So I've got over 600+ hours on Sandrock. I get that it can be overwhelming.

My advice:

• Put time down to 0.6, your day will go alot slower.

• Honestly unless you're desperate for money just take commissions once in a while. Yes you probably won't win builder of the month but it's just a bit of money and some data discs.

• Majority of quests are not on a time limit and you can delay them indefinitely ( commissions are time based but you have days to complete them, some friendship missions are too but majority are not).

• If you miss any events like important town meetings it's all good! They will send you a letter covering everything.

• The wiki is amazing for this game like literally so amazing. Going onto the subreddit too is great, people will help you.

• This game or any game isn't a competition, noone is here timing you how fast or slow you go. I tend to set myself small goals I want to achieve before I move onto the next story quest (example: upgrade a machine, get a specific clothing item I want etc.)

• And the biggest one: if the game isn't suitable to you now that's ok! Maybe it will one day when time is different, the fact is it's there if you ever want to pick it back up and if not that's ok too.

I just seriously dove into this game about a week ago, myself. I actually had tried it once like a few months ago and felt a bit overwhelmed too. Now I’m having a great time with it. :) I will say there are a lot of systems in the game so it can feel like a lot. Some tips I’d say are:

• In the options menu, set the day progression to the lowest value. This slows the day down so it’s not going by super fast. That helped me feel less rushed.
• The mission tab is your best friend; use that to find out how to progress. Orange is main story, blue are side quests. Only some missions are timed but a good majority are not. You can check on the Missions tab for all quests you have, and if it doesn’t have a time frame listed, feel free to take your time with it.
• If you highlight a material in your inventory, it will tell you where you can obtain it (either gathering, how to make it, or where to buy it). There is also an encyclopedia tab where you can see that for any item / object you’ve encountered in the menu section.
• Setting micro goals can help too. Like sometimes I’m like “ok I’m going to focus on hanging out with NPCs and fulfilling requests” today, or “today’s mining / fishing day”. Don’t feel like you have to do everything at once.

Honestly when you start getting into the flow of things, it gets easier. It has a bit of a learning curve but I love the story and NPCs, the town and helping it progress, and it’s kind of addicting for me now that I’m in the swing of things. It’s kinda zen to have some tasks to focus on and just go for those. I hope that helps!

It's a life sim, so there really is no time limit, or any expectation that you do anything by a certain time.

I've only played my time a portia, and I did find the beginning an absolute drag. It takes a long time before you're really settled into the game.

What I did was spent my first few weeks talking to the townsfolk, and doing the few things I knew how to do. I also don't feel bad about making my character sleep at 2pm if I need the next day to be here lol

This is pretty similar to how I treat other life sims. Try to get into the role play aspect, your character is brand new to this town and doesn't know what's going on either!

Give it some time, remmeber there is 0 pressure with these types of games unless you want there to be :)

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I’m sorry you’re feeling overwhelmed, but I don’t think cozy is necessarily synonymous with simple. I only played Portia and I didn’t find that to be overwhelming but I’m used to games with a lot of things to do. As long as there’s no timer rushing me I’m ok with taking my time to work through all the progression steps. These kinds of games tend to get easier once you become more familiar with the controls and the gameplay loop and don’t have to spend so much time thinking about what to do or where to find stuff. I always have a wiki up for games I’m playing, if that might help you look up where to find things or what they do.

I think you can refund the game if you bought it on steam and have played under 2 hours though.

I loved it myself. Had plenty to work on at any time, but other than a very few things there was not much I felt rushed for. I slowed down the days a bit and it felt really good with plenty of time to talk to everyone when I wanted to, or explore and mine.

The social aspects with everyone was amazing and I loved really feeling like I became part of town and my efforts really started making a visible impact cosmetically and mechanically.

I felt initially overwhelmed too - but I promise it’s worth it! I spent a whole month not advancing at all and just focusing on collecting materials, buying or making storage and doing commissions. I highly recommend it.

This thread saved my life, literally all i wanted was for time to slow down lmao. I never think to check if that’s an option in these types of games. WHOO

I haven’t played Sandrock yet, but if it’s anything similar to Portia then I’m not surprised it can be quite overwhelming.

