‘My Time at Portia’ Review – Massively Improved over Consoles in Some Ways, Lacking in Others – TouchArcade

Pathea’s life simulator RPG My Time at Portia ($7.99) was a sport I had on my radar ever because it arrived on PC again in early 2019. I attempted it on my outdated laptop computer on the time and loved the little I performed regardless of it not working properly again then. It felt like an ideal sport to play on Nintendo Swap and sadly, that conversion was missing. I nonetheless ended up placing in about 50 hours into My Time at Portia on Nintendo Swap however the load instances have been horrendous. I nonetheless craved extra of the expertise and performed it on Xbox as properly the place the sport was fairly good technically regardless of lengthy load instances. Quick ahead to now and My Time at Portia has arrived on iOS and Android as a premium launch and it has made me revisit the sport on all consoles alongside my new playthroughs on iPhone and iPad for this assessment.

My expertise with life simulators earlier than My Time at Portia included Stardew Valley and the Nintendo 3DS entries within the Story of Seasons franchise. Regardless of having fun with these fairly a bit, I discovered myself hooked on My Time at Portia on console. It felt like a mixture of a pure step ahead for the style with its ambition, and in addition a bit missing in some areas. My Time at Portia on console was consistently behind the PC model in options and updates. Whereas the scenario didn’t get as unhealthy as Forager on Nintendo Swap with crashes and save recordsdata being corrupted, I ended up dropping My Time at Portia on console after about 100 hours between the variations I had. That’s the place the cellular and extra just lately PS4 variations of My Time at Portia come into the image.

Should you’ve by no means performed or heard of My Time at Portia earlier than, it begins off just like video games like Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons. You inherit a workshop in a brand new city and purpose to revive it. As a substitute of a give attention to farming like within the aforementioned video games, crafting and automation are a much bigger focus in My Time at Portia which is about within the city of Portia, in a post-apocalyptic land. You purpose to have one of the best workshop on the town and may work together with vibrant NPCs, spar with them, and discover vivid landscapes, and even go underground. There may be loads of customization on your house and environment right here alongside a talent tree. Top-of-the-line facets of the sport that I proceed to take pleasure in in new playththroughs is how relaxed the whole lot is. I can see myself launching it and enjoying a bit each day for a very long time now simply as I did on Nintendo Swap when that model launched.

Should you’ve already performed or have been enthusiastic about My Time at Portia and are questioning how the cellular port is, there’s largely excellent news right here for you. Visually, My Time at Portia on iPhone 11 and iPad Professional (2020) is beautiful. I didn’t suppose it might look remotely this good after the way it seems and runs on PS4 Professional, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Swap however the porting studio has made the sport look largely a lot better than I anticipated. I say largely as a result of the draw distance on the iOS model is way decrease than the PS4 Professional and Xbox variations of the sport. There are additionally some decrease decision textures and shadows. Character fashions and fields look nice. The Nintendo Swap model lacked correct grass however the cellular model of My Time at Portia contains grass within the huge fields. Visually, My Time at Portia on iPhone and iPad has exceeded my expectations for positive. Should you’re on an older system you may need to try the graphics choices as a result of you’ll be able to go for higher body charge on the expense of visuals (nonetheless 30fps), a balanced mode, or excessive graphics mode (which is what I used). Take a look at the picture under with the body charge mode on the left and the excessive graphics mode on the precise on iPad Professional.

On the efficiency aspect of issues, the cellular model excels above the console model fairly a bit. The PS4 Professional, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Swap variations of My Time at Portia all goal 30fps. The cellular model has the identical body charge goal. In my testing in each the early and later elements of the sport on the units I exploit, I had nice efficiency. I hoped for a 60fps mode with decrease high quality visuals however as of now, you’ll be able to play at a 30fps goal or much less on cellular. The world this port shines is load instances. The load instances are massively higher than the console variations.

To provide you a tough thought, I measured the time to load up a save after which go away house to load the world outdoors your home on PS4 Professional through PS5 backward compatibility, Nintendo Swap, and iPad Professional with all the newest obtainable patches put in. The PS4 Professional model took about 30 seconds to load the save and 12 to load the skin of the home. The Nintendo Swap model took 52 seconds to load the save after which 23 seconds to load the world outdoors the home. The iOS model on iPad Professional took about 6 seconds to load the save after which about 5 seconds to load the skin of the home. I examined totally different areas and autosave (which I’ll get to in a bit) and the iOS model is so a lot better due to this.

Past together with the whole lot the PC model of My Time at Portia has each for options and content material (with one exception), the cellular launch has some added high quality of life enhancements with auto save being the most important one. In different variations of the sport, you’ll be able to solely save whenever you sleep at house. The cellular model has auto save and I’ve switched to a different app and are available again with the auto save being excellent over the past week. Along with the save enhancements, there are additionally some new helpful monitoring choices for duties and gadgets. By way of characteristic set, I’m very impressed with the cellular model.

I’ve praised loads of facets of My Time at Portia on cellular and whereas I do suppose it’s a good way to expertise the sport, there are some points holding it again. The shortage of full controller assist is fairly baffling. I’ve used my PS5 DualSense controller on and off after I performed on iPad Professional and it really works for lots of fundamental features and a few elements of the UI, however you’ll need to make use of contact controls as properly. I’ve seen mentions of no controller assist on Reddit, however I confirmed that the PS5 DualSense controller and Xbox One controller have partial assist with the general public App Retailer model. The on-screen buttons don’t disappear however there’s some controller assist proper now for motion and attacking. You can too navigate some elements of the UI however not absolutely play with only a controller proper now. Hopefully future updates can usher in full assist and conceal the on-screen buttons when a controller is detected. As of now, don’t purchase this anticipating correct controller assist.

The opposite situation is the textual content measurement. My Time at Portia’s interface is fairly busy on all platforms and there are some parts with loads of textual content. On iPad Professional, I had no points with the UI, however I had hassle studying sure issues on iPhone 11. Since I’ve already performed a ton of the sport on different platforms, I might alter fairly rapidly although. Whereas it’s nice to see crisp visuals for the 3D components and characters, I want a number of the textures for noticeboards and the map view might’ve been improved for larger decision shows.

Barring that, My Time at Portia by itself nonetheless feels just a little unpolished in some areas. Whereas having the complete PC expertise with voice performing included and up to date content material is nice, in the event you bounced off the sport on different platforms since you didn’t follow or discover the core loop fascinating, this enhanced model on cellular is not going to change your thoughts. Should you did take pleasure in it although, I believe you’ll spend a ton of time with the sport on cellular on this glorious conversion.

My Time at Portia was a superb however flawed expertise on consoles and the cellular model is loads higher virtually throughout the board. It’s also extra accessible for newcomers due to the standard of life updates. Should you take pleasure in life simulators and wish one thing meaty to dig into, My Time at Portia is value your money and time. It’s also priced very fairly in comparison with the console variations.

Should you (like me) purchased My Time at Portia on consoles, this cellular model having extra options and updates will little doubt annoy you, however the builders are working to release the update on console soon so hopefully everybody can expertise one of the best of My Time at Portia on their platform of alternative. In a perfect world, I might simply carry my progress throughout any system and proceed enjoying however I’m going to stay with the cellular model for now. I simply hope it will get correct controller assist so it may be the definitive model of the sport for me. Proper now, My Time at Portia on PC continues to be one of the best model general due to the visible and efficiency increase, however the cellular model is an in depth second due to its new options and updated content material.