My Time at Portia Review - Is It Good or Bad?

My Time at Portia Review
Updated:
04 Aug 2021

Have you been on the fence about My Time at Portia? I have got you covered!

If you love immersive RPGs, this game might probably be for you. But people have since been on the fence about this game. Those who love it can’t help but love it and those who don’t, find it just ‘meh’. The only way to find out whether it’s one or the other is to… well, play it. That’s what I did, and I am here to answer all your burning concerns about the game.

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A Player in the fields

About the game

My Time at Portia tries to squeeze in many things at a time and, impressively, it manages to live up to the expectations to fulfill them. There is a massive amount of content in the game and too many things to do. If you could choose one game to play every day for the rest of your life, it should probably be this one because it’s going to take a lot of time to complete the quests and do everything that Portia offers. But it does not disappoint! It has everything that you might want in a game. Mining? Check. Building and selling things? Check. Farming? You got it. Fishing? Go crazy! Fighting monsters? You have a ton of ruins where you can indulge your heroics. 

The best part of the game is that there are so many NPCs and they are very interactive. You can give them gifts, befriend them, romance them, or get married and start a family! Beware, they have their own likes and dislikes and the main player needs to keep a close eye when giving them gifts, so you don’t earn their wrath. Yikes! Here is a fun fact: give them gifts when on a date or their birthdays to earn extra points to build your relationship faster.
 

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In a world of Portians

My Time at Portia is developed by Pathea Games and has sold 1.7 million copies worldwide. The review for the game, to say the least, has been mixed. It received 73/100 on Metacritic. Miranda Sanchez of IGN had stated that even with so much to do in Portia, it didn’t feel like “it was dragging her around” but letting her “explore everything at my own pace”. Her verdict was that, although it had some things lacking in each of the parts and some annoying audio bugs, she was hopeful to see how it would evolve in the future. 

Rich Meister from Destructoid rated it 5.5/10 stating that “the world of Portia is full of promise but the time investment it requires makes it tough to recommend as is”. All in all, the reviews for My Time at Portia have been mostly good. The reason for this success is due to the exploration feature of the game and the way it allows the player to build their own mini-world which is not just to farm, build, and collect, but also to explore new areas and mini-games inside the game on different seasons and events. 

Story
 

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The mighty J. Peach statue

The game begins long after civilization as we know it has been destroyed. People have started life again with what they could find. J. Peach is a notable figure in the game who was able to bring the world out of the Age of Darkness and lead the people to create a habitable life after the end of civilization. However, the game itself doesn’t have a specific plot that needs to be followed. As the player gets commissions from the Commerce Guild and builds things and starts befriending the NPCs, they get new quests to progress the storyline.

The way some NPCs who are devoted to the Church of Light in the game abhor technology intrigues me as a player to find out about the old world. The storyline does not much dwell on the past of the NPCs which I feel could be an interesting take if included.

Gameplay

The thing I love the most about My Time at Portia is the character customization. The player can choose from a range of skin colors, hair, face, gender, name, etc. If the player decides to alter anything later in the game, they can head to the barbershop after completing the quest ‘Strange Lenses’. When the player first visits there, the barber does this for free as thanks for finding the lenses for him. Although, the player cannot change the skin color later in the game.

 My Time at Portia (Gameplay) - EP01

The game is so immersive that the player can indulge in anything they like. For those who love monster hunting, there are so many ruins to explore. The player can go mining in the abandoned ruins to collect raw materials like iron, aluminum, etc. for building purposes. They can take requests from the commerce guild to build things for other NPCs and earn some money (Gols). There are various quests assigned by the NPCs which sometimes require the main player to visit different places to solve their problems.

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Gamer Since:
2012
Favorite Genre:
RPG
Currently Playing:
My Time at Portia
Top 3 Favorite Games:
Machinarium, Botanicula, Alice: Madness Returns