Platform: PC, Xbox, Playstation, Switch

Developer: Pathea Games

Time to tinker to your heart's content and turn a desolate town into a thriving one!

What Does My Time At Sandrock Entail?

My Time at Sandrock is the highly anticipated sequel to My Time at Portia. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, 330 years after the devastating day of Calamity that destroyed most modern technologies, Sandrock is a wild and rugged city-state in dire need of a skilled Builder. As the community's newest member, you have been entrusted with restoring Sandrock to its former glory.

To accomplish this, you must gather resources and use your trusty tools to build machines to aid you in your quest. You will also need to befriend the locals and earn their trust, as they will provide you with valuable information and resources that you will need to complete your tasks.

However, it's not all sunshine and rainbows in Sandrock. The town is plagued by monsters that roam the wilderness, and it's up to you to defend it from these dangerous creatures. Additionally, the town is on the verge of economic ruin, and it's up to you to find a way to save it from financial collapse.

With your skills as a Builder, trusty tools, and the help of the friendly locals, you can restore Sandrock to its former glory and make it a thriving community again.

(Photo- Before and after of my workshop.)

What is Gameplay Like?

My Time at Sandrock offers a plethora of content to explore. When starting the game, you can customise your character's appearance and choose a name. However, NPCs in the game will refer to you as "Builder" during conversations. In comparison to My Time at Portia, the customisation options in My Time at Sandrock are more extensive. You can adjust facial features and hair colour using sliders, giving players more control over their character's appearance.

Once you have customised your character, you are shown a cut scene of you on a train where you will be greeted by another new builder named Mi-an at the Sandrock train station. She will take you to Yan (The president of the Commerce Guild) and Mason, whose workshop you will take over as he is retiring. After that, your story begins! 

In the game, you will receive a tutorial on collecting resources and creating items on your workbench. Further tutorials will appear as you progress, guiding you on how to play the game. However, finding materials can be challenging, and exploring the world is crucial to gathering materials for commissions, side missions, and the primary storyline. Finding the resources you need can be pretty tricky, so I found Google to be a helpful tool to help me out. Your workshop machines can also help you locate the materials you need. You can search the open world for resources and explore abandoned ruins to find old-world relics or hazardous ruins where you must battle monsters to obtain valuable loot.

My Time at Sandrock offers more workshop customisation options than My Time at Portia. You can take Mason's old rundown workshop and turn it into paradise. Unlike Portia, where you are limited to a set template house, in Sandrock, you can create and shape your house/workshop just as you want. Plenty of items are available to build and buy for decorating your home's interior and exterior. Building machines will be of utmost importance, but not only do you have a functional workshop, but you can also turn your home into farmable land and raise your animals!

As you progress through Sandrock, you'll develop an affection for some NPCs and perhaps even a disdain for a few others. With over 30 characters to interact with and hundreds of sidequests to complete, you'll uncover their backstories and create meaningful connections. Improving your relationship with loved ones can be achieved through communication, gift-giving, play dates, and romantic outings. And if you're looking for something more, you can even get married! The NPC storylines are exquisitely crafted, reflecting the developers' passion and dedication. 

Sandrock has more to offer than just its main storyline. You can engage in mini-games either alone or with the residents of Sandrock. Additionally, you can attend festivals that take place on selected days of the month. These festivals are a great way to take a break from the main storyline and enjoy some fun activities. Personally, I found myself getting addicted to the arcade games.

(Photo- Interior of my workshop/house.)

Pros and Con's

Starting with the pros:

• A vast improvement from the first instalment of My Time at Portia.
• Graphics are sleek.
• Easily 100 hours worth of gameplay and more.
• Characters are well designed. Their personalities really shine through.
• You can get married and is also LGBTQ+ inclusive!
• You can build things while resources are in storage. So no running back and forth constantly!
• All the stories within the game are beautifully done.
• Interesting and engaging.
• Customisation of your workshop.
• Logan.

Now for cons:

• Can become grindy when getting resources.
• Not that many hairstyle options in customisation. Seeing the hair salon have more hair choices would have been nice.
• Minor visual bugs, such as watching bushes jump in the air.
• I found combat to be a little janky. Would have liked to have an option to lock onto targets.
• Shooting with a gun could be painstaking as you had to press Q to aim, which then made you walk slowly.

(Photo- Character customisation.)

My Overall Opinion

I really enjoyed playing My Time at Sandrock. The game is beautifully crafted and you can tell that the developers have put a lot of effort and care into it. It's a significant improvement over My Time at Portia, and even if you haven't played the first game, it won't affect your gameplay experience in Sandrock.

As I progressed through the story, I found myself becoming emotionally invested in the characters, particularly Logan. His storyline is definitely worth playing through and had me swooning. Fang's storyline also stood out to me as it was very touching to learn about his background. One of the great things about Sandrock is that you have the freedom to break up or divorce if you want to explore other characters' love storylines or create a new character. I not only found myself getting attached to certain characters but there were also those that I came to loathe. The fact that I felt these strong emotions towards characters in a game is a testament to the excellent job the developers did in designing the characters and their stories.

Sandrock is easily my favourite farming and building sim. It stands out from the rest because of its depth, and there is so much to do that you won't find yourself getting bored. My Time at Sandrock has earned a spot in my top three all-time favourite games, and the best part is that there is still more to be released in the game. I'm hoping that DLC is planned for this game, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next installment of "My Time at..." series.

Therefore I give this game my stamp of...

 Highly Recommend