My Time At Sandrock Lands Enhanced Visuals And New Content In Latest Update

Nice! I’m just waiting on the finished product!

This is great, and the game is great! Pathea has a reputation of long time patches and support, so this aligns with their previous updates to Portia, and I think their attentiveness comparable to CDPR and Hello Games regarding constant care and attention after a game is released, especially on Switch.

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but this game still has a 5/10 from Nintendo Life for the reasons "Dull Graphics, Terrible Performance, and Doesn't do anything you haven't seen before"

Launch performance issues aside, My Time at Sandrock is a steampunk/post apocalyptic farming game where you don't just farm, but you mine parts and resources and build loads of vehicles, furniture, and all sorts of other things I've never seen in other farming games. The graphic style is also pretty comparable to most other farming games - cartoon/pixar style.

Were the performance issues really the reason for such a low score? Why did the reviewer expect this indie farming game to be so wildly different from other farming games, even though they don't hold more popular games like Story of Seasons to the same standard?

It's disappointing NL gave a 5/10 review to this indie game for mostly arbitrary reasons, but I hope they revisit that review and score.

@Astral-Grain I'm guessing with review sites it more than likely comes down to who is the most available for a review, since there are a lot of games they have to play, with the occasional "I've played this series before, let me see how they've upgraded/butchered this release." Each of whom require different things to make a great score.

For the series/genre veteran, the newest addition or latest farming sim in this case, has to improve upon the older titles, still maintain the feel of the games, and give reasons for newcomers to join in.

For those with less experience in a series or genre, the gameplay has to be grabbing, the graphics have to interest them, or the game has to have good pacing, these are what keep them interested.

If this game was as buggy as they say it was, it's possible the gameplay loops were tedious, which is the worst thing for any game but it really hurts sim games by stifling your creativity because it messes with your pace.

I am glad they're still working on it and I might buy it soon, I can appreciate when the devs care about the game and keep it going for a long time.

The update is not out in Switch… stop misleading.

@betterthanvegas All good points, but in this case, the reviewer has quite a record of reviewing farm sim games and I believe they're pretty experienced in the genre.

Unfortunately they just did not like this one in particular, which is fine, but if you're going to land on 5/10, you have to have more substantial reasoning than what was provided.

5/10 is a "don't even touch this" kind of sentiment, which I feel is just not appropriate considering its popularity among the farm sim community and the "reasoning" comes off as arbitrary and personal rather than an objective view all gamers can appreciate.

It's just an opportunity for Nintendo Life to right a wrong, that's all. They don't have to do a thing if they don't want to.

If nothing else, that review made me pay attention to how they review indie games versus how they review games from established devs with more money, and how they sometimes hold a different set of standards for each.

Edit: Welp, they're not going to do anything about the review score, as indicated by the note below.

See note at the top of the Sandrock Review: "Since this review was published, an update has reportedly improved one or more of the issues cited. Unfortunately, we cannot revisit games on an individual basis, but it should be noted that the patched game currently available may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below."

I should point out, nearly all the game I bought on Switch at launch last year had performance issues, so if this is their standard protocol for all games, not just indie games, that's a pretty bad protocol.

@Astral-Grain I forget the internet scoring system has changed for people. 5/10 just means it's an average run of the mill game of that genre for me. Not good, not bad, just something I'd play to beat. It sucks but not every game can be a banger, you need some mediocre ones and some bad ones to really appreciate the good ones. And I'm not saying this game is bad, just seems pretty average for farming/community sim games. I just like the support they're putting in and that's why I'll buy it.

@betterthanvegas Anyone that makes a habit of reading reviews before buying would know to never buy a game with a 5/10 review unless you know something the reviewer doesn't or if you got a personal recommendation.

I'll try not to belabor this point any longer, there is a clear difference of effort in reviewing/covering indie games versus full-blown budget games.

That point has only been made clearer with regard to how they're covering this indie game's constant updates with new articles, but they can't be bothered to revisit their low score review with an "Updated" section, something I have seen them do countless times for bigger budget games.

The point is clear to me: I shouldn't rely on this site for indie reviews.

I should point out that I'm not some "stan" for Sandrock or Pathea, I enjoy their game quite a bit, but I haven't even played this for longer than 10 hours. I would argue this point with any other indie game that I know is good but isn't being treated fairly compared to full budget games.

I'm also not mentioning this for the benefit of the game itself, it's for the benefit of NL to improve - there are countless other reviews that cover the game more accurately, and Pathea will be just as successful/unsuccessful with or without the NL review.

@Solomon_Rambling Yeah, I'm not going to spend any more time talking about this issue.

I already said my piece in the original review and the reviewer responded with answers that had the same "warmth" as a typical AI generated response.

I just realized it's pretty stupid of me or anyone else to constantly complain about something we don't actually have to partake in.

So off I go - one less thorn in NL's side.

Good on Pathea for trying to right some wrongs, I guess, but they’re 2-for-2 for releasing horribly broken games that needed a raft of patches and fixes. Maybe they should focus on making sure their games are suitable for release instead of scrambling to do massive damage control after the fact.

