My Time at Sandrock (PC) Early Access Preview

It’s hard to argue that there’s never a good time to fire up a life-sim/easygoing RPG like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or anything else from this expansive, relaxing genre. Taking on tasks at your own pace brings you a sense of accomplishment, while not having to stress about a time limit or deadline. My Time at Portia was a strong entry back in 2019. Now its successor, My Time at Sandrock, looks to do the same in a desert setting. Does it make the swap in scenery seamlessly?

My Time at Sandrock begins as you enter the titular town that’s desperate for water. The end goal is something called “telesis”, a self-sustaining water source that can provide for the entire town that relies on it not only for sustenance but also to power its machines. You accept the contract and are welcomed into Sandrock with mostly open arms. You’ll meet the energetic, enthusiastic cast in your first few days as you get the lay of the land.

To slowly crawl your way towards telesis, you’ll need to accept commissions from the townsfolk that need you to build them something. Crafting in My Time at Sandrock requires a bevy of resources combined into one vital resource. For example, wood and stone can be turned into mining equipment. It’ll take quite some time to understand what piece of the environment garners what kind of resource, as well as how to navigate each machine to gather everything you need. Once you get it down to a science, your gameplay loop will cement itself.

In my time with the game in its Alpha state vs. my time after it entered Early Access, I noticed some solid quality-of-life improvements. Stability/game performance was drastically improved, and I was no longer glitching through some pieces of the environment. It also seemed like more characters had voice acting, even if some of it was amateurish and needed some reworking. Nevertheless, the charm was intact and will be the hook for some players.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the number of quests in games like these, but My Time at Sandrock gives you plenty of hours on any given day to tackle them. While stamina exists, it’s easy to get it back with a snack and smartly expend it in increments so as to not get overwhelmed early in the day. Combat is a bit on the basic side in the early goings, but when you get access to more advanced weapons (especially ranged ones), it’s a worthy challenge.

Between interacting with the people of Sandrock and exploring its dense open world, there’s plenty going on to appease fans of the genre that are willing to sink hours into learning all of its intricacies. While some may wait for its multiplayer, it’s a feature that’s confirmed to be released in the future, alongside everything else an Early Access game may aspire to implement. For My Time at Sandrock to release this polished in EA promises that this could be a gamechanger given the right attention to detail and features from fan input.

A PC Early Access key for My Time at Sandrock was provided by Pathea Games for this preview.