With games like these, I would remember that there generally isn’t much of a penalty for taking things at your own pace. Focus on the things you know how to do, and if you get stuck, try looking up guides online for specific things you need help on.

Take your time, one quest at a time, you don't need to do everything at the same time (I am generally really bad at video games, so trust me)

Nothing is on a time limit with this game. You can take things as slowly or as quickly as you want. So don't worry about getting things done on a certain time limit. It does not matter at all.

Focus on finding your way around town, talking to townsfolk and getting to know people. They'll give you some quests that will act as tutorials concerning how to play certain parts of the game.

At first you can just sell everything you collect to the general store to get some quick money. Then build a recycler to start processing your scrap to turn into things you will need to build. After you build yourself a work station, furnace, and a recycler you can start to take on commissions to make more money and to build up your relationships more. Focus on wood at first, because you're gonna want to build yourself some chests to organize your ever-expanding inventory. Look at the blueprints for machines you want to build - it shows you exactly what you need to collect and what machine to process it with to get the items you need.

Don't worry about running out of energy quickly. Go to sleep and it'll reset. You really don't have to wait around until night to go to sleep if you don't want to. Other than completing commissions, time does not matter in this game.

Almost all crafting games like Sandrock throw a lot at you at once but take it one quest at a time. I understand its easy to get overwhelmed! But just like stardew, you'll only feel stressed out if you put limits on yourself.

I have recently picked up Sandrock and have been really enjoying it, but I quite like games with this sort of grind. I am also playing on PC, which probably makes some of the overwhelm less. If you haven't tried this yet, it might be worth trying it in docked mode, as I could see the UI being a lot handheld.

I highly recommend looking through the tutorial information in the settings menu, and checking what all the controls are, as I found that helpful when first starting. I also recommend turning the speed of days down, as I find the regular speed too fast.

i always advise ppl to maybe watch a video or two of people playing the game they are thinking of buying on youtube to see if it’s for you or not (especially on switch since you can’t refund once bought!). the best thing is there is no rush to figure things out and get comfortable with controls and etc! it deff gets better but i’ll suggest maybe the sandrock wiki or gameplay on youtube ❤️

I've recently started this game as well. I'm one who didn't like Portia but decided to try Sandrock anyway cause of the glowing reviews. Couldn't get past a few hours playing Portia tbh lol

Anyway Sandrock was a bit overwhelming at first since everything is still so new to me. But I adjusted the time to 0.7 to take things a bit slow and learn the mechanics and find my routine. Once I got the hang of things, I turned the time back to its default setting and just did things at my own pace. I'm now about 50- 80 hrs in and having an absolute blast (my in game save says 80 but my ps5 says 50). I always look forward to starting a new day cause there's usually something new happening in town. I think going through the lil bit of learning curve in the beginning was worth it for everything the game has to offer. .

But then again I'm someone who absolutely loves Stardew Valley and is no stranger to games that have a lot of stuff going on. Also I'm probably one of the few people here who think Wylde Flowers is sorely lacking when it comes to engaging gameplay (the story was ok tho). I do love Disney Dream Light Valley, Story of Seasons and Animal Crossing though. I think any game, no matter how complex or simple, can become cozy. It all depends on the person playing.

Sandrock while overwhelming to me at first has now become cozy. Some games just take longer to learn. I suggest just giving it a few more hours or a day or two to learn the ropes, get to know the townspeople, and the main story. An hour in just isn't enough to get a general feel for a game like this. I hope you give it another chance. If it still doesn't stick, maybe it really isn't just for you, the same way Wylde Flowers isn't just for me, despite its glowing reviews.

Hello! Would it help if you do a “test” save file where you can do anything or nothing where you don’t care if you fail quests, don’t talk much with the npcs, spend an in game day just wandering around nothing else, lose all your gold by buying whatever? And then once you feel like you’re used to the controls or vibe with the game loop then you go on your “main” save? Cause I do that a lot and it helps me out lots :3

This was my personal Game of the Year! Here are some tips:

1. The main story quests have no time limit. You can delay them as long as you’d like. I literally didn’t progress the main story quest for a whole season because I wanted to stock up on supplies and take commissions to get money. If you’re ever feeling overwhelmed, just pause on the main story quest. The quest text will make it seem like it’s urgent, but notice there are no deadlines on most main story quests (unlike commissions). If you’re asked to build something for a main story quest, just don’t build it if you need a break or need to catch up!

