A good simulator of village life can give players a lot of emotions and distract them from the dullness of everyday life for a long time – this has been repeatedly confirmed by the example of Stardew Valley, series Animal Crossing, Rune Factory And Harvest Moon. After all, what could be more meditative and enjoyable than working on a farm while listening to relaxing music??
Chinese studio Pathea Games This is not the first time on the field of such games, and therefore connoisseurs of the genre can be confident in the quality. After the success of My Time at Portia, which many players dubbed "Stardew Valley in 3D,” the developers immediately took up the continuation, but now took into account the wishes of their fans, pumping up the new game both visually and plot-wise. Rainy, cloudy autumn, cold and pitch darkness already at five in the evening – what a reason to go to a farm in the hot desert?
Harsh but colorful post-apocalypse
Events of the series My Time take place in a fictional universe in the vast post-apocalyptic world. The era, which locals call the Age of Decay, was not much different from the real modern world: humanity roamed the expanses of space, scientists dabbled in artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and the creation of combat robots. Greed, pride and the arms race led to another war, and during the nuclear winter, due to climate change, the sun was hidden behind ash and clouds for a long time, forcing people to settle underground. Several generations passed before life outside became safe, but people still remember the disaster and avoid relics of the old world.
The developers have repeatedly mentioned the work of Studio Ghibli as a source of inspiration. Like Hayao Miyazaki in his work, Pathea Games focuses on anti-war themes, the fragile beauty of nature and the harmful influence of people on it.
The hero will come across relics of the Old World at every turn. From any point in the city, dilapidated skyscrapers can be seen in the distance, and inside every abandoned building robots that have gone mad still live and wait in the wings for treasures of a past era that attract hunters for profit.
And if the residents of Portia (the town from the first part) faced the remnants of the past playfully, then Sandrock is in completely different conditions, because he copes not only with the consequences of the apocalypse. A small mining town in the middle of a lifeless desert is either subject to attacks from nature – its eternal evil winds, drought and sandstorms, or suffers from the invasion of intelligent lizards, bandits and an unfriendly neighboring state. When the main character arrives, Sandrock is in a deplorable state, its inhabitants are teetering on the brink of survival, and it is up to the player to take on the role of a master and turn the dilapidated town into a desert pearl.
Unlike the builder Portia, who, according to the canons of farm life simulators, inherited his relative’s old workshop, the main character of the new part comes with an important mission under a contract, and therefore local residents have high hopes for him. With great responsibility comes a lot of work, and therefore the master immediately rushes into an unequal battle with nature.
Handyman
Series Harvest Moon can be considered a pioneer in the genre of farm life simulators – Yasuhiro Wada (Yasuhiro Wada) created the game based on his own childhood memories, so battles did not fit into the concept of a calm village pastime. Her spiritual successor, Stardew Valley, largely copied the ideas of the Japanese series, but did not want to stop at gardening – the hero there had to take off his farmer’s hat, take a sword and go down into dungeons teeming with enemies. Series My Time went even further – now the protagonist is not only a farmer and adventurer, but also a general master, whose responsibilities include the construction of various equipment, from a luminous sign above a bar to bridges across desert gorges.
With the support of the new builder, Sandrock will acquire amenities. The city will eventually have a long-distance bus, Yakmel stations, water towers, a game center, a school, water supply and even a giant amusement park.
It is pleasant not only to admire the results of your labors, but also to use them. Yakmel stations provide fast travel across a large map, bridges over gorges open up new locations, and on attractions you can ride through the canyon while admiring stunning sunsets.
But great successes are still ahead of the master – at first he is just an unknown newcomer from a big city who will have to win the trust of the Sandrocians and put his own workshop in order. For example, it took me about 200 hours to complete the entire passage, and even after so much effort, I did not explore all the available content.
As in the first part, upon arrival in the city, the main character must register his workshop with the Trade Guild and give it a name, after which he will be able to take orders from local residents on a special notice board. Guild quests range from simple to complex and are paid accordingly – a novice master will be able to take only one order per day, but with the development of the workshop and the discovery of perks, he will begin to sweep all orders off the board. The main thing is that they are done on time.