As a musician and songwriter, I know I have one shot to make a song good. If a person doesn’t like my song, that’s fine. I don’t expect them to listen to it again, telling them I made changes. I am glad the devs did work post release, for future buyers, but I think more work should have happened before the release.

Are they waiting until 11:59 p.m. for this update to come out?

@DogDetective Yup, it's downloading now!

@SonnyBonds @dugan
We're grateful for the community's feedback, as it helps us refine and improve our work, making it more enjoyable for everyone moving forward. We understand the importance of first impressions and are committed to learning from each project to minimize the need for post-release fixes and to maximize the quality of our initial release. Thank you for acknowledging the work that goes into updates and enhancements. Rest assured, we are continuously striving to balance pre-release development with responsive post-release support, aiming for excellence from the start for future projects.

@Zach777 It's live in the NA and EU regions. If you're in the JP or Asia region, please be patient; the update is still pending platform approval.

@Ryu_Niiyama It's time to play now!

@Solomon_Rambling
Our aim with continuous updates and enhancements, like those for 'My Time at Sandrock,' is to ensure the best possible experience for all players. We understand that this approach may not fully resonate with players who prefer to complete a game once and then move on. Striking the right balance is a challenge we constantly face—aiming to release a game that is as comprehensive and refined as possible from the outset, while also having the flexibility to improve and evolve based on player feedback and changing standards. Being an indie team, we face limitations in experience and resources, which can affect the initial perfection of our releases. Due to platform review processes, the launch version must be submitted weeks in advance, and unfortunately, it was not as polished as we had hoped due to inexperience on our part. However, after several months of dedicated work, the latest version represents the best performance we can achieve on the Switch, marking a significant improvement. We truly believe 'My Time at Sandrock' is worth revisiting now.

@Astral-Grain "(...) arbitrary and personal rather than an objective view(...)"
No. Just no. Reviews are inherently subjective. You cannot measure "fun" on an objective scale.

@Ryu_Niiyama Its finished but they continue to improve on it

@Astral-Grain Thank you for your support. The version reviewed was an early build, which, due to our inexperience, we miscalculated the timing for. It was about a month before launch and didn't include all the optimization work we completed in the following four weeks. We acknowledge that it wasn't satisfactory, but the latest update has significantly improved and stabilized the game. It's truly worth trying now!

@Solomon_Rambling
While I agree with your sentiment and it sure would be nice if games were released complete.
We are so far away from that age now you have to credit devs that stick with and continue to improve post release I feel.

It's pretty sad IMO that this has become the norm in the industry. Releasing an unfinished game and calling it version 1.0 only to have the devs go back and fix all of the issues. How about take more time developing the game instead of rushing it? I don't know, just an idea...

@dugan while I agree with you I think the fact that many big devs with multimillion dollar budgets are able to do the same gives a lot of smaller devs false confidence. But that doesn’t take into account that those big devs initially had to build up consumer confidence for years if not decades. If a dev starts out releasing a busted product from the start two things can happen: they train consumers to wait until they are finished working on the product (and lose their highest earning potential) or they get ignored and have to hope they hang on to a base and improve in time to become a respectable dev and then start building good will. For me the dev has trained me to wait until they are done. If I remember to come back and buy. Thank goodness for wishlists! I feel the same about coral island.

@YoungYoyo Hi, based on your responses it sounds like you are in some way affiliated with the dev team. Respectfully, as much as I enjoyed Portia, the poor state of release and the time it took to get to its current state lowered my trust in the developer. I enjoyed the game enough that I was excited for a sequel, hoping it would be better, but the developer is still having issues getting a complete, well performing release out at launch and again it takes a while to patch to a good state.

This only trains your consumers not to buy at launch. So like I said I will wait until the game is complete (as in the developer has done all the work they are gonna do on the game) before buying.

That is the difference between games like Sandrock and Stardew Valley. Console gamers in general expect a game at launch to feel complete and to perform relatively well. PC gamers are often more forgiving. Stardew for instance, by the time it launched on consoles was in a state that performed relatively well. So it enjoyed steady sales and a positive impression despite the fact that the developer is still adding things. And I don’t even like stardew valley and I feel this way. Meanwhile Sandrock has a more negative impression even though it is a great game at its core. You only get to make a first impression once and gamers have thousands of games to choose from to purchase.

So does this mean I should fire up my Physical version and update the game to play now?

@Ryu_Niiyama

Yes, I’m part of the team, and I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We did encounter some missteps during our initial launch. In truth, the review process led us to release a version that wasn’t the best version, and unfortunately, this cost us that crucial first impression. We sincerely apologize for that.

We’re doing everything we can to regain your trust through the updates and improvements we've been working on. After several months of hard work, this newly released update that really elevates the game’s performance—it's definitely the best version of the game so far. It’s a great time to jump in and play!

This experience has been a tough but valuable lesson for us. We're committed to learning from our past and improving how we do things moving forward. Thanks again for your feedback—it really helps us improve and motivates us to deliver a game you'll love.

Take care,

@SwitchForce
Yes, try it now with the significantly enhanced version!

@YoungYoyo And also a learning curve as well just like all other open Farm type simulators... ugh..... played first through to figure the game and then restarted knowing how to do it right the second time.... lol....

Played on gamepass. Game is still very broken. I would advise most to skip at this point.