My Time At Portia

 PC
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 112 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 112
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 112
  3. Negative: 21 out of 112

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  1. Mvrak
    Jan 27, 2019
    4
    gets real boring, real fast
    at first it looks ok... then the sheer repetitive nature, andunfeeling environment leave me empty
  2. AllNewSuperfake
    May 9, 2020
    3
    "Hard time in Grindia" tries to emulate games like Stardew Valley and Minecraft. It suffers from a game design that was clearly supposed to have loot boxes and a shop. It's all there: The long list of mostly useless items and "gifts" that require you to expand your inventory, you have excruciating waiting times for crafting, you have a convoluted crafting tree where the only obvious goal"Hard time in Grindia" tries to emulate games like Stardew Valley and Minecraft. It suffers from a game design that was clearly supposed to have loot boxes and a shop. It's all there: The long list of mostly useless items and "gifts" that require you to expand your inventory, you have excruciating waiting times for crafting, you have a convoluted crafting tree where the only obvious goal is to waste all the space that you have so that you have to buy more.

    The sad part is that whoever made this either forgot to take out the artificial limits and hurdles when they decided to not include those monetization schemes, or they actually really thought this would be fun. So you should be the type of gamer who loves fetching and delivering and working through long shopping lists, and you should also be a fan of the kind of tiered gameplay that feels like you are starting all over again everytime a new material is introduced. You should also be a fan of bureaucracy, because that it what this game has instead of lore or worldbuilding. Including, I kid you not, entrance fees for the completely featureless, foggy "ruins".

    The world of Grindia is cute. Sugary, pastel-colored and smooth like baby's first Nintendo game. The music has been stolen from someone who is working on a torture machine that looks like an elevator, but descends only into madness. At least those two are consistent and well-done, which can't be said about the UI, the control scheme and the voice overlays. It's the kind where I'd prefer the robotic stuttering of older console generations or just beautiful silence - sometimes I wasn't even sure who was speaking, but it really didn't help to get me to like any of the characters.

    They are quite one-note anyway, and the fact that they have the facial feature of toddlers just doesn't sit well with me when I'm supposed to woo them. The "monster"-design is even worse. It took me hours until I understood that I was indeed supposed to slaughter the things that I thought are just more of the weird pets that are running around everywhere. I wish I wouldn't have, because that way I was also presented with this game's "combat", which I wouldn't even call "button mashing", because that would imply far more action than what was actually happening.

    I can't recommend this even to fans of the genre since you wouldn't be fans if you hadn't played much better games. It makes me a little sad, a lot of work has been put into this, but this is just wasting my time without any memorable experience.    … Expand
  3. StonedKrows
    Feb 1, 2019
    0
    Edited: 1st of Febuary

    I'm really suspicious of the high scores and loving reviews from small sites. It's still missing its sound, still buggy, still crashes a lot, still more grindy than a Korean MMO, still poorly written, still has flat characters with less personality than a British politician, and the company still hasn't paid their employees. I sense shifty dealings, which will    Edited: 1st of Febuary

    I'm really suspicious of the high scores and loving reviews from small sites. It's still missing its sound, still buggy, still crashes a lot, still more grindy than a Korean MMO, still poorly written, still has flat characters with less personality than a British politician, and the company still hasn't paid their employees. I sense shifty dealings, which will only hurt the reputation of these smaller sites. The highest scoring "critic" reviews here are an accurate treatise on which sites you shouldn't trust.

    I mean, the highest scoring "critic" review is from Game Grin, who even are they? Whereas Destructoid scored this as 55% (trash, essentially).

    Be wary, and trust the sites you know over aggregates that include no-name critics.

    Review Date: 25th of January

    These devs have been outright refusing to pay their employees (especially their voice actors), using shadily worded 'sorry not sorry' excuses as damage control. That's the first thing wrong with this game, and it should be enough for anyone with a conscience to not support it.

    The second thing is that their marketing team is review bombing other, similar games (Little Dragons Cafe, Harvest Life, and others) to try and reduce the competition. A lot of very similarly worded negative reviews for their competition always ending in 'try My Time at Portia instead.' Yes, try the game made by a shifty developer who pulls this unconscionable nonsense.

    The third point against the game is that it's incredibly average, as depicted partly by its more believable big name critic reviews. Yet Steam reviews are unwaveringly positive and similarly worded, how interesting. Considering how buggy the game is, with its content, at this time, STILL failing to work right coupled with constant crashing (as noted by the other negative review here)? I'm even a little suspicious by the most positive "critic" reviews from no-name/mostly unknown sites. Were it not for them, the overall score would be sitting somewhere around 40-50, which is much more accurate. And considering the hot mess the game is in, it's even more odd, don't you think? I'm not suggesting fabrication here, just paid reviews, which does happen with these lesser known sites (kind of like how shady, lesser known science journals will publish anything if paid enough).

