My Time at Portia vs No Man’s Sky
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.
No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky has had a really rough start but thankfully the game developers have the integrity and the determination to continue the development of their game and honestly, despite the fact that the game still needs plenty of work, it has improved a lot since it was first released. The game is a sci-fi-themed, procedurally-generated planet and space exploration game where you can not only gather resources to craft and build your base but also learn how to communicate with sentient aliens or hunt non-sentient ones. You can also literally play any role you like, be it as a trader, an explorer or a bounty hunter.The galaxy itself feels very much alive due to the many factors in play - space pirates plundering unwary traders, various factions fighting to secure new territories, and more, aside from the fact that you'll be playing with other players in the same galaxy. Due to its procedural generation, every new planet you land on will always have a whole new ecosystem that you have never seen before, but like many players have noted, you still get the feeling that the creatures and the planet itself look familiar enough to discredit whatever differences they have. However, the best part about the game is perhaps its fragmented storyline - a plot that has to be assembled piece by piece as you explore the many worlds the game has to offer.
Many fans of the game has touted No Man's Sky as a first-person Starbound, but whether that's true or not, well, it's up to you to decide. The game can be pretty costly to buy at its original price considering that the game feels a lot like a work-in-progress, but if you can get it cheap, then the game is worth the experience.