My Time at Portia

My Time at Portia is a 2019 farm life sim role-playing video game developed by Chinese studio Pathea Games and published by Team17. It was released on 15 January 2019 for Windows and the release on the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS and macOS followed suit. It has some similarities to other farm sims such as Stardew Valley. A sequel, My Time at Sandrock entered early access in 26 May 2022 and was fully released in 2 November 2023.

My Time at Portia
Developer(s)	Pathea Games
Publisher(s)	Team17
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One Android iOS macOS
Release	Windows 15 January 2019 Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One 16 April 2019 Android, iOS 4 August 2021 macOS 12 May 2022
Genre(s)	Farm sim, role-playing, simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player

Plot

The game takes place long after civilization has been destroyed, where humans have emerged from underground and begun rebuilding society. The player is cast in the role of the child of a famous builder, who inherits their father's workshop in the independent city state of Portia after he goes travelling. Once the player arrives in Portia, they are greeted by Presley, the commissioner of a guild, who escorts them to the workshop. The goal of the game is to expand the city of Portia and become the best builder.

The player has run-ins with a pair of bandits named Tuss and Huss, who have been stealing things around town. After fixing a broken pipe, the player is knocked into an underground cavern along with fellow builder Sam, where they fight the rat king and his minions, who are responsible for the town's recent water pollutions. The player also discovers a robot chef named Ack from an ancient civilization, who later becomes a town resident and chef. While examining an old mine to find out the cause of mysterious recent earthquakes, the builders get trapped in a cave-in and the player rescues them from a rogue robot. It turns out the earthquakes are caused by ancient technology in the mines. Government inspector Mali arrives to investigate the technology. A thief later infiltrates the town in search for a powerful A.I. robot called the All Source. The builders and Mali capture the thief, who is revealed to be a masked knight called the Rogue Knight, but he is too strong for them to defeat and escapes. Rogue Knight is revealed to be working for a band of pirates called the Sky Sharks. The player works with the other builders and an agent named Ursula to hunt for hidden relics across town, as well as build a hot air balloon and make improvements to the harbor for the mayor. They soon learn that Mali's plane was shot down by the Sky Sharks. Upon finding their base, the pirates capture them and Ursula is revealed to be their leader, but a reformed Tuss and Huss rescue them. The builders deduct that the Sky Sharks have a mole working with the telegrams. They infiltrate the Sky Sharks’ base, but Rogue Knight activates the All Source and uses it to attack the town, though a boy named Toby steals an essential part of All Source to prevent it from teleporting. After the player defeats it, they fight Rogue Knight, but is overpowered. They are saved by Django, Toby's uncle, who is strong enough to fight back against Rogue Knight, revealing himself to be the legendary Storm Knight. This forces Rogue Knight to flee while the Sky Sharks and their mole are arrested (though Ursula escapes) and the All Source is reprogrammed to support the town. It is later discovered that the Sky Sharks and Rogue Knight are working for a vile empire called Duvos, and that Mali survived the crash. The main story ends with the player’s father visiting them, who eventually leaves town afterwards.

Gameplay

The player must gather resources and combine them in recipes to create items. Eventually, players gain more tools that allow them to harvest resources faster, such as a chainsaw to chop down large trees. Once items are complete, they can be submitted for rewards, town favor and money. The largest assignments can directly change the town itself. The game also contains dungeons that require the player to fight enemies. Players are also able to romance (hang out and marry) certain NPCs. Gameplay is done in a third-person perspective and combines aspects of role-playing video games and simulation games.

Development

My Time at Portia was initially released as an early access game on Steam from 23 January 2018 before being fully released a year later. Three months later, it was ported to the following consoles: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. A mobile version for Android and iOS was released on 5 August 2021 followed by macOS on 12 May 2022.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	PC: 73/100 NS: 71/100 PS4: 75/100 XONE: 73/100 iOS: 72/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
Destructoid	5.5/10
GameRevolution
GameSpot	6/10
GamesRadar+
IGN	8/10
Nintendo Life
PC Gamer (US)	63/100
Pocket Gamer	(iOS)
Push Square
RPGamer
TouchArcade	(iOS)

My Time at Portia received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Miranda Sanchez of IGN called its core gameplay fun, but saying that each of its parts was lacking in some way, and that the game had "annoying audio bugs". Alex Fuller of RPGamer called the game "charming" and "a lovely place to spend time in", but also saying that it was too long, criticizing how "players have to wait for NPCs to decide to do something". He stated that it was "very enjoyable", but had "significant weaknesses". Rich Meister of Destructoid said that while the world was "bright and full of charm", "waiting around for things to happen can get old pretty fast", and calling the game's mining "painfully dull". Philippa Warr of PC Gamer criticized the game's pacing, stating, "By being so slow, My Time At Portia both repels and appeals. It offers a kind of gaming oasis, making few demands and just pootling along. That type of thing can be a place of respite for the right player or the right mood." Ginny Woo of GameSpot praised its tranquil environment, pleasing aesthetics, and well-designed crafting system while lamenting the lack of meaning in several mechanics, the lack of payoff in the narrative's premise, and the conflicting day-night cycle pacing. Zoe Delahunty-Light of GamesRadar+ lauded the convincing NPCs, varied seasonal events, and sense of progression while taking issue with the loading times and lack of voice acting in cutscenes. Chris Scullion of Nintendo Life recommended the game after a patch was issued in order to fix its lengthy loading times. Rebecca Stow of Push Square called the game "vibrant, relaxing, and brimming with charm".

The PC version was among the best-selling new releases of the month on Steam.

Sequel

Main article: My Time at Sandrock

In October 2020, Pathea Games announced a sequel titled My Time at Sandrock, set on a desert and planned to release it in early access for PC via Steam in March 2021, with the full version for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S originally planned for a mid-2022 release. However, in March 2021, Pathea Games announced that they had not received a local rating certification to publish the game online, so it seemed like early access would be potentially delayed until after May 2021. Early access release was subsequently pushed out further until early 2022. The game released via early access on 26 May 2022. After a delay from its September launch window, the full version of the game was released on 2 November 2023. While there are no plans to introduce multiplayer to My Time at Portia, its sequel does.

In September 2024, Pathea Games announced a second sequel titled My Time at Evershine, set in a whole new world and with improved multiplayer.