Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Dec 25, 2021

  I like this game a lot. It's really beautiful and immersive! I absolutely binged it and pretty much lived in Portia for a while :) I will be comparing this game to Stardew Valley -- I love Stardew as well, but I think MTaP makes a couple of points that even Stardew is lacking :o

  Pros

  There are some mechanics in the game that absolutely made it for me: You are not alone doing things. Like, in Stardew, you are the one and only person farming, riding a horse, fighting monsters etc. There's nobody to share it with. In MTaP you have your fellow industry professional that has beef with you because you're his competitor, or the local "law enforcement" folks that take part in fighting baddies together with you. In fact, you have quite a few main story missions where another character accompanies and assists you. It's nice to have a company. NPC interactions go beyond dialogues and cutscenes. You can have playdates, ride a horse together, enjoy recurring side quests from your spouse, emote with them, take people into dungeons to help etc. I think that adds depth and gives something to do outside of the missions. After a certain event you also get a camera and can take photos of the beautiful things around you, as well as selfies on your own or with someone. You can frame your pictures or cutscene shots and put in your house to remind of the adventures you had together with your BFFs. There aren't that many long cutscenes by the way -- most events happen interactively and you get to act through them however you wish. I did not feel rushed playing MTaP. The only time-sensitive missions are NPC's side quests, but the main story can be done at your own pace. The farming aspect is very minimal and you don't depend on seasonal changes affecting your crops that much. To take it easy, just unpin the current main story mission from the quest list, and enjoy doing other things for a while. Grinding for basic resources is relieved by some forms of automation, which is neat. I did not need to chop trees like a maniac in the late game. The relics grind is real, however it isn't necessary to finish the game. Storage and inventory management is very simple as you can access all your chests by opening any of them, and you can also name and color your chests to simplify the search. Late-game crafting and building is a breeze too. It's nice to not have to rummage through ALL the chests in the house like mad. I appreciate that I don't have to take away from my in-game experience to manage my storage.

  Cons

  The game does have a bit of an unfinished feel to it. There are things like useless items, missing voiceovers, standard "canned" lines that were not customized for characters, lack of dialogue options etc. I think I read on wiki that some of these issues stem from the fact that developers are currently focusing on My Time at Sandrock, which was originally planned as DLC but then evolved into a standalone game. As much as I appreciate having a second game developed by the same team, I do wish that they can find some time to polish MTaP. The main story grand finale was somewhat unsatisfactory to be honest. The game ends up having more cliffhangers than I'd want. One of the townfolk guys mysteriously leaves, the leader of bad guys escapes, and the BBEG escapes too. The relationship between the last two characters that was heavily suggested remains a mystery. Absolutely did not enjoy the mining experience. Unlike the rest of the game with bright colors, things in motion and nice music, mines are... depressing. You're presented with a solid slab of muddy soil/ore mix, and you gotta repeatedly whack it with your pickaxe. Very monotone and boring IMO. Wildly different experience from the rest of the game for me, I did not like mining a single bit. They did try to spice it up with the relic search but that wasn't crazy exciting due to how dispersed the relics are.

  Final thoughts

  The humor and storyline are quite mild comparing to Stardew, which is more brutal and edgy. You know, Stardew has a homeless guy, a veteran with PTSD, a cheating wife, use of smoking and alcohol etc, while in MTaP most of the "background" drama is limited to some character being deceased (although I'll have to say that this kind of drama is used quite a lot for families -- there's only one family with both mom and dad alive, the rest are missing either mother or father or both, there's also an orphan and someone abandoned as a baby). I guess that makes it more friendly for a broader and younger audience? :) You can get a lot of fun hours out of this game if it's up your alley. It isn't difficult, it isn't grindy, you can really enjoy your time at the beautiful town of Portia. It definitely has a place in my heart. I sincerely hope this game will see an update to address some of the issues, and then I'll gladly play it all over again from the start. I do think that some of the mechanics explored in this game are a welcome addition to this genre, and I'm definitely looking forward to My Time at Sandrock.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 24, 2022

  I keep swiping this off every time i see it when I'm browsing for a new game to play. Thinking this was a boring (5+ yr old) kids game. After new years i was really bored and hoping to find a game that would be a stress reliever or just chill. Anyhow, I saw this and it was on sale and thought I'd give it a try..............I've been playing it everyday after work for the last 2 weeks and ongoing. I sometimes research or look up videos on youtube fot tips and tricks. I find it a fun and relaxing game. Btw I'm 40+ yr old.
• gamedeal user

