Time to grab your tools and throw yourself into the building whirlwind
Many games offer us a blueprint where we start out as a classic out of nowhere hero to end our adventure as a legend and role model. Now let’s transfer it to more down-to-earth realities, where we will turn the fight against ancient evil into helping others and developing the workshop, and we will put the whole thing in an idyllic setting, where everything appears like paradise. Time to take a look at how we’ll spend our time with My Time at Portia.
My Time at Portia, is a production that simulates everyday life. Of course, we are talking about the reality where everyone is doing their job with a smile on their face, while we end up there to be part of this happy ecosystem. An interesting fact in this production is the fact that after a long exposure to the title, we will see that the whole thing has some accretions from classic fantasy. We have humanoid animals and various types of opponents here, which are far from the normal elements of fauna and flora as we know them. This is because the game takes place in a post-apocalypse world, only suffering and sadness have long faded into the shadows and now people are looking for lost artifacts to develop their current technologies.
We as the player are thrown into it all. The plot is actually a pretext, because the whole thing is a scheme that we come to the title Portia, where we live in the workshop that once belonged to our father. From this moment on, we start an adventure that will surely appeal to all fans of a more relaxing game. In fact, the main task is to develop the above-mentioned workshop and the hero himself, and in addition, we can deepen our ties with other residents.
At the very beginning, everything is presented to us in a simple way. Before a few moments, we will build our first tools and start exploring the area in order to obtain raw materials. Here, the mechanics are extremely simple, first we collect the most necessary materials, while performing simple main and side tasks to climb up the social hierarchy. The gameplay is one of those that will be perfect after a day of stress, when we want to take it in our hand and devote ourselves to happy digging in abandoned ruins, chopping wood or fishing. It is all intuitive and fun to play.
The only drawback at the beginning of our game is the fact that many of the basic activities, such as creating bricks or cutting wood, take time and in fact, before we build the right items, we will spend the lion’s share of time digging in the ruins to get materials or we will talk with the residents to deepen our acquaintances. From time to time, we can challenge them to a duel of stone, paper and scissors, sparring or a classic board game. At the beginning, such a scheme can be weary, but the further you go, the more different things we have to create, which translates into an increased exploration of more distant areas.
Of course, while playing, we can also fight opponents who travel the world. If you expect an extensive combat system, then I must cool your enthusiasm. The whole thing is based on the constant pressing of the attack button, alternating with the classic roll. If you know the jokes about too many flips in Dark Souls, here’s a mechanic that is fully based on that idea. In general, the duels with opponents are not too demanding, so even less experienced players should handle it without any problems.
The production also offers the development of our hero and workshop. In basic activities like digging in the ground or chopping wood, we get experience. The whole system of progress is designed very organically, because the more we help members of the community and work, the more we evolve and we can create more and more spectacular tools.
The only downside is that the 24 hours in the game are pretty short, and we’ll never really do all the things we’ve planned. An additional limitation imposed by time is the fact that many institutions operate at specific times, and we have to complete some tasks to the designated deadline. Despite the fact that such mechanics limit the number of activities during the day, the whole thing perfectly emphasizes that the whole world around us lives its own life.
What, in my opinion, defends the least when having fun is the audiovisual setting. The graphics look correct, so we can forget about any fountains. In some places the whole world seems to be made of very simple bricks. In terms of music, it is pleasant to the ear, but not a soundtrack that can be listened to outside of the game environment. When it comes to dubbing, it simply is. The voices of the characters are correct, but in some moments during the conversation we will not be able to hear them fully. Some character conducts a fully voiced dialogue with us, and then suddenly dubbing disappears and we are forced to read a dry text.
If you are looking for a production that will give you a nice gameplay, where you will feel the feeling of progress all the time, then My Time at Portia is just for you. Apart from the beginning, the whole thing looks very good as a game that we can start after a hard day and relax. You can of course stick to the setting, but with the next hours of fun, we can forget about it and throw ourselves into the vortex of work, and the development of ourselves and our workshop.
