Fallout: New Horizons
HIGH The story and characters are charmingly endearing.
LOW Visual and technical issues harmed immersion.
WTF One more day, bro. Just one more day…
Once in a while, I like something a little more scaled back and relaxed. Simulation-style games tend to give me what I need for that, but there’s something unique about the setting of My Time At Sandrock.
I arrived by train in the middle of a dusty town, with little vegetation and even less water in the environment. From the get-go, I was told explicitly not to cut down any vegetation within town limits, or I’d become unliked by the community. Animal Crossing, this wasn’t.
330 years ago, an apocalypse left humanity surviving in caves, but after a time, they were able to return to the surface and rebuild. After this reappearance, a woman named Martle set up a town in the midst of an oasis. However, the town grew out of control and people ravaged the flora and fauna so much that it became nearly as barren as the desert it was surrounded by. As a result, water consumption is highly regulated and cutting down trees in town is forbidden. This scarcity and struggle is what makes Sandrock so interesting.
Players take on the role of a Builder in Sandrock‘s community — a person who helps build structures, equipment and items for the townsfolk. Almost everything is built in real time, which meant that I had a lot of free periods to gather materials, get commissions, go into combat arenas, play games, or mingle with the people of Sandrock.
Combat is also in realtime and can be a bit clunky as enemies can move quickly, making it hard to track them with the camera and targeting system. The battle mechanics are also not meaty enough to be engaging, as most weapons don’t have any special abilities and encounters can sharply outpace players’ levels, especially if they stick to the main commissions.
In other sims, I’m usually able to take from the environment with wild abandon, but not here. Upon forgetting about the order and cutting down my first tree, I was given a warning and told that cutting down trees would harm the town, and to my shame, that tree remained a stump at the end of the game — a badge of dishonor since everything in play is centered around helping the town bounce back.
To do that, I worked for the Commerce Guild by taking on projects to help the town and its people, from big tasks like installing lifts to a mine tunnel, or things as small as helping to provide them materials. While the core gameplay loop was centered around building, the building aspect itself is a fairly passive activity as most parts of construction center around waiting for materials to process before construction could be completed.
On the plus side, this waiting for construction to finish gave me ample time to meet and engage with the town’s many citizens, and they are what invested me into taking better care of the town, because everything I was doing was making their lives better. I loved talking with and helping them, and they were definitely the stars of the show. The standout, however, was Zeke, the town’s moisture farmer and botanist, who was trying to keep plants alive despite the nearly futile nature of the effort.
Enriching this side of things, characters would have their own schedules and interplay with one another, which helped Sandrock‘s world feel more alive. Cooper and Hugo performed a song for the townsfolk every Wednesday night, Owen would tell fables in his saloon every Saturday, and Rocky read bedtime stories to his son. This oasis felt like it was filled with actual people with their own lives.
There’s also a friendship and romance system that’s simple to grasp. Each gift, commission completion, or even just talking with people made them a little more friendly to me. I could also play games with them or go on dates, platonic or otherwise. Eventually, I was given an opportunity to enter into a romantic relationship with one of them. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be many activities we could do together as a couple, even at a late-game spot that I thought would be an ideal dating location. As such, it felt like a flat mechanic.
Another, more technical problem with My Time At Sandrock is texture and asset pop-in. This can cause objects, and even buildings, to take up to ten seconds to appear.
For example, a lift I needed to leave a mining area would not appear when I loaded into the area, and I was stranded until the lift finally spawned. This would also happen for some buildings I would exit, such as the museum. This soured my experience a bit, as I had to wait for objects to appear correctly before I could continue playing. This was most common in the final act, when a large number of assets are added in.
There were also constant framerate dips when moving around, but most harshly after entering a new area. This problem became compounded as new objects were added to the map, creating additional lag. Other quirks included some objects wobbling erratically, such as tree leaves warping and stretching in the wind, and some NPCs becoming stuck on environmental features or ending up in places they shouldn’t have been. In one comical instance, I tried to turn in a commission to Owen, only to find him stuck in a tree and unable to interact with him. Things like this were constant issues, and it killed my immersion.
Despite those rough edges, My Time At Sandrock is ultimately a wonderful and heartfelt game. There is an incredible story here about human nature, the environment, and the desire to right the wrongs of the past. Sandrock’s residents were charming, and I cared deeply about their lives, joys, and struggles. In that sense, I think my time in the desert was time well spent. With just a little polish, I think this one could become a masterpiece.
Rating: 7 out of 10
— Justin Grandfield
Disclosures: This game is developed by Pathea Games and published by Pathea Games, Focus Entertainment, PM Studios, Inc., and DMM Games. It is currently available on PS4/5, Switch, XBO/X/S, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 109 hours were devoted to the game, and it was completed. There is no multiplayer mode at the moment, but the developers have stated that it may be implemented in the future — the early access version of the game did have a multiplayer component, but was shut down.
Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of E10+ for Alcohol Reference, Comic Mischief, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, and Mild Suggestive Themes. The rating summary from the ESRB reads: This is a simulation/role-playing game in which players assume the role of a builder in the desert town of Sandrock. Players explore open-world environments while interacting with townsfolk, performing tasks/quests, and fighting enemy creatures. Players use cartoony weapons (e.g., daggers, rifles) to engage in combat with certain townsfolk (for training purposes) and creatures (e.g., livestock, giant ants, robots). The occasional combat is highlighted by impact sounds and small explosions. The game includes a dating mechanic, in which players can spend time with any adult character; while on dates, players ask for options such as Hug, Kiss, and Observe. A saloon in town contains posters advertising “Lost Mountain Beer.” During the course of the game, monster manure is depicted as “poo coils,” which can be picked up and gifted to characters; the dialogue contains references to flatulence (e.g., “Never trust a fart…”; “Is that…a methane leak?”). The word “damn” appears in dialogue.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game does offers subtitles. The text size cannot be changed. (See examples above.) The game’s dialogue is mostly provided via text boxes. There are some spoken flavor lines that cannot be heard well, but are mostly irrelevant to the current dialogue.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
- Slime Rancher 2 Review - November 11, 2025
- Echo Point Nova Review - October 14, 2025
- Rematch Review - August 27, 2025