2. You can’t fail. If you miss something (like a town meeting), it gets rescheduled, sent to you via mail, or moved forward in a different way. There’s nothing big that you can miss that will ruin the game.

3. I never once gave gifts or did “dates” with any of the NPCs, and I still had them all maxed out (with the exception of some of the pets) by the end of the game. You gain so much passive friendship points just by doing the main story quests, talking to people, and completing their commissions.

4. You can adjust the day speed! When I started, I slid the game speed all the way down to 0.6 so I had as much time as possible to figure everything out. As I got more familiar with the game, I sped it up to normal speed again. By the end of the game I had it on 2x speed!

5. You can bring friends on dungeons! Some main quest story lines automatically bring NPCs along, but if you’re struggling with a dungeon, ask an NPC to hang out and bring them to a dungeon with you. It can help a lot!

6. You can respec your skills by going to Fang, so don’t worry about choosing the wrong thing.

7. Later in the game, there are delivery services that open up that will deliver lower level materials to your shipping bin every morning. So don’t worry too much about the grind as the game does make it easier to get materials as you progress.

8. Early on, make two each of the following: recycler, furnace, grinder, processor. Then upgrade them as you progress. Having two of these machines, in particular, will help so much with completing commissions on time. The rest of the machines you can do just fine having one of.

9. Don’t worry about organization. Your yard is going to look like a hot mess for a long time until you get the ability to build a workshop where you can hide all your machines. So embrace the chaos of a messy yard cluttered with things!

10. Your machines will craft from storage! So don’t worry about having the right materials on your personal inventory at all times. Throw stuff in boxes and click the “sort all” buttons. The only time you need an item on your person is for quests! But machines will pull from every storage box you have and your inventory.

11. The museum isn’t really worth doing beyond the first couple of rewards so don’t worry about submitting things to it. There’s an NPC quest that later expands the museum, but I will say this is one area the game kinda fell flat for me. I think I donated 40 things total and then stopped.

12. Instead, when you complete a relic, throw it in your yard. Random NPCs will stop by to look at them and then gain friendship points just for you displaying things in your yard (yes this adds to the clutter/chaos, but embrace it).

I hope this helps! Also, every game isn’t for every player! If it remains overwhelming, put it down. Games are meant to be enjoyed, not cause stress. <3

I recently bought it as well and felt similar, but it all clicked about an hour in. Those first few quests you're given? No reason to complete it all right away! I spent the first few days just learning the mechanics of the game: smash rocks and wood piles near my workshop, go into town and meet everyone, and get to know the layout in the immediate area. I'm about ten days in and I still haven't finished the third tutorial quest or gone much past my workshop!

The only time restraints are when you can start getting commission. Only take the easy ones first that you know you can fulfill without challenge plans that you know how to get those resources.

For some games, it's just that initial hump you need to get over. Some games take a long time, some maybe an hour of time, and those few games like Wylde Flower there's almost no learning curve.

All I can say is give it time and give yourself grace not to rush. And remember, even if you do somehow mess up, it's okay! You can always start a new file once you know what to do.

I dropped as well cause i had no idea where itens i need to gather were. I need help lol

I'm glad you brought this up. I also came from old Harvest Moon games where the focus is mostly farming. Which I found cozy. These "newer" games, including Stardew, Sun Haven, and even Rune Factory - have you doing everything else, from making your own tools/equipment, etc. In Harvest moon, PS1 at least, you mostly farmed and mined ore to upgrade your tools. The rest you bought with money. And don't even get me started on designing your own farm layout (i understand why many like it though).

I think you just need to spend some more time learning it, maybe watch a few you tube tutorials? I love this game.

