My Time at Portia vs Novus Inceptio
My Time at Portia
My Time at Portia is a charming fantasy-themed adventure RPG that is set on a gorgeous, revitalized world after a post-apocalyptic event wiped out the previous technologically-advanced civilization. In this game, you play as an up-and-coming Builder, a respected role in society, whose sole purpose is to help solve the town's problems by engineering a solution.With a gameplay which may fondly remind you of games like Harvest Moon, My Time at Portia may be grindy in an RPG sort of way (think repeated dungeon runs or resource-harvesting), but the game has a nice relaxing pace, where its quests (both main and side quests) are slowly revealed as you progress. Being a Builder, you can also complete a commission request daily to collect some cash. The game also features an elaborate gifting/relationship-building system, fun ruin-diving areas, tons of interesting characters to meet, and challenging dungeons. You can even romance and eventually marry an NPC (not all though) you like!
The best part of the game is definitely its in-depth crafting system. There are tons of machines you can build to help you generate a wide variety of materials to build other stuff. You can also unlock new machine technologies via the Research Center.
My Time at Portia feels a lot like an adorable MMORPG minus the MMO part. It has the grind, the dungeon runs... but of course, this game places a lot more emphasis on its resource-collecting, as well as crafting and building aspects. Sounds like a game you'd like to play? Well, despite still being in early access, the first chapter of the game is already ready and bugs-free, so if you do buy the game, know that you can at least get a good 40 hours or so out of it.
Novus Inceptio
Novus Inceptio has all the hallmarks of a great sandbox game in the making, despite still being in early access. Aside from its mysterious sci-fi theme, the game features a variety of fun anomalies (mini-worlds) where you can discover, explore and possibly piece together story snippets about the stuff that had happened in the past. The game also has a more complex and in-depth crafting system, auto-harvesting feature, and a potentially fun underwater exploration/harvesting aspect that will definitely elevate the overall gameplay quality. However, the developers definitely need to make sure the game’s fundamental features, such as its action-based combat system.In addition to being an indie game, Novus Inceptio is also a work-in-progress. However, from what can be seen and experienced, it already has most of the winning features it needs to “make it” in the sandbox genre. It has a very interesting anomaly game concept that allows players to discover and explore multiple mini-worlds. It also offers an in-depth crafting system and farming, though its building and combat aspects are still pretty rudimentary. If you enjoy playing survival/sandbox games, Novus Inceptio is a breathtaking game that you wouldn’t want to miss!