So I played "My Time at Portia" for an in-game year..

 On the 15th of January, “My Time at Portia” came out and as a complete newb to this type of genre, I took this opportunity to play it and to try to see what makes these types of games appealing.

So, as the title says, I played a whole in-game year and I must say it was a great experience. But let’s rewind a bit and talk about the game first. “My Time at Portia” is a game in the same genre that “Stardew Valley” and “Harvest Moon”. It focuses more on constructing things and planting crops for harvesting and the social side of living in a small town. You can play as a man or a woman and you’ll start by creating your character. The customization options are nothing to be too much hyped about it but they give a few options to create your character as you want it. After that, you will arrive by boat in the town of Portia and be greeted by Presley, The president of the Commerce Guild, that will talk you through what is that you will do with your father’s workshop in Portia and talk you about the job of builder that you will perform.

In terms of what you can/will do in this game, you have a large array of things such as constructing, farming, ruin diving, fighting, socializing, helping other people in town with their problems and so on. There are various types of quests to do, either main story quests (yes, this game is story driven), secondary quests usually given by other persons in town and commerce commissions, which are put on a board in the Commerce Guild for you and the other builders to do. Completing these quests will grant you gold/resources, Commerce Guild points and improve relations with people in Portia. You can also perform supervisions in the weekends in which you play a “spot the differences” minigame and this will also grant you points and resources/items. In terms of socializing with other people, you can talk to them, give them gifts, play minigames with them such as rock paper scissors or fight them in a 1v1 match, etc. You can even romance most of the characters and inclusively marry and possibly have a kid although I couldn’t do this in just one in-game year so I’m not totally sure how this plays out. There are also regular events in the city throughout the year that give a small change of pace in case you need it from all the workshop work and all the gathering materials and killing monsters. These events were fun and served to improve relations with the citizens greatly. I felt like there was always something to do and never felt bored, even when I was waiting to finish building something or to wait for a crop to be ripe for harvest I could just go ruin diving or go and cut some wood or get some minerals to replenish my stock, or if I was more in a mood to socialize with the characters I would go and play some minigames or talk to them or try to see which gifts each person liked most. It was a lot of fun at least for me for the entire duration of my current playthrough.  

Now let’s talk about the graphics/sound design of “My Time at Portia”. I really enjoyed the cartoony art style. I usually enjoy stylized art styles more than the uber-realistic graphics of most games today and this game didn’t disappoint me. The textures are beautiful, the shadows and lighting are superb, I loved how the windmill shadow set on the characters workshop at sunset for example. The animations are nothing to write home about but still they’re ok I guess, especially for a not so big studio such as Pathea. As for the sound design, I loved it. The soundtrack that plays in the background was great, with different tracks for each month, which also correspond to the different seasons since a year in Portia has four months, one for each season, starting in Spring and ending in the Winter. The sound assets are also good and the game is for the most part voice acted, even though sometimes it isn’t. I don’t know the reason why and I think it would improve by having more consistency, either beeing it all voice acted or just ditch voices entirely. But because the game is constantly being improved, being in Early Access for a while already, they could update the game with the rest of the voice acting in the future. I just find it weird because the same character can speak in a quest and in the next one just stay silent all the way. I believe at least the story important part is all voice acted if I recall correctly.

In conclusion, “My Time at Portia” was a big and pleasant surprise for me. Being a total newb to this type of games and being more of an action or strategy genre gamer, I didn’t really understand the appeal of these games in the past. But now that I played it, it grew on me and it opened my mind to a new genre of games. I’ll totally continue to play it, I want to see the whole story this game has to offer and I want to see how the game will continue after it and what Panthea has in store for us for future updates to the game.