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My Time at Sandrock makes life after an apocalypse look pretty cozy

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My Time at Sandrock

9.1

RPGAdventureSimulation

Get

My Time at Sandrock

9.1

RPGAdventureSimulation

Get

SHOULD I PLAY MY TIME AT SANDROCK?

My Time at Sandrock is a terrific follow-up to My Time at Portia, so you won’t want to miss it if you liked the original. I’d also recommend it to anyone who likes crafting, farming sims, or survival games. While both titles in the series take place in a post-apocalyptic world, My Time at Sandrock really made me feel like I was fighting against the environment. There’s something strangely cozy about searching for resources in an inhospitable wasteland. Whether I was helping a local find shade or repairing damage after a nasty sandstorm, it felt like I was making the world around me a better place, and that was really satisfying.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve played for around nine hours so far, which feels like nothing in a game with the breadth of My Time at Sandrock. This is My Time at Portia turned up to eleven. There’s so much more of everything: more craftable items, more activities, and a lot more story content. It’s a little overwhelming, but since there’s minimal time pressure, I’ve been able to enjoy the game at my own pace, exploring, building, and befriending the locals one day at a time.

I also got a chance to check out the endgame content, and while I don’t want to spoil anything, I can say that the scope of the game gets much, much bigger later on. There are some spectacular things ahead of me, and I can’t wait to work towards them one day at a time.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT MY TIME AT SANDROCK?

• Major quality of life upgrades. My Time at Sandrock has addressed almost all the issues I had with My Time at Portia, resulting in a game that’s far less frustrating—and a lot more fun—to play. Combat is no longer clunky, and managing my inventory was a breeze. The crafting process has been streamlined, so it was much easier to make everything I needed. I enjoyed the original title, but this is a huge improvement in just about every way.

• Solid narrative and characters. It isn’t always easy to strike the right balance between storytelling and gameplay in a life sim. Focus too much on plot, and it can feel like you’re being pulled away from all your projects. On the other hand, if there’s not enough story content, a game can wind up feeling like busy work.

My Time at Sandrock has found the sweet spot between these two extremes. It’s filled with engaging cutscenes, but they never drag on for very long. Nearly every character has a distinct personality and interesting side stories, but I never had to hang out with them unless I actually wanted to. It’s genuinely well-written, but the way the game handled the story content made me appreciate it even more.

• Fantastic setting. My Time at Sandrock takes place in a desert town plagued by an endless list of problems. The town’s remote location has made it an ideal target for bandits. Nearly everything is powered by water, which happens to be extremely scarce. It’s tough to craft and build in a location like that, but that made it all the more fun when I discovered ways to make my life easier.

• There’s so much to do. Every time I thought about putting My Time at Sandrock down, I got myself swept up in a new storyline or side project. How could I stop playing when I finally had the recipe for a dew collector, or when I had an invitation to hang out at the local arcade. There are so many activities—building, farming, relationship progression, multiple skill trees, monster hunting, yak-riding—and none of them feel like an afterthought. It’s a game I can potentially see myself sinking hundreds of hours into.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT MY TIME AT SANDROCK?

• Getting around can be a pain. I like that My Time at Sandrock takes place in a vast world, but all that open space can feel frustrating when you’re constantly going back and forth. I eventually got access to a fast travel system, but there’s still too much wandering around in the desert for my liking.

• Fishing is no fun. I get why My Time at Sandrock doesn’t have traditional fishing—there’s not much water in the desert—but the system it does have, sandfishing, is a chore. It’s a clunky, tedious process that involves tossing out bait and throwing traps onto unsuspecting fish. Half the time, my traps missed, which made the system even more annoying. Fish are a valuable resource, and I hate that the process for catching them is such a pain. I wish the game had done away with fishing entirely and offered something better in its place.

💬 Are you ready to build in the desert in My Time at Sandrock? What did you think of My Time at Portia? Share your thoughts in the comments!