A levelling skill tree divided between fighting, socialising and resource gathering helps you tailor your approach. Or, because this is a sandbox game, you can say screw that and go gallivanting wherever your little heart desires. It’s your job (after securing an official builder’s permit, of course) to appease the township’s seemingly never-ending list of construction demands. Unlike Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon, My Time At Portia is set after the apocalypse, though bureaucracy seems alive and well in the aftermath. A family member has left you a derelict plot of land in a far-off town, with hopes that you’ll revitalise both the estate and its surrounding area through good old fashioned manual labour. It starts with a scenario that many players should recognise. It occasionally plods along, and its bugs elicited more than a few frustrated sighs, but as someone who’s seen these kind of sims grow up over time, My Time At Portia feels like a fresh addition - and one that entranced me. Players who find the resource-gathering grind delicious will appreciate how Portia adds new flair to a familiar formula. It fails to seamlessly implement some, while addressing the more infamously annoying flaws of others. Developer Pathea Games seems to have Frankenstein’d My Time At Portia from a host of different genres, from classic RPG dungeon-crawling to relationship building à la Stardew Valley or the Harvest Moon series, to simply getting lost in its dystopian sandbox setting, all in the pastoral artistic style of a Ghibli movie. It wasn’t long before I became accustomed to the craft-’em-up’s routine: secure a job, harvest that resource, construct some item or elaborate gadget with the materials, and rejoice in the rewards. One commission down, and what felt like a million more to go. With tennis racket in hand (it was stronger than my wooden sword) I slaughtered them all, collecting what bits and bobs remained to craft a hoodie in a lovely shade of blue. My presence didn’t interrupt their frolicking for a second, but I wished they’d at least try to maul me a little bit it would make what I was about to do feel less icky. I needed to concentrate on the group of adorable pastel coloured llamas ahead. Its valleys live in the jagged shadow of broken high-rises, buildings draped with moss and towering factories splitting apart at the seams. It’s hard to keep your eyes off the horizon in My Time At Portia. From: Steam, GOG, Humble, Epic Games Store
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