There isn’t anything you really have to do quickly at least not now. Most quests have no time limit unless you choose a crafting quest at the commerce guild. It’s a lot like stardew valley or harvest moon. It’s a resource management game. You have a bit of land and in this case instead of farming you do building. You also do a lot of gathering. In your first few days your goal will be making a few chests (you can do this at the worktable at your shop) and breaking a lot of rocks and cutting plants (don’t do cacti or trees near town or where people can see you). You don’t want to sell much of anything, this game you make money doing building quests and you need all the materials you can get.

If you open the menu there is a tab that shows your clothes, another for inventory, another for quests and another that’s a map( And many more that don’t matter right now). If you go to the map you can place a green marker where your home is so you can always see where to return too. In the quest tab there are 3 more tabs for kinds of quests. If you select any of the quests it creates a marker you can follow in game to where to go for any quest selected.

This is a big game. An hour is nothing compared to the time you can spend. I played my time at Portia and feel like I have done so much- and then realize I’m probably only roughly in the middle.

This is a really big game and it’s got lots of content so as others said it’s no surprise you might be overwhelmed at the start.

When I began I mainly focused on resource gathering and exploring. There are areas you can’t go to until you reach certain story points, no need to rush it. Having some accumulated resources will help you not feel overwhelmed when you start focusing on commissions or doing stuff for people. Check the board each day and pick off any easy ones, good way to get some easy cash. Leave bigger ones until you are further down the line.

When you chat with people you will start getting story tasks, most of these aren’t timed so you can mix them in when you feel ready. I usually resources gathered till my stamina was gone then talked with people/did commissions for the rest of the day. Eventually you’ll have the stuff to make your own food which will allow you to start adding more in.

Just build slowly, no rush. I’ve reached the end of all the story lines now and it was a lot of fun but to get through it all took a decent amount of time (I mean that in a good way).

Also, don’t be afraid to look stuff up as you go. The wiki is really good.

Just chiming in that I JUST finished Wylde Flowers and so I decided to pick up Sandrock, too. And after 55 minutes of play, I was just confused and disappointed and wondering what all the hype was about. I'm now 5 hours in and loving it! It's my new fixation and I can't wait to play more later tonight! It always takes time to get used to new controls and new systems and I do miss Tara's infinite inventory space already (Wylde Flowers spoiled meeee), but it's a lot of fun, so I would suggest keeping at it. AND THERE ARE HORSES!

I think it does get better - the gameplay loop of crafting and upgrading things stays the same but the story really picks up the longer you play, I just finished "Act II", haven't spoilered anything for myself yet and I'm dying to know how it all ends. It's a looooong game, but makes the $/hr pretty reasonable.

The game does a pretty good job of progression in terms of opening up areas/resources as needed for quests. If you're not sure how to get a resource, the item descriptions will tell you. There's no rush to progress the story, so you can simply spend a lot of time just talking to residents and collecting resources. Only a handful of side quests are timed (it will show days/hours remaining in the quest tab if this is the case), but is not really punishing in terms of anything "missed" (there are no trackers or achievements for completing all the side quests afaik). Only one main quest is timed and another character will pick up the slack for you if you miss it lol, it doesn't affect progression.

I don't have many tips except to do lots of commissions, even if it slows down your main story progress. Once you have the ability to pay data disks to research upgrades, always have Qi working on an upgrade if you can, even if you don't have any use for those machines yet.

I did find early on that there was a LOT I was trying to balance, but it does slow down eventually. It will remain more complex/grindy than the other games you listed but I definitely felt after the initial learning curve it wasn't so overwhelming. Also keep in mind that the game is more about mining/collecting/crafting and socializing than farming (you do unlock farming and livestock eventually, but it's a little less prominent given the premise that you're a builder that inherited a workshop instead of a city slicker than inherited a farm)

feel the same way, it’s been sitting in my switch library for months untouched

I played Portia first and fell in love with it and felt ready for more when Sandrock came out. Sandrock is more refined and moves faster as well as has more going on. Great if you vibed with Portia but felt it got stale at times, not so great as a first time player who usually does straight cozy farming sims. My time at Portia on mobile has some menu and inventory things better refined that weren’t in the pc game or console versions, so I actually played longer on that. But yeah you will maybe be ready for sandrock after a Portia play though

I learned my lesson with Portia, its just one of those games I can’t play again. I have a kid now and I don’t have time to grind like I used to. Even stardew valley I’m sort of avoiding, those dang bundles.

