24.5.2019

I've read several reviews of My Time at Portia, comparing it to Stardew Valley but in 3D.While I can see the comparisons as a life/builder sim style game, this game has a much different format.Instead of spending each day tending your crops or animals, and steadily expanding your operation to include more and more ways to generate wealth. My Time at Portia put you in charge of a workshop, and the primary way to advance is to take on contracts where you need to build something for the townspeople and the businesses. You also can make friends with the locals, building up your relationships by performing odd jobs, giving them gifts and reaching higher friendship tiers where they help you in new and different ways.The townsfolk are also friends with each other, so if you improve your level with some people, you'll find that their friends also like you more. It's a delightfully intricate system that simply keeps you playing for "just one more day" to see how you can improve, or complete that project you were working on.This all means that you are more interconnected with the town, than in something like Stardew Valley, as you see it improve and expand as you fulfill story contracts. One jarring thing about this is that instead of the slow-but-steady advancement you get in a game like Stardew Valley you get sudden leaps forward in fits and starts:Initially, it can be a chore to do anything with your workshop and friends, you're not really given a thorough tutorial and some of the story contracts require you to have tools and equipment that can take you a LONG time to create, meaning that much of the early game is a case of trial and error in claiming materials, processing them into new parts, and then building something complex like the farm's water irrigation system. The sense of pacing can seem strange when you're sitting on starter quests for long stretches of gameplay while you figure out what you actually need to do.Additionally, progress often seems grindy... you might spend "days" in game digging through the mines for the appropriate metals or hunting monsters for relic pieces, then a wait a few more days waiting for your furnaces to complete the alloys, then more days converting them into things like steel frames and boards. There is no fast option, but this is where it differentiates itself from games like Stardew Valley where you wake up each day to water the plants and milk the cows, in Portia you always seem to have something else to do *after* you finish your current task: your work leads to more work, which sounds dull but can be calmly engaging knowing your efforts contribute to a large project.As to the aforementioned "fits and starts", while you can grind your way to success with odd jobs, rewards start flying in FAST once you finally get your operations up and running. Because the town has an in-game rating system, once you top the leaderboards you get simply loads of cash and reputation thrown at you at monthly intervals, simply for doing what you've always been doing. And because the social system is so interconnected once you start making friends, everyone seems to start liking you and giving you things.All put together means that you go through what seems like a long period of not knowing what you're doing, to feeling you've suddenly mastered the game and wonder what to do next except grind towards the next big project. The pacing feels slightly off, when a more balanced progression might have been better, but it doesn't ruin the experience because the rewards really make you feel like you've earned your progress, it just means that instead of slowly consolidating your funds and work to move to the next tier of progress, you go from not having very much to suddenly being able to afford your new house upgrade and workbench improvements overnight.Technically, the controls feel clunky sometimes, leaving you stun locked in enemy attack patterns and frantically trying to get out of the way, but some attacks are just annoyingly unavoidable no matter what you do. Also collision detection will occasionally get you stuck on bits of scenery, or trapped between objects, causing you to have to mash the jump or roll buttons to unstick yourself.However, my real genuine issue with the game is the loading times... which can really be annoying when you're moving from day to day, or even just transiting from area to area. In a game that depends on the passage of time, you often spend too much of it looking at the loading screen for a minute or two, which can feel like an age when you know that minute could have been spent doing something useful.Those aren't hugely glaring flaws in themselves. I'd still recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a good life sim, because when you put in the effort, you actually feel like you've been rewarded for how much work you've had to do.

19.4.2019

As the title suggests this game is outstanding and addicting it has only been out for a few days now and already I've put in at least 6-8 hours! There are a few problems I have come across such as NPC's sliding across the floor, getting stuck against the walls and no voices in the cutscenes which makes them a little awkward to watch... But! aside from that, the game is incredible and addictive it's like a 3D stardew valley but you run your old mans workshop instead of a farm! of course, farming and growing crops is something you can do if you wish but you can also build projects for the townsfolk and make them happy.

1.8.2020

I was wary of the issues highlighted by some reviewers about very long loading times and some glitches. However, I decided to go for it when the Nintendo eShop had a sale and priced it at £8.50 so I couldn't pass it up at that.Suffice to say, I am now obsessed with this game and now play more hours on it than I have done for Animal Crossing and other games that I'm currently playing! It is very addictive! There are plenty of things to do and you do get attached to the NPCs.Regarding the loading issues, besides the start-up load being rather long, everything else loads reasonably quickly. I've only suffered one crash and two glitches.I would have liked it if you could save within the day (say before you start a dungeon etc)

13.7.2020

Been getting a lot more single player games recently and was looking for something a bit more relaxing. After a lot of searching, this was one of the titles I went for. First off before I mention any negatives, its a very enjoyable game. Can be very relaxing but depending on how you play it, it can be the total opposite where you're running around like a lunatic trying to get as much as you can done in a day as there is genuinely a lot of depth here if you go for it. The game doesn't hold your hand much. Always felt there was more I could be doing and until I watched some guides/walk throughs, I didn't realise how much I was missing or making my own game harder. Also worth mentioning there are a few issues.