Not without a competitive element. Several other builders work in the city together with the protagonist, so at the end of each quarter the guild compiles a rating of workshops, and the city gives valuable rewards to the best workers.
It is not difficult to win https://livescorebetcasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ this race even at the initial stages of the game, but the competitors will not let you down. The ubiquitous Higgins from Portia was replaced by Ian, the head of the guild and the main troll of Sandrock, who will not miss the chance to tease in case of loss.
For players who prefer to take their time and slowly explore Sandrock, the developers have prepared an innovation – in the settings you can change the game speed to enjoy it at your own pace.
Guild errands are the best way to socialize and get to know the city and the locals, who are wary of new people and prefer to keep to themselves. Gaining their trust is not as difficult as it seems, and after just a few completed orders, new neighbors will give quests, invite them to a bar, for picnics and walks in the desert on yakmels, and the city will open up on the other side.
After traveling through Sandrock, I again wanted to visit Portia, and upon detailed analysis, the changes are visible to the naked eye – the authors paid a lot of attention to reworking the anatomy, improving graphics and performance, polishing mechanics and automating the workshop. The studio has gained experience and matured, and with it the series has matured – the stories of the characters have become much darker, and the plot, which previously revolved around the fight against funny rats and robots, explores themes of corruption, war, propaganda and totalitarian states, strongly dissonant with the recognizable cartoon style and light humor.
Save water!
The change in setting also helped the series mature – if in the first part the hero could enjoy carefree days on a green lawn, then life in Sandrock can hardly be called a vacation. The arid climate, lack of water and distance from large cities impose many restrictions on the work of the builder.
Due to the heat, any machines in the workshop require cooling to operate, so you will have to buy water in the store at not the best prices.
Trees near the city are also inviolable – if the master tries to cut them down, he will face public censure and fines.
As if this were not enough, sandstorms periodically occur in the desert, which reduce visibility, fill cars with sand and can take all your honestly earned loot into the unknown. Then look for it in the direction of the wind..
All these restrictions cause inconvenience only at first – by coming to terms with the climate, you can find many tricks and defeat nature without harming it. For example, they offer to buy water in the store every day, but at low prices, and you can also collect dew using special devices. Instead of trees, there is an option to cut down debris and waste, old stumps and cacti outside the city, and any sandstorm can be easily dealt with by special equipment and high dust-proof fences.
The harsh climate, scorching sun, dust storms and lack of water take their toll on gardening, which traditionally should remain the cornerstone of any farm life simulator. It won’t be long before they become familiar with the mechanics of vegetable gardens, and growing food in garden beds in the desert is not a cheap task, although it will pay off over time. For gardening in the desert, you will need a little more resources than usual – a special hoe that forms beds protected by straw, fertilizers that will raise the level of the soil and over time turn it into black soil, as well as a huge amount of water, patience and time.
At the beginning of the game, there is no point in gardening, but when the master has money, you can start a small but profitable garden on the plot. Or very large and very profitable, but then you will have to face greater responsibility.
Like My Time at Portia, gardening is time-consuming. In the first part, the Ak robot helped take on some of the responsibilities and automate the process. It is not yet possible to delegate gardening in Sandrock, which is very frustrating.
The theme of survival runs through the main storyline of My Time at Sandrock . As in the first part, there is a full-fledged campaign with the ultimate goal of finding a way to plant trees in the desert and build a road through the mountain pass to Porcia to provide the city with food and water. The task seems impossible, but nothing is impossible with a good master, even if the path to realizing your dream is blocked by aggressive individuals who constantly terrorize the small town.
Protecting your home
The player will meet people who want to grab a piece of Sandrock in the very first cut-scene – a couple of bandits will constantly put a spoke in the wheels, damage property and in every possible way interfere with the life of the city. Having settled in Sandrock and joined the Civil Corps (local police), the master will be able to protect the city from invasion, find out the reason for the hostility of the bandits and unravel a huge tangle of lies in which the authorities, spies, the local church and the neighboring totalitarian state of Duvos are involved.
