E3 2018: Hands On with My Time at Portia
There has always been something about a sim game that grabs
my interest, keeping the interest however is not always as simple, but My Time
at Portia had my attention, only time constraints kept me from it.
The game can best be described as a mix of Harvest Moon and
Minecraft, taking the best gameplay elements from each of those series, but
then layering on a story that keeps you playing. You play as you, a character
that you create and you have been summoned home, to Portia, where your Pa’s
workshop lies abandoned after he took off to parts unknown. When you arrive,
you are given the rundown on how the town of Portia works, namely regarding the
construction of things, given that you are taking over the workshop and in
order to be allowed to build anything for other people you first need to prove
yourself.
After getting a simple task of building some tools, you can
head out almost anywhere to find the materials, some can be found just lying
about, but others require you to dig or cut down trees to acquire. The games
mechanics for collecting and building is actually a little different, for
collecting materials, you just need to keep pressing the button to chop, dig or
what have you, but in order to build, you need the material in your active
inventory, but rather than just snapping together an item from a menu, you need
to place the pieces down on a building pad and once built, you have to pick it
up, to mark it as complete.
Once you have built the two tools, you are given a final and
more complex task, which does need a lot materials, but completing that will
then given you a certificate, meaning you are right to proceed to building
anything. These tasks are easy, yes, but they also help lay the groundwork for
the common activities the game presents, but the most intriguing part is that
as you progress into the game, you will interact with more people and depending
on your interactions with them, they will either like you, or they won’t.
Because of the relationships you can form, each play through
will be different from the last and with each person you meet, having their own
story to tell, discovering everything will be a challenge. What struck me the
most, was the visuals, the game clearly has an anime influence and while the
characters themselves are more western than eastern in their appearance, there
is no denying the obvious Ghibli nods that shine out.
While I wish I had more time with My Time at Portia, what I
did play has only ignited a desire to play more of it and with the release happening
later this year for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, there is not too
long left to wait.
Luke Henderson