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First impression

My Time At Portia first look is very peaceful and a life I would like to live. Everything is calm and no rush seemed to ever come to the land of Portia. I knew what I was getting myself into when wanting to try this game out, since seemed everything in this game have to be done from the scratch. Making friends, talking to townspeople, build, collect materials, fight and leveling up, grow crops, completing requests, going on dates and finding love and finding new areas to visit. My Time At Portia seemed to be fully realized life and not just one or some portion of it. Is it too much, though?

Story

There isn’t straightly a story or plotline in My Time At Portia, but more of a base setting that you can go and build things around to. Everything starts of you getting your dad’s old land and house and you need to start to take care of them. Soon I found myself getting to know to the people and surroundings and everything started to build around me as I went along and how I spent My Time At Portia. There were countless of things I could go to and do, but main problem was the time related issues. The days went by quickly, I would say too quickly. I could go and get to know the Portia, which is actually a post-apocalyptic world and I found out the old world was destroyed and all these artefacts could be found lying on caves. One interesting thing was CDs I found alot and they needed to be destroyed so the information of the old world technology won’t destroy this peaceful world again.

Many buildings could be entered, such as townspeople houses, restaurants, cafes, shops, schools, and so on, where I always learned something new or got my new info to my storyline.

Gameplay & Controls

The gameplay in My Time At Portia is extremely various. The main thing is to get yourself going on a path to build things and after building one machine allowed you to build another one and therefore making you being able to take more and more of tasks and missions to complete. Every mission took you more forward and better of what you were doing. What I found the most difficult was to keep up with the demand and I mostly got to the point where I couldn’t get any more jobs as I was always middle of something else. Keeping up with your doings overall was hard and I mostly forgot what I needed to do in the first place and had to take deep breath many times to not to get overwhelmed.

My job was to collect raw materials around me and use machines to make, for example, wood to planks or material from ground to bronze. I also had to fight with enemies and gain level ups, so I could get stronger and I could withstand more stamina and health and therefore go to other areas to continue my journey.

Even though the gameplay is somewhat complex, the controls aren’t. It was easy to completely understand the controls and they barely changed at all as I progressed in the game. The controls weren’t difficult to handle and that was something I liked about My Time At Portia, of it being complex but not overly difficult. Developer saying this game being inspired of Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing games and I could see the resemblance easily.

Graphics

The reason I first got my eyes on My Time At Portia was the graphics and overall style that seemed very peaceful and calm and childish, even. I’m not saying everything is extremely simple and not being put effort to, but being smooth and not jumping on anyones eyes. My Time At Portia has actually a style that is unique and I don’t need to see much of it, to already know what game we’re talking about. Only negative to say was the camera and how it was difficult to see around in tight spots, especially when I went to the caves and started to dig up things. The game is mostly very vast and places are big so the camera won’t come to your way on any other place. Other thing was the drawing distance and I learned quickly that I really need to check some places more closely to really see, is something there or not as from afar it was impossible to know.

Sound

As everything are visually very peaceful and calm, so are all audio, too. The easy background tunes might get repetitive after playing for hours, but I wasn’t so bothered about it in the end. My Time At Portia wasn’t voice acted, which actually would’ve fit the game very well if the characters had a voice. But everything being so calm the voice acting was also OK not being present. If I had to make an example I would say Legend Of Zelda -games would be very close resemblance with the rich world, but no voice acting.

Difficulty

If you haven’t played this type of building games before it might be difficult to wrap your head around it and understand it completely what you can and have to do. Personally, I haven’t played these kind of games on daily basis, but more of every now and then. The reason might be the fact how much time they need to put into them and getting even half way to the game takes countless of hours. That’s why I would like to think My Time At Portia is more of game that is either for true fans or players who want to take a break between games and go relax to the Portia.

I must say getting started was the most difficult part of the whole game, because after that, everything started to roll. I did got stuck on some parts, but getting over some little issue and I was on the track again. My Time At Portia isn’t difficult game itself, but it is very hard to remember everything you need to do and how to get from point A to B when building something. I would’ve liked little bit more introduction and a more clear push to certain direction to get into the gameplay more easily.

Last impression

My Time At Portia must be one of those games I’m gonna play for a long time. It’s still very unclear what all is going to happen in the game or is it going to be just building and doing missions until the very end? Even if it would, I still like to keep playing it. What I must say is that My Time At Portia isn’t for anyone who is seeking deep storyline and intensive gameplay and things happening fast. Everything isn’t overly slow either, but more of time consuming. I felt rewarded in the end of getting things done even though I learned quickly I simply can’t take all of the missions as they all had a deadline.

Everyone who seeks ease of mind, but various gameplay, I believe strongly My Time At Portia is for them. Why not taking it easy for once.

Review copy provided by the publisher Team 17

 

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RELEASE DATE: Apr 16, 2019
GENRE: Adventure/RPG/Simulation
PUBLISHER: Team17 Digital Ltd
DEVELOPER: Pathea Games
PLATFORMS: PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
Microsoft Windows

 

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