6.5.2019

This is a fantastic game. The best bits of Stardew, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, Frontierville and the like all blended into one. Great storyline, fab if you like grinding, and some hilarious lines too. I’ve churned a lot of hours into it in 2 weeks despite working and family life - it’s brilliant. It’s the most I’ve played my switch in ages.Of course, as the other reviews have said, it probably shouldn’t have been released right now as it’s not finished. There are glitches, the loading times are painful and it can lag - but it’s still playable, and the issues will be patched in the next couple of weeks we are told. I avoid the lags by just putting my switch into sleep rather than quitting the game each time.Whilst the game is easy to pick up and play,

10.3.2020

Got this to wean my 7yo daughter off of a 2D ‘craft’ game. This is a lovely 3D game with real crafts, great graphics, lifelike interactions, and some very clever gameplay. Time runs 60x faster (1 second in real life is 1 minute in the game). You get to decorate your home, complete commissions from town folk, mine for artefacts, take part in local events (e.g. martial arts competition), fight people, play games with them, and gradually build the machinery that turns you into the town’s #1 workshop (out of 6). She hasn’t got to the point where you get married yet, but looking forward to it. I find it educating and clever.

6.5.2019

I bought this game because i liked the look of it and a lot of the features it has.I am glad i bought it because i really enjoy it and have spent a lot of time playing it, it is somewhat addictive.However it does have its faults, at least the Nintendo Switch version that i have does, small things such as lag occasionally, long loading times when first starting the game or continuing it from the main menu, as well as a little bit of a wait when leaving your home.There is an update coming later this month(May 2019), so hopefully this fixes some of the problems.Edit.The May update arrived and it added some cool features, such as the ability to have children, it seems to have fixed some issues,

3.11.2019

Really nice chilled out game. Building things and running around the town. The storyline is a bit basic and slow and the fighting is so easy.Main problem is the laggy slow menu system. To view your inventory which is literally all the time. You open up the menu and slowly tab across like 4 times to get it. Like what is that about. So weird and it's so slow. When you're building something you need things in your quick select to use them so you find yourself just fighting with the menu over and over. Kind of spoils the experience. Seems like such an easy thing for the devs to fix.

26.7.2019

been playing this fantastic game since it arrived yesterday and i have to say its fabulous. so much to see and do. send most of today mining and making ingots to upgrade my tools and make machines to build the harder contraptions. i see the switch version has bad reviews for long loading times let me tell you this is now fixed with a patch. loading times now are a matter of a few seconds. you do get the occasional frame drop but nothing game braking or too distracting. overall for a game thats less than 20 quid for switch its a must buy

3.6.2019

I honestly think this game is amazing, yes it can be a little glitchy and I understand that when it was first released the loads were just... >:(... Howevvver there has since been an update that has drastically improved load time and patched some other glitches in the game, so if you want to explore a calm post apocalytic environment and build a future for portia from the coformt of your own living room, bed... Where ever you want I highly recommend giving this game a purchase.

22.4.2019

I've been waiting for this to release on PS4 for a long time. I am NOT disappointed! I've played many other sandbox games, and this puts them all to shame. There is so much to do in the game, and you aren't forced to do anything that you don't want to do. It's the ultimate chill out game. I was amazed at the modest release price too (£25) - but they dropped the price by £3 shortly after release ;/ Still ... Worth. Every. Penny.

8.5.2019

This is a cute game, it takes a while to craft many of the things you need and can become tedious when trying to progress, that being said it is still fun when you want something to waste a few hours. Downsides are long loading screen waits, especially when first starting the game, also it auto saves when starting the day not periodically, so you must finish a day or loose your progress.

20.10.2020

This game is dangerous. Much like Stardew Valley and Yonder, this game is seriously addictive. It's very much a 'I'll just do one more day...' and then you find it's 1am and you can't stop playing. It's cute, fun, entertaining and will last a good long time. If you like games like the ones mentioned above, along with Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, this game is for you.

1.2.2021

Not much help with the beginning but there’s plenty of advice and guidance to be had online . It’s a great game very addictive . I played on a switch lite and some of the writing was very very very small . The ending seemed a bit unfinished but overall a great adventure . Kept me happy for about 60 hours

30.6.2019

I read about this game and heard it compared to Stardew Valley which I can say is fair. Lots of hours spent on it by both my 9 and 6 year old son and daughter and to be honest even myself. Most my daughter just chases chickens and jumps on people's heads but my son is really into doing it properly.

My Time at Portia - Reviews

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