My Time at Sandrock

What I love about games like My Time at Sandrock is that they are so charming, so addictive, and just so full of content. You end up sinking like 20 plus hours into them without even realizing!

The name of this title may sound kind of familiar to you and that is because it is a follow-up to My Time At Portia which was a fun game and a pretty big hit a few years ago. Today, I thought we could have some fun by looking at some of the features they are bringing to this new adventure.

Call Me Mr. Flintstone!

The game is set many hundred years in the future where the post-apocalyptic future is not all full of mutants and zombies like normal. Things are much nicer in My Time at Sandrock and you have just accepted a new job as a builder in the town of Sandrock.

Your job is to help rebuild this place and make a life for yourself in the process. There are many NPCs for you to interact with who all have their own stories for you to be a part of.

Working Hard or Hardly Working

You have a workshop, but it is not exactly the best place to rebuild the town. The idea is that you will find lots of new materials on your adventures and you can then use these to improve your workshop. You can also use items inside your workshop to build things to help you complete your various tasks. As My Time at Sandrock has a social element, you can also do tasks for other people who live in the town and even make them gifts and stuff like there. There is a lot for you to do in your workshop and most of the stuff you find in the game world will be usable here in some kind of fashion.

Wild, Wild West!

You get to explore the areas around the town and like the name, Sandrock suggests there is a lot of desert surrounding the place. Here you can get your explorers hat on and go to try and find all kinds of rare and useful resources that can help you with the many different quests and tasks you have to do. You can even go and explore the relics of the old civilization and find interesting things from the past too.

Standing Your Ground

For me, the most interesting aspect of My Time at Sandrock is the combat system. I thought that My Time In Portia was a good game, but the combat alone makes me more excited for this game. The battles that you will be part of are much faster and more dynamic. You can, of course, melee attack enemies as you would expect, but there is also 3rd person shooter style combat here too! This keeps the combat interesting and you can switch between the two styles on the fly which is a lot of fun.

If you enjoyed what they offered with My Time In Portia then you are going to love what they have done with My Time at Sandrock.

Pros:

• I love how bright and charming the visuals of the game are
• The new combat system is fantastic
• There are tons of stories and characters to keep you invested
• Exploring is going to be very addictive!

Cons:

• The desert like town might not be as cute as Portia was
• With games like this, I tend to get addicted then hit a wall and lose interest

It has been 300 years since humanity suffered the Day of Calamity. Despite the cataclysm, the human race continues to grow and thrive in locations that are suitable. They find a way to eke out a living, building farms and communities in unlikely locations, much the same way as they did prior to the Calamity. This is the world of My Time at Sandrock. This farming/life simulator takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the situation has gone from bad to wholesome. If you’ve ever played a farming/life sim before, you know pretty much what to expect, but My Time at Sandrock has a few tricks up its sleeve. Here is everything you need to know about My Time at Sandrock.

Become a Builder

Like its predecessor, My Time At Portia, My Time at Sandrock puts you in the shoes of a brand new Builder for the community of Sandrock. It will be up to you to rebuild a decrepit city back up into a bustling powerhouse in the desert. Armed with nothing but your tools and your will to succeed, you will collect resources and craft progressively more complex machines, all while slowly uncovering secrets and mysteries that surround Sandrock and its people. Be careful, as you’ll also face dangers in the form of monsters. Arm yourself and build up Sandrock’s defenses to also keep these monsters at bay.

The Workshop

As a Builder, you will have access to a workshop. At first, this workshop will be a run-down shed in the middle of nowhere. But, with some elbow grease and persistence, you will be able to build this shed up into a fully-functioning facility capable of manufacturing all kinds of goods. Build intricate assembly lines to do all of the major work for you, and reap the benefits of a well-oiled machine. You can even use your assembly lines to manufacture pieces of structures, so you can build other things piecemeal while avoiding the hassle of collecting resources and manually crafting everything. If only games like Stardew Valley had this kind of automation!

A Vast Open World

Sandrock is just one location in a huge open desert that you are free to explore. Far from being a boring place, this desert is full of places just begging to be found, like ancient ruins full of relics. There are also secret locations that might hide new recipes or even new resources that can help you in your journey to make Sandrock great again.

Pros

• Great crafting system
• Plenty of areas to explore with unique locations
• Each NPC in the game had their own unique personality
• Complex yet easy-to-learn manufacturing system
• Combat in the game feels great

Cons

• Fighting the same monsters can get tedious
• Mini-games are available but feel like an afterthought

If you’re a wannabe cowboy who has dreamed of your day to ride off into the sunset, “My Time at Sandrock” is the game for you. This wild west simulator tasks you with rebuilding an old, defunct town so it is glorious once more. This relaxing simulator is packed with dozens of features, including just about every feature in every town building simulation ever. It has quick day/night cycles, events that happen on certain days, realistic people, and the ability to gather tons of materials.

As the sequel to My Time At Portia, you’ll be relieved to know that it is a touch less grindy and has made up for lots of the past game’s flaws. My Time at Sandrock has come a long way from the original game, and now has the potential to be something big.

Surprising FPS addition

One odd addition to this game that sticks out amidst the joy of wooing the locals and growing your garden is—well---the guns. At some point along the grind, you’ll discover monsters in the mines, and someone will give you a gun. Since it’s a wild west simulator, it actually kinda makes sense a gun is part of it, but when your mindset is in Stardew Valley and you’re suddenly in a first-person shooter sequence, it can be a bit of a shock.

Limitless gameplay

My Time at Sandrock has a lot to do, and the game builds on itself as time goes on. Once you’ve grown to the point where you can automate some of your machines, you can head off to search for rarer materials, do side quests, or find love. The deeper you get into the game, the more there is to do. You can end up losing track of time as you busy yourself trying to keep up with the business of building your town.

A lot of tropes

The one mild drawback to this game, if it can even be called that, is that the game has quite a few tropes to it. Make a list of everything you have ever seen in a town building simulator before, and it is in this game. Seasonal events? Check. Romancing the townspeople? Check. Townspeople base how much they love you purely on gifts alone? Check. This isn’t a bad thing, as the game works hard to bring all these things together into one unified and smooth-running game, but it’s definitely noticeable.

If you’ve been looking for the next Stardew Valley, this game should be on your wish list. It is currently in early release, but feels well fleshed out for such a raw, new game. Early release is scheduled to last a full year, with the developers taking this time to learn from players and make it even better.

Pros:

• Endless gameplay options
• Relaxing gameplay

Cons:

• Somewhat tropey