Halcyon Days.

Title: My Time at Portia
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch (Reviewed)
Developer: Pathea
Publisher: Team 17 Digital Limited
Price: £25/$30 (across all platforms)
Release Date: Out now
TL;DR: A cute little farming sim with RPG elements that feels a little slow in places.
Family Focus? Click here for more information

My Time at Portia is your typical farming sim with RPG elements which is pretty damn slow especially at the start but the game makes up for those pacing issues thanks to it being super charming. Let me give you a break down on how I feel about this game.

My Time at Portia is much like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, you arrive in Portia as a brand new resident, taking over your old man’s dilapidated workshop. Throughout, My Time at Portia, you’ll be fulfilling commissions for the townsfolk of this would-be paradise, building relations with people and exploring ruins for materials.

The town of Portia is beautiful and explodes with colour, your workshop sits amongst a gorgeous meadow with lush trees and the sound of the oceans echoing in the distance as the pier isn’t far from your home. The graphical style of My Time of Portia reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, kind of what drew me to the game as I love cel-shading in games especially if the colours are vibrant and My Time at Portia is exactly that.

The combat during My Time at Portia is quite repetitive with the hack, hack, slash followed by dodging and back to hacking n’ slashing with no real need to think about how to fight the enemies as you just attack and dodge without worry. It’s unfortunate as I love the combat in RPGs especially those that kind of look like a Zelda game, instead, My Time at Portia is only able to deliver a poor imitation of that fun combat.

I played My Time at Portia on the Nintendo Switch and unfortunately, the game suffers from long load times especially in the handheld mode which is a real bummer as the game is incredibly grind-y and playing on the toilet or commuting to work would help overcome those lengthy material farms to help complete your commissions. The performance is a little lacklustre on Nintendo Switch too, with the painful load times.

Another part of My Time at Portia is building relationships with your fellow villagers which grows by helping them out with commissions or giving them presents and taking selfies with them. Unfortunately, you can gift the villager’s gifts which aren’t meant for them which can be considered a waste of resources which in a game that requires you to grind a lot isn’t too appealing.

I think My Time at Portia is an acquired taste, you need to really be in the mood to tackle the daily grind much like real life otherwise it can get stagnant quickly which is unfair as I do love it but I really need to be in the mood to play to really wrap my head around the various tasks and the things I need to do to fulfil these tasks. The game is definitely not something you can pick up and drop and feel like you’ve achieved something.

Overall, My Time at Portia can be a fun game with the right quality of life fixes and full ironing out of the performance issues for the Nintendo Switch versions. Hopefully, these are somethings the developer takes under advisement to make it less of a gruelling slog and make it more of a streamlined experience. Because as I stated I did enjoy this game but without the correct mindset I was all too happy to put down my Switch.

The Good:

  • A beautiful cel-shaded world with vast lands that stretch far and wide.
  • A gentle soundtrack.
  • If you love busy work then this is for you!

The Bad:

  • Combat is a little boring.
  • A little too grindy for some people.
  • Long and painful load times especially in handheld mode on Nintendo Switch.

Family Focus

My Time at Portia is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB and PEGI 3. The game is a cute farming simulator that can be enjoyed by those of all ages!

Disclaimer: This review is based on a copy of the game provided by PR for the purpose of this review.