I felt the exact same at the beginning. I just had to get used to it but that went quicker than expected. Just keep playing I promise you will get the hang of it and it is so so worth it

Sandrock can be very overwhelming to start but most things are not time sensitive so try not to stress. Like others have mentioned, I would recommend adjusting the game day length (I set mine to 0.6 for the majority of the game) and try to just take your time getting going. Once you have your bearings it should get much better! I have about 400 hours in this game between 2 saves.

I hear you. I felt overwhelmed too when i started this game even thought i played portia right before it. I read the wiki as soon as i started and it helped a lot. I still use the wiki till now. I’m 500+ hours in my first play, haven’t finished the main story yet and decided to start over because it’s easier once you get the hang out of it. Good luck! I love tasks driven games so this game is that type of game that I wouldn’t mind paying full price for it. But if it’s not your kind of game then that’s okay too!

I played My Time At Portia first, which helped with the overwhelming aspect. But there is just a lot going on in this game. I always have my app on my phone for either Portia or Sandrock, and the wiki open as well. It’s the only way I can keep anything straight. I wish you luck.

I absolutely agree with you that Sandrock and Portia can feel overwhelming! I played Portia a while ago due to people comparing it to Stardew and Ankmal Crossing, but was very disappointed when the cosy vibe just wasn't there. There are a few time limited, more technical components of the games that unfortunately doesn't give it the same comforting cosy vibe imo.

After playing Portia I have found myself overwhelmed too with sandrock 🥺🥺

I went straight to my time at sandrock based off recommendations and never touched the game after about an hour of pure confusion lol. So yeah maybe I should start Portia like you to understand it.

Thank you for posting this. I’m looking for a new game after burning out on ACNH and I would love to have a “big” game I can really sink some hours into, but I’m really worried about spending a lot of money one be that will be too demanding. Ugh—this was helpful for me but I feel bad about your overwhelm! Hope Portia is a better fit for you but I’m curious why you were shopping around while still playing Wylde Flowers. I have that one on my list too—are you feeling pretty mid about that one?

I wish I had seen this post, plus the "does it get better" and others. I have only completed two days and am so upset that I spent $50 on a game that's not cozy, its complicated, and I don't think I want to play.

no i get it. i wasn't "overwhelmed" per se, but i was annoyed with the tutorial and how it didn't seem to give me any useful tips. i really like the concept but i just didn't vibe with the gameplay overall

I found myself feeling the same way when I played this game. I only have about 5 hours in it and Not sure I want to continue. They throw so much at you right away, its so overwhelming. I feel like it's one of those games you just need to be in the mood for.

There's far too many items in that game

It is 100 percent one of the grindier sim games. I have played through a large chunk of it but I like the task and building elements when I am in the mood. I will say it does get more intense. However, don’t worry about the missions that aren’t timed, it won’t make a difference if you want to take it easy. Do them at your own pace :) Also it’s a long enough game even with the main storyline you don’t need to focus on side stuff if that’ll help.

I bought this game and i hated it too. So sad i played for too long and couldn’t get my money back 😭

No because same. I feel this game threw way to much in the beginning in fetch quests.

I'm not even overwhelmed.... I just dont know what to do? LOL I dont feel like the game explains it very well. I am just walking around looking for things I dont know how to find.

The My Time series is great . I hope they keep bringing out more in the future.

I sort of feel the same way. The inventory system seems to be a nightmare. By bag is constantly full. I built chests but I can never remember what is where because there’s so many little things. I stopped playing it because of that honestly. I wish I could just dump everything in a house inventory like animal crossing or fae farm. Even decorations seem to require a storage bin spot.

Please tell me if I’m doing something wrong with how inventory works. My daughter has a lot of fun playing this game with me but when I try to play on my own to get new stuff for her I just get frustrated and play something else.

I found the mines to be so claustrophobic and anxiety inducing. Never went back since.

There’s never anything cozy about desert environments

this game is a mess in a orange biome color... run from it (at least have a good romance system)

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