Game Review: My Time at Sandrock (Xbox Series X)

My Time at Sandrock, the long-awaited follow-up to My Time at Portia, is a flawed and frustrating experience, yet provides endless hours of life-sim fun. Putting it simply, if you loved My Time at Portia, you’re going to love My Time at Sandrock. Even if some of its extremely notable issues threaten to derail the overall experience.

From developer Pathea, My Time at Sandrock puts you in the shoes of a ‘builder’, arriving at the desert town of Sandrock to replace a recent retiree. You find a town on its last legs, losing folk as they move to big cities, struggling with basic resources such as water, and having to deal with bandit attacks led by the mysterious Logan.

The residents are determined to not let the town die though, and that’s where the player come in. Alongside another new builder, you must play your part in turning Sandrock into a thriving town again. All while creating a life for yourself and uncovering the many mysteries that surround the town.

When first stepping into the world of My Time at Sandrock, seasoned my Time at Portia players might find themselves upended. It doesn’t just look different, it feels different. That is until its gameplay mechanics start to reveal themselves and suddenly, it feels all so familiar.

Build a home, expand the property, create supplies, complete contracts, adventure in mines, fight in dungeons, make friends, and romance a litany of different characters. Yet, this is not a complaint, as this is what makes My Time at Sandrock such a wonderful time sink. If you want more of that My Time at Portia life-sim goodness, My Time at Sandrock will deliver.

Though that doesn’t mean it’s just a copy and paste job either, far from it.

Sandrock is notably different, and with that comes unique challenges, one being sand itself and the regular sandstorms that can halt your production. Another being the requirement of water to ensure your machines are always running. Run out, and they will stop working. Yet water is in short supply and very expensive to buy. Players, especially in the early portion of the game, will have to find it in other ways. Such as collecting drops of dew from rocks and building numerous dew collectors within their property lines.

It also means, players have to be smarter about what they’re using water for. At least until a hefty amount of regular funds come along, and then it can just be bought.

Money that comes from selling items, exploring dungeons, completing contracts set by the townspeople, and more. It might seem quite easy to build up a substantial amount of cash, but you’re constantly spending too. Even fifty hours into it, there are things to spend money on. Especially if you want to expand your land to its maximum size and have buildings such as a stable, chicken coop, and a multi-floor house.

It is so easy to lose hours and hours to My Time at Sandrock without progressing the main storyline in anyway. In fact, all the elements around it are so much fun, that moving the story onwards can sometimes feel like an inconvenience. It’s not that it’s a bad story, it’s better than My Time at Portia, but it’s not particular gripping. Most will be far more invested in levelling up RPG style, their romantic endeavours or winning workshop of the month/year.

It’s not all about work and romance though, and My Time at Sandrock has plenty of fun activities for players to enjoy when they decide they need a break. Completing contracts in monster-filled dungeons, spending some time at the local arcade, uncovering secrets spread across a large map, taking part in seasonal events (of which there are many), and more.

Again, there’s so much to do, and you really do end up feeling like an integral part of the town. Especially as your efforts start to transform an ailing town and the people grow to love you as one of their own.

It is still exceptionally surprising just how deep My Time at Sandrock’s gameplay is, all while being extremely accessible.

That being said, there are areas that still feel light. Farming, in particular, doesn’t make much impact on things overall and the game’s missions and contracts don’t actively encourage a lot of it. Likewise, cooking doesn’t have as much ‘oomph’ as it’s often much more convenient to buy items from stores that refill health and stamina.

Alongside that, while My Time at Sandrock does have a lot of romantic possibilities, the process is very ‘safe’. Talk to your potential partner, shower them with gifts to the point where the relationship grows and they want a ‘unique gift’. Continue this until the possibility of love arrives, then go on dates, compliment, kiss, hug, and offer gifts until they are ready to accept your offer of marriage. It can take a while, especially as some characters are harder to romance than others, but it’s not a complex system.

Although the fun of having several characters seeking romantic relationships with you at once, and trying to ensure they don’t run into each other while on a date, is definitely appealing. Unfortunately, you will have to eventually settle for just one. My Time at Sandrock is progressive, as you can have relationships with all manner of people, but monogamy is still key.

As you can tell, there’s a lot of love for My Time at Sandrock in this review. However, objectively, it has flaws that many might not be able to look past.

As pointed out already, the story isn’t that compelling, even if it is well told and has some big twists and turns. The formula does get repetitive, and players will find less and less to do as they reach their own personal endgame.

However, the technical issues that assail the game are simply unacceptable. Promises of patches are all good and proper, but those who bought the game upon release have suffered some pretty awful issues. Frame-rate problems, consistent lag, and some of the most egregious pop-in seen in some time. The latter is so bad, that it is possible to get stuck when a building suddenly martializes out of nowhere.

It is simply unacceptable to have these issues in a game, and even if/when they are patched, it has left a sour taste in the mouth for early adopters. Do better and don’t release your game until these issues have been ironed out.

All that being said, My Time at Sandrock is another delightful life-sim experience that this reviewer can’t help but love. Many, many hours have been sunk into it, and many more will be sunk into it again in the future.