It might not have the best combat system around but as a life simulation game, it does the job that it intends to do. So, if you’ve been meaning to scratch an itch left by your favourite life sim, this is one that has potential especially if you enjoy playing with friends thanks to its multiplayer.
My Time at Sandrock Video Review
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