My Time at Portia (PC, PS4, Xbox One & Nintendo Switch)
Reviewed back at launch by B3’s Matt Smail, My Time at Portia is a work simulator in the same vein as Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon and he had this to say about it:
“a large, attractive world that has a fair bit of character and some neat ways to expand upon the tried and tested gather-process-construct loop”
We took a step back this time to concentrate on what makes it a great game for kids and found that some of the things that made the first few hours a little monotonous for experienced gamers made perfect sense for younger, more inexperienced ones.
The purposefully slow & steady, step by step walkthroughs of the collection mechanics and the simplistic builds offered in the first few hours of My Time at Portia give kids something similar to a routine in which to safely learn in. Wake up, collect resources, build something simple, sell said item, explore a little and then get tired and finally sleep. Players don’t really have to go any further than this and the sense of accomplishment for children in creating and selling new items definitely keeps them entwined.
The story is there for players wanting more and if not there’s a massive world to explore that only needs you to progress the story enough to learn some of the newer blueprints required to access those areas but the game does a great job of slowly guiding you into those requirements.
If the story is not your thing, the annual Portia calendar is full of local events to attend such as the Portia Martial Arts Tournament and my kids enjoyed simply running around and interacting with all the villagers even if they didn’t understand the relationship systems on offer.
It’s bright, colourful and with a soothing soundtrack My Time at Portia eats up the hours for those interested. All interactions within the game are contained with no loot boxes, external DLC or pay to win elements but although the single player content is extensive, there is no multiplayer on offer.
My Time at Portia is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
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