  May 6, 2022

  Pro tip: you can steal a copper/bronze bar from Higgins' workshop everyday! Sparring him is not enough, so I'll just be content by stealing from him :)
• alyssasimmons2017

  Nov 13, 2022

  I love this game. I can play it four hours. It not something that will just be finished in a few day, It a long haul game.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 21, 2022

  I'm disappointed because the game sounds good in theory, but everything feels unfinished: - Crafting takes too long (you need to have exact items in your hotbar) - Mining is unfun most of the time (it is repetitive and your jetpack is buggy) - Sometimes events don't trigger - I wish I would relate more to the characters, but most of them are just bland - Story is mediocre I know I've been playing the game "too long" to give a negative review but right now I just want to collect the achievements, uninstall the game and never look back.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 21, 2022

  All 65 hours were a solid effort to play but man, it gets monotonous fast and the dredge of grinding away to get to the next objective falls into chore-like behavior and not mindless fun. The break of festival events are refreshing but social progress with character's trust building or traction with your workshop's success has to be so carefully calculated so as to not miss deadlines or fall behind. It's mildly dull and endless. I could not reach the end, I usually love Life Sims but this one was too much.
• kezh99

  Dec 26, 2022

  I got this for free on epic and has over 80hrs of gameplay, i love every inch of this game so no doubt Pathea deserves my money and i don't mind starting a new save progress. Besides, achievements and trading cards are for life. This game cured my inventory ocd no cap. Just buy this game if you love crafting, looting, combat and exploration. Thank you steam winter sale!
• gamedeal user

  Dec 27, 2022

  My hours portrayed on Steam are deceiving. I also own My Time at Portia on my console and have played over 50 hours of this game. My Time at Portia is reminiscent of games like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon. However, Portia is not a farming sim. Instead, you are a builder in the town of Portia. Your job is to build machines for the townsfolk of Portia by completing tasks. These tasks may be small items such as a chair, or larger items like a bus. The one minor annoyance is all tasks have a time limit to them but I do think that the time limit is generous enough. I have only missed the window a couple of times which is frustrating when you have almost all the items gathered for it. To build these you have to gather resources by cutting trees, breaking rocks, mining, and so on. Personally, while the mining is fun I find the caves to feel very boring and the mining to look a bit strange. You use a device to detect where items are in the cave, which is a cool effect, and then you can mine towards the items. While mining towards different items you'll also gather rocks. It's a cool idea. However, the graphics in these sections feel like a bit of an afterthought compared to other aspects of the game. Hopefully, they have improved this in the sequel, My Time at Sandrock, which I've yet to play. Like other games in this genre, you get to know the townsfolk that lives in Portia. I love the characters in Portia. A lot of them have their own goals and aspirations, but also tendencies that hold them back. For example, one character has a chronic illness and while her brother may seem like a bit of a jerk he is very thoughtful and caring when it comes to his sister. You can learn more about her as well. There is also marriage. I think what sets this game apart from other marriage systems is that you have a dating phase in this game. First, you have to increase your relationship with a character and then ask them out. You will then have dates and more story content before the marriage phase. It's interesting and I haven't seen anything quite like it yet where I feel like I'm getting to know the character on a deeper level before marriage. This game also features seasonal festivals which of course are optional but are fun and present the player with rewards for winning. I'll be honest. I haven't done them all because I may be focused on other missions and tasks but they do repeat with each season so if you miss one then no worries. Lastly, I want to talk about the graphics. When running this game on a PC you may or may not experience frame rate drops and stutter depending on your PC's age. I experienced minor drops on the PC but may or may not have optimized the graphics correctly. On PS4 I experienced major slowdowns and frame rate drops in certain areas. Specifically when you head over to the lumberyard or larger areas in the game. However, on PS5 it was very smooth and those moments disappeared. I have a feeling on Switch that the experience will also have frame rate issues. The other major issue I've noticed is when switching to and from cutscenes. The transition is never smooth and almost a jarring experience. The game will stutter or stop and almost randomly cut to a new scene. All that being said I still recommend My Time at Portia. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my experience with it this year.
• Arachnologist

  Jan 3, 2023

  There's just so many other games out there doing the same thing better. I bought this game while it was still in beta and it hasn't delivered on so many promises.
• Debbamour

  Jan 4, 2023

  As someone who's been obsessed with Stardew Valley for years, I can honestly say that My Time at Portia does everything even better! All the characters are beautifully fleshed out and real. The animals are adorable and the music is nice and calming. I can't get enough of this game!