I saw this game a while ago when I was looking at alternatives to Stardew Valley. Sometimes you just get that itch for a life sim, but you've already played the hell out of the life sims you already have, and so you forage through the leaves of the internet hoping to find MORE!

Ironically, that's also what I do with open world adventure RPG's, but nothing new ever shows up. -sigh-

This time, at least, my hunt led me to My Time At Portia and Staxel.

Today... and for the foreseeable future... it's Portiaaaaaa!

I was going to whip out my wallet and buy it, until I checked Humble Bundle and saw that I was getting it with my subscription this month. 😁 Sooo, I waited, patiently. And now that waiting has paid off!

And so far, I am enamoured.

The graphics are cute, my character has a voice, there are heaps of people to meet (although they do seem quite a bit sickeningly sweet), and the gathering! I love gathering in games.

Gather all the woods, herbs, and stones. Find ore, smelt it, and create more things! Craft a pickaxe and whatever and start chopping larger things. Go fishing (with a mini-game a lot quicker and more interactive than SDV's fishing game).

And there's the adventure mine! It's voxel! I can dig here, there, everywhere, up and down and completely ravage these ruins!!

Also, you can kick trees.

There's a friendship and relationship system, and becoming friends with people gives you benefits!

Friends with benefits!

No, not thooossseeee benefits, but benefits like more stamina, more health, getting paid more when you finish commissions, BONUS! 😁

As you level up, THERE ARE SKILL TREEEEEEES!

Some people hate these things --me? I love them.

There are fun events you can do with the townsfolk, there are town meetings every so often where you get to hear all the gossip going around. Apparently there are thieves in town at the moment. Uh oh!

I performed in a two-day fishing contest extravaganza and kicked everyone's respective butts.

And then an event happened where a blimp flew across the sky and bombed everyone with gifts. These people might seem sickeningly sweet and get offended when you barge into them, but they'll happily knock you onto your arse in their quest to get a present drop before you can.

Bastages.

I think I managed to get two measly presents out of the fifty-odd that fell from the blimp. 😂

Anyway. I'm just about to reach the end of my first month and am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the game comes about. 😊

I'm hoping that it's as open-ended as Stardew Valley is, because I'm really just plodding along doing my own thing. So far I think I've done all the quests on time, but I haven't done a single commission that wasn't given to me by the mayor yet.

I should probably get on that.

I'm supposed to be a great builder after all.

But... I'm too busy enjoying the scenery. 😊