A Sometimes Rocky Experience: A My Time at Sandrock Review

By J.D.

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

My Time at Sandrock, the sequel to My Time at Portia, is finally here. As one of Sandrock’s two new Builders, players will find themselves collecting every last bit of scraps and supplies to construct tools, machines and odds and ends for both themselves and the citizens. What should have been a soft and smooth sequel is instead coarse, rough, and irritating. But if you can overlook these issues, there is still a compelling game here.

The gameplay is a fairly standard life sim in the style of Story of Seasons, but with the twist at the beginning being that farming is minimized. Instead players will focus on crafting using the things they mine, salvage, and forage in the area surrounding the city. They’ll then use those items they craft to craft yet more items or to fulfill commissions for the other townsfolk to earn money to buy things, and the cycle starts anew. This cycle of scavenging and crafting creates a very compelling core loop with something new always popping up just as you finish another project.

In the early stages of the game my typical day started out collecting the items produced by my machines while I was asleep, making sure they had enough fuel and water to keep running coolly, and then running off to salvage materials from the piles that scattered the desert around Sandrock. After that it was a trip to the ruins where I would mine ore veins while gathering other salvage from the old world below. When I ran out of stamina I would go check back on my machines before heading into town to talk with townsfolk, take care of any shopping I needed, and look for commissions I could do quickly. Most of them have a deadline of three days after acceptance with later upgrades giving bonuses for fast turnaround.  

Later I added a small farm of Sandrice and Pomatoes that expanded as I grew my plot of land and got a steadier water supply from my moisture farm. (Can’t wait for my nephew Luke to start living with me.). These daily activities were occasionally punctuated by story missions and character missions like helping a shop owner make deliveries or helping the Director, and only member, of the Research Institute rebuild a legally distinct robot suit that also happens to be mobile. Did I not make that clear before? Sandrock itself is an interesting setting. The town is little more than its namesakes so raising any crops in its dry, dead soil is difficult. Water and wood are scarce, so scavenging is a necessity. Lucky for the residents, the town sits above ruins of an advanced civilization destroyed hundreds of years ago. Essentially, it’s a slightly science fantasy Wild West with an additional environment slant. That’s not exactly a setup you see every day. If you do, please let me know in the comments. I’d like to know what that’s like.  

The cast of characters is also interesting. Each one with their own schedule even the shopkeepers. (Thankfully, this game does have a very great feature where you can still shop while the shop owner is out.) You’ll always find something interesting to do like joining the two of the other townsfolk for a day at the arcade and then, lunch at the Blue Moon Saloon or competing in a dance off for charity. Your friendships, or even romantic relationships, with them grow as you bond together and becoming closer with your fellow Sandrockers (I’m stealing that name for my next band.   Dibs!) will give you bonuses like discounts at their stores, special gifts from them, and access to their personal rooms.

While the characters are great, the voice acting is a little rough. I don’t know if it’s the direction or the writing, but it seems inconsistent. Sometimes it seems like the game is parodying or taking a various humorous spin on the tropes of the old Westerns or life sim games like the quest giver/shop owner who takes stuff from you and passes it off as their own. (Looking at you, Pierre!) Other times it seems to be playing it extremely straight. On the whole it’s serviceable, but nothing to write your ma back home about.

From the start, the most glaring issue with My Time at Sandrock is its visuals. On Switch at least, the game looks more like it came out in 2003 than 2023. There’s a lack of detail compared to the PC and other console versions. I understand that the Switch is underpowered compared to other systems and graphics alone don’t make a game, but it is disappointing. On top of that there are lots of glitches and graphical errors and there have been times when I’ve exited the mines and can’t see the elevators that are right in front of it until they finally pop in five seconds later. Whenever it happens I’m always worried they game has glitched out and sent me to the wrong place. Most amusing are the graphical glitches like this character being stuck in A Pose. This will more than likely be patched out later but it’s funny. Performance in handheld mode suffers from extra stutter or hold up in busier areas like the main street of Sandrock but overall, it is similar enough to docked mode that handheld only Switch users won’t have to worry more than the rest.

If you’re able to look past its visual flaws, you’ll find your time at Sandrock to be time well spent. The gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying and never feels like too much of a grind. With new places to explore, new things to build and a colorful cast of characters to interact with, I’m sure players who really sink their teeth into it will find themselves entertained for hours on end.  There’s never a dull day in Sandrock.

For More Information My Time at Sandrock:
https://sandrock.pathea.net/

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Story: B
Gameplay: A
Graphics: D
Music/Sound: B-
Value: B

Overall: C

+ Compelling gameplay loops.
+ Interesting setting and characters.

+/- Inconsistent voice acting

- Clunky framerate.
- Dated graphics.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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