With so many enemies out to harm Sandrock, local law enforcement will need something bigger than swords and spears. The Church of Light usually prohibits the use of inventions from the Age of Decay, but in such a situation it is ready to close its eyes – in addition to melee weapons, the game offers pistols, machine guns and shotguns, which perform well during clashes with enemies. You will have to fight a lot, although the combat system has not changed much since “Portia” – rolls and loss of consciousness are present in battle, but the game does not punish for defeats and allows you to explore the story with virtually no strain.
Even so, I still found a couple of difficult moments: when I tried to get the achievement for defeating the “strongest” character and towards the end of the game, during a duel in which the master had to hold out for several minutes.
As in the first part, in most plot attacks the player will be accompanied by an ally, who will take the majority of the blows. If there are not enough such battles, the hero can always go to clear dangerous ruins for a while.
The perfect life simulator
Fulfilling orders, gardening and protecting the city are not the only activities available to the master. The player will have to grind a lot, descending into the underground ruins of cities of the Age of Decay, collecting artifacts and sending them to the museum, hanging out in the gaming club, exploring the big world, participating in various city festivals, communicating with people, making friends, starting a family, completing side quests and developing his own plot.
Building a house here is not as fun and convenient as in The Sims series, but you can get stuck in for a long time, completing the floors of your mansion, choosing lighting and decorations.
The interior can also be customized in detail, choosing wallpaper, floors and ceilings, doors and stairs. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to make the interior decoration as beautiful as in the houses of other residents of the city – the range of furniture is quite meager. But at least it’s not twenty pink sofas placed around the perimeter of all rooms.
Even with so many side activities, any great adventure seems boring and incomplete without good company. Players back during early access of the first My Time tearfully asked the developers for multiplayer, and after several open tests it finally appeared, but in Sandrock. In a separate mode, four players are asked to take on the role of masters and look into the past, three years before the hero from a single-player adventure arrives in the city.
The run-down mining town looks even worse than in the solo campaign. Many residents of Sandrock have not even arrived yet, so the craftsmen need to provide them with all the conditions for moving: build a clinic, a museum, an entertainment center, stables, and so on. As in the single-player campaign, buildings add new mechanics, regions and crafting options.
And if the single-player campaign for 200 hours pleased me with the amount of content, the absence of critical bugs and the development of the world, then it’s difficult to praise the multiplayer mode. In our few hours of play as a group, we encountered poor netcode, bugs, and uneven gameplay that was equal parts boring and unbalanced.
From the first minutes of the game, young masters are offered to take on large-scale construction projects, which force them to grind without having to study the city and its inhabitants, there are no side quests, and the entire plot boils down to the improvement of the city without any secrets or riddles. It is unknown what prevented Pathea Games spend a little more time and adapt the single-player campaign for co-op, but there’s nothing to do in multiplayer, at least for now.
Despite the disappointing co-op mode, nothing stopped me from enjoying the single-player campaign My Time at Sandrock, first for a year and a half in early access, and then at release. Games of the series My Time – an excellent cure for the blues and a good time killer for the cold season. A leisurely adventure filled with grind and stories can drag on for several long evenings, because returning to a city filled with events, where you are always welcome, is very pleasant. It will be even more pleasant over time to see the continuation of the series with the opportunity to explore various corners of the post-apocalyptic, but very friendly world: from the militarized empire of Duvos to Lucien, Burevey and Atara.
Pros: visual style has improved and become more detailed; reworked anatomy; automation of processes in the workshop has become even more convenient; a huge open world with a lot of secrets; beautiful desert landscapes; the plot of the main campaign and the sudden maturation of the series.
Cons: the combat system still seems superfluous; unpleasant but non-critical bugs, which are most often fixed by rebooting; lack of “lock” in many scenes and dialogues, which ruins the atmosphere; some dialogues are not voiced; multiplayer mode.