My Time at Sandrock Review

Right here is our My Time at Sandrock Evaluate. We spend a while with the sequel to My Time at Portia and it does not disappoint.

**Performed on PC. Evaluate Copy was supplied by the Writer**

My Time at Portia was launched in 2019 as a comfortable but considerably flawed crack on the life-sim style. However I keep in mind having fun with Portia regardless of the considerably clunky menus and sluggish begin and I stored my arms off My Time at Sandrock till the complete launch. Now it is lastly right here and it was well worth the wait. My Time at Sandrock is a much bigger, higher sequel that improves Studio Pathea’s components in each method.

So when you’re searching for one thing cozy to play over the winter/vacation season both alone or with a pal or companion, this is likely to be the one to control.

My Time at Sandrock Evaluate

From the phrase go My Time at Sandrock is an extremely charming expertise. The colourful foolish artwork fashion, the cartoony voices, and the superb music do a lot to tug you into its world.

The small, cozy city of Sandrock lies someplace within the desert and its post-apocalyptic Wild West theme appears like a recent tackle the style. As a substitute of dire conditions and sky-high tensions, you are greeted by a beautiful city filled with charming characters, every with their little woes and tales to inform.

You arrive on the town to develop into the brand new builder, an individual who to a lot shock builds issues for the nice individuals of Sandock. After a brief introduction, you are already thrust into every kind of duties. Now it’s a must to full massive major goals to progress the story, tackle commissions to earn money, discover the realm for brand new supplies, and full quests for the locals.

And I am unable to get sufficient of it.

Not like style colleagues corresponding to Stardew Valley, there are all the time no less than 2-3 goals in your to-do checklist as you attempt to examine as a lot off your checklist as attainable on any given day. It’s by no means overwhelming however retains you busy and makes you are feeling important to the group of Sandrock as a substitute of somebody who spends 3 weeks on their farm and solely exhibits as much as give a present to their future partner of alternative.

RPG integrated

Identical to the earlier recreation My Time at Sandrock options heavy exploration, dungeons, and fight which is all wrapped up in a light-weight RPG system. Fight is a simple affair that has you dodge and block whereas getting some harm in. It is nothing particular however sufficient to supply some selection to the Builder way of life.

The RPG parts have been shaved down in comparison with its predecessor. The talent tree feels a little bit extra sensible this time round even when many of the abilities you get to distribute simply make your numbers go up.

The issue that this creates is that the sport asks you to specialize. That is much less an issue in combat-related timber however being requested to choose between gathering extra from timber or stones once you want all sources anyway feels a little bit superfluous.

Out on the City

The city of Sandrock is as a lot a personality in My Time at Sandrock as everybody you meet. It is a Wild West tower cobbled along with the trash of the previous world it’s constructed upon. This distinctive, rusty look jogs my memory of the cities you see in Closing Fantasy 7 which is why I used to be instantly in love with it.

There’s something a few metropolis with a imprecise but fleshed-out historical past constructed on the ruins of a once-great civilization that’s simply extremely charming to me, every little nook and cranny has its visible prospers and you may inform at first look who lives the place.

Watching the city slowly rework, collaborating within the many holidays and occasions, or just watching your fellow Sandrockians go about their day is one in all Sandrock’s largest strengths. I am unable to consider the final time a small city in a lifetime felt so alive.

Builder meets world

After all, the city would not be something with out its individuals and My Time at Sandrock options over 30 characters so that you can meet and hang around with whilst you get entangled of their little sidequests that vary from entertaining to extremely candy.

In comparison with its predecessor characters have much more character and produce an upbeat vitality that fits the general look and vibe of the sport. Certain you will not discover any HBO-esque drama right here however I loved listening to a little bit lady berating the creator of her favourite ebook for not respecting the intelligence of his viewers.

Within the pre-release construct, we had been knowledgeable that the English localization wasn’t completed but and all of the voiced strains hadn’t been applied but. Most of what I heard was positive however some characters had their deliveries notably sped which often sounded off. a number of the cutscenes additionally had some bizarre digicam points which had been assured can be mounted at launch on November 2nd.

When you performed My Time at Portia you are in all probability already conversant in the connection system. You construct up your rep with the individuals of Sandrock by speaking to them, doing commissions and quests, giving them items, or difficult them to one of many many minigames.

The system is a sluggish burn and it takes some time to get pleasant with an individual, fortunately due to the extra detailed UI it is rather straightforward to trace and hold tabs on somebody you need to get near. That is a little bit bizarre, to be trustworthy. Simply be pleasant to everybody and see how the cube roll.

Apart from Fang, he’s mine and you may’t have him.

Multiplayer

A little bit sidebar right here, My Time at Sandrock contains a multiplayer mode that as much as 4 gamers can have interaction with. Right here the main target is extra on the sandbox which helps you to construct up your workshop and assist out individuals within the city. The mode comprises significantly much less story than the single-player mode.

Whereas testing I did not get an opportunity to play a little bit little bit of the multiplayer mode so we’ll make some additions to this overview as soon as I get to play it.

My Time at Sandrock – 8/10

On virtually each stage, My Time at Sandrock does every part proper, it is rather a lot the larger, higher, and extra fascinating sequel to My Time at Portia and when you’re searching for that type of expertise once more you are gonna have a superb time.

It is aware of learn how to attraction with a easy but satisfying gameplay loop accompanied by some stellar visuals and presentation. Apart from some minor hiccups corresponding to pop-in, NPCs getting caught within the geometry, and a few clunky motion there may be little I’ve to and need to complain about on a technical stage as effectively.

If I used to be to complain about something it’s actually that My Time at Sandrock appears like a really protected sequel. All the pieces is larger, higher, and extra playable however feels extra like an iteration than an evolution of My Time at Portia. Which was a recreation I adored and I gladly took extra of it.

However I do hope that in future updates or a possible third recreation, Pathia is extra prepared to step out of its consolation zone and perhaps sort out the concept of a novel multiplayer expertise separate from the single-player marketing campaign.

My Time at Sandrock releases on November 2, 2023, for Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Swap, and PC.

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