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My Time at Sandrock manages to expand and improve upon its predecessor My Time at Portia in almost every way, and despite a few bugs and small qualms, it stands as one of the best life simulation games in years. Just like Portia, this new entry comes from developer Pathea Games and publisher Focus Entertainment, the latter of which has also helped release titles like Atomic Heart and Aliens Dark Descent. While there will be players who simply don’t care for the game’s fundamentally task-centric nature or wish for more complex combat, for fans of the genre My Time at Sandrock does almost everything right.
The general premise of Sandrock remains the same as Portia: the player assumes the role of a new builder who’s just moved to a small town to ideally help stimulate its dwindling economy. The two games are set in the same world and time period, but the environments and characters feel distinct from one another, and enough of the mechanics have changed that it feels like much more than a copy of the original. This is a game that is easy to sink hours into, with a huge main storyline, a slew of side quests, and a boundless sense of things to discover.
The World Of Sandrock
For those who played My Time at Portia, the city of Sandrock will sound familiar – it’s the city Portia is separated from by the Eufaula Desert, and is therefore a much hotter, drier environment. This climate fundamentally changes how a lot of the town works, making for a place all about conservation. Water is a precious resource, felling trees around the city is forbidden, and a big part of resource collection is through recycling. It also means a town full of people with brand-new attitudes towards the world’s shared lore of the Day of Calamity and The Church of the Light.
These differences make the new in-game world fun to learn about, and the town of Sandrock is deeply charming. It’s very Western-inspired, though mostly not to a fault; the more vast desert landscapes can feel bereft at times, but that’s arguably more the nature of the desert than a flaw in design. There’s a main street area scattered with businesses and a good variety of other nooks and crannies to discover over time, alongside the many other locations players will go outside the main city area for the sake of the story or resource collection.
The Commerce Guild & Crafting
One of the largest mechanics in the game is the player’s workshop and its role within the Commerce Guild. While in Portia players contended with rival builder Higgins, this time around they’ll form an alliance of sorts with fellow builder Mi-an who arrived in Sandrock at the same time, both working under Guild president Yan. Each commission – which can range from small requests of materials to large-scale pieces like bridge pieces – will earn money, relationship points with the requester, and reputation towards the workshop. The main story unfolds through larger projects, like a rebuilt bridge opening up a new area, making the mechanic feel cohesive and satisfying.
The crafting systems of Sandrock feel refined from the previous entry; the same basic premise of having a series of machines that refine materials remains, but adding to machine queues is smoother and the ability to pull from chests for crafting on the Assembly Station is by far one of the best new features. This feature also applies to commissions – if players already have the requested items in a chest back at home, they can deliver it to the client without running back and forth, taking out a good deal of tedium present in the first game.
The Abandoned Ruins system has returned with new refinements as well: players can select from previously traversed levels when they enter, and have access to a better scanner that also now helps find the exit of each level. The Abandoned Ruins are still the source for both ore and relics, the latter of which is another satisfying way the game incorporates lore into daily activities. Once all the parts of a relic are found they can be donated to the museum, adding another layer of collection to the title.
Activities Outside Commissions
While building up the workshop is a large facet of the game, there’s a huge amount of other ways for players to spend their time. The main story as a whole is incredibly robust, with upwards of 80 hours of content with several twists and turns along the way regarding Sandrock and its residents. There’s also seasonal events and festivals, nearly endless side quests to build up relationships with villagers, and a set of four different skill trees – Gather, Combat, Social, and Workshop – to progress through as players level up.
A player’s workshop space can also be used for animal rearing and desert farming, and planting as a whole has been overhauled to be more convenient. There’s now a separate mode players can enter to tend to their garden, alongside thematically appropriate changes to the mechanics for the desert setting like the use of straw grids to keep crops watered for longer. Players can also upgrade and decorate their home, with certain furniture granting bonuses to health or stamina. The game’s construction mode is more fluid this time around, making customizing the exterior much easier than before.
Cartoony Combat
There are several instances in which players will utilize combat, but it’s never anything overly difficult or complicated. There are Hazardous Ruins that serve as dungeons to dive in, and also several story missions where fighting is a key component. There isn’t an extensive amount of combos to learn and areas never reach the dangerous chaos of places like Stardew Valley‘s Dangerous Mines, but the weapon options make things feel more personalized. Players can wield giant hammers, daggers, sword and shield sets, and even guns to take down a long list of creatively designed enemies that feel like they fit well within the post-apocalyptic world.
Building Relationships
One of the most compelling things about My Time at Sandrock is its diverse cast of characters who often provide extremely amusing or emotional dialogue with excellent voice acting. Of these residents, a whopping 21 are romanceable, which is huge for the genre. Each one of them is not only unique and compelling, but better designed than their Portia predecessors, making the choice of whom to marry much more difficult than before. All characters, marriage candidate or not, have their own gift preferences that can be used to build relationships, and as players get closer to them, they can also fulfill wishes and go on playdates to become even closer.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
There are only a few things that hold the game back from perfection, mostly in the form of bugs. There are some developers have noted should be fixed by final release, like characters occasionally falling through the ground, but others like some jarringly bad horse animations haven’t been addressed so far. Gameplay-wise, the ever-growing list of machines to be dealt with each day could perhaps seem tedious or overly complicated, but the way each one can be set up to craft batches of materials and then left to its own devices feels incredibly satisfying for those who enjoy an efficient labor loop.
Some of the main complaints with My Time at Portia were the game’s graphics and performance, character designs, and sometimes clunky crafting, all of which Sandrock resolves and then some. It’s hands-down one of the most noteworthy and memorable life simulation games in years, with a compelling story, charming design, unique characters, and crafting systems that give a true sense of accomplishment. My Time at Sandrock is incredibly difficult to put down, and is an absolute must-have for any fan of the genre.
My Time at Sandrock will release November 2 for PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam code for the purpose of this review.