    Fourth point is that they're still failing to properly patch their mediocre, supremely buggy game. Probably because their employees are fed up of not getting paid.

    Fifth point is that the game is still missing almost all of its audio. The majority of sound effects and voices aren't in (due to unpaid employees), yet they still released the game out of early access. It's not a release if your game is almost silent and entirely missing its sound design!

    Sixth point is thst the game just isn't fun. It's one slog of a grind after another. It's nice if you want to play World of Warcraft in single-player, but otherwise the soul-sucking repetition and padding in lieu of real content will likely leave you feeling exhausted and cynical. There are better titles out there for all that My Time at Portia does, there's truly nothing it does better than any given alternative.

    Seventh point is that it's really soulless and feels designed by committee. With the dev having had 57 (mostly unpaid) employees, the game is hardly by a small developer, let alone an indie dev. This isn't some spunky small studio looking to make their mark, they have more employees than some triple-A studios. Too many chefs have spoiled the broth, resulting in a bland experience rife with truly flat, one-dimensional characters you can't wait to get away from (I really can't get over how bad the writing is).

    Basically? This game is a con. One that's conning its buyers with shady marketing tactics, and one that wven conned its creators by stiffing them a paycheck. It seems like those paychecks went to paying off a ridiculous marketing campaign of misinformation. This is not something you should be supporting, and you should be very wary of those who do.

    You can't say you weren't warned.    … Expand
  4. Brendansully84
    Dec 29, 2020
    0
    Not sure why the score is so low, i've played about 20 hours and am having one of the best times I've ever had.
  5. honest_rev7
    Sep 26, 2020
    1
    it's one of the worst games i've ever played. it's soul-destroying.

    also devs had included red shell spyware and BRAGGED about how they use their analytics in
    my time in portia's wiki

    playing this game must be what's it like to be in a long-term relationship with pewdiepie
  6. Agathra
    Nov 18, 2022
    0
    Only playable with mods due to the artificially and unrealistically long times needed for crafting, but then mods can make it so you reach a milestone too early and a quest pops up you can't access something for but is also timed and now you've failed. Many bugs still exist, parts of the game are unfinished, sound is missing... I *have* played this for many hours, but it's been the modsOnly playable with mods due to the artificially and unrealistically long times needed for crafting, but then mods can make it so you reach a milestone too early and a quest pops up you can't access something for but is also timed and now you've failed. Many bugs still exist, parts of the game are unfinished, sound is missing... I *have* played this for many hours, but it's been the mods that have made it playable enough to get through - the base game would have been dropped within an in-game day. Additionally (and thanks to another review here) I now learn they jerked around their voice actors. Absolutely unacceptable behavior. They've got a new game out now - My Time At Sandrock - but based on never finishing this game and their treatment of people, I haven't even bothered looking at whether MTAS is built any better or had fewer issues, because their overall neglect of this game have left such a bad taste in my mouth.… Expand
  7. DENOBREGA82
    May 29, 2021
    2
    My time at Portia on the Nintendo Switch has too many loading times… And overwhelming with too many things to do and waiting times. And again just comes down to the loading times in and out of buildings and especially when going to bed. If you played Stardew Valley, that game is a dream compared to this mess. Maybe the loading times are better on PC but definitely not on the Switch.
  8. Wondux
    Jan 3, 2022
    3
    I could not come to enjoy this game where there are substitutes such as Stardew Valley for this type of game. At the start, it seems fun, but it gets very boring and repetitive with time.
  9. avisekai
    Sep 12, 2021
    0
    game keeps crashing down, and i keep losing my progresion, don't bother to get it for ps4

Awards & Rankings

92
#92 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
58
#58 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
  1. Wccftech
    Apr 24, 2019
    80
    My Time at Portia is a beautiful, relaxing experience. With the charming art style and plenty of activities to go through, players will easily lose themselves in the game's pleasant setting for hours and hours.
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  2. Ragequit.gr
    Mar 30, 2019
    75
    My Time at Portia offers many crafting activities, a vividly colored world that is really pleasant to explore and a main quest line. After a while, crafting requirements might prove to be somewhat of a grinding activity for some people and quests and inhabitants at times feel a bit dry. A pleasant and relaxing experience all in all that could be elevated with a little more invested writing.
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  3. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 4, 2019
    85
    My Time at Portia successfully gives some original touch on the genre, managing to differ from its peers like Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon. While it has some problems with few design mechanics like crafting and small lack of dungeons to delve into, it puts player into interesting role of a builder, all while having a beautiful and cute looking world to explore.
    Read full review
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