I picked up Building Simulator in a humble bundle and the last five hours have been a mixed bag, I would go as far to say that Building Simulator isn't build on the best of foundations. I've broken down my thoughts in Aye's & Nays because Arrr, I be a pirate. Yaaar!

Ayes!
- The Dev's are active and the game is being actively supported. Seeing the Dev's respond to most reviews is nice.
- The game is stable, No crashes.
- The Dev's seem to care about the game they made, You can tell some of the love they put in. Especially the robot, even if I cringe half the time. A knock-off claptrap if you will.
- The game does what it says on the tin. You've got most things here to do with house building. From planning, to foundations to building walls and roofs and it does it solidly enough for the most part.

Nays!:
- There is a layer of Jank in it's design. I knew I was in for a fun time when my controller was over-riding my mouse and keyboard. I had to completely unplug it to restore mouse and keyboard.
- Getting all the tiles on a roof can be frustrating. You can be stuck at 99% because you're looking for a little tile somewhere in the corner and you can't exactly see the glowing against the orange of the rest of the tiles.
- Once the Contracts and the tutorials are done. You're pretty much on to the sandbox, If you like building houses for no reason that's fine but on the same end. There is cash in the game and for the most part it's restricted to contracts and pointless, unless you're trying to convert it to gold doubloons and make off with the booty. You'll always have enough and more to finish the contract. Something like house flippers buy and sell mechanics would be nice.
- Speaking of House Flipper, The Interior Designer leaves a lot to be desired. Picking the colours just come out wrong in the lighting, placing items isn't great. It feels more like an after-thought then a fleshed out feature. Having a game mode dedicated to it, makes that more so.

This is for the achievement hunters:
I'm currently trying to wrap up on the achievements on this game and for the most part it's smooth sailing, however, there are three particularly egregious ones;
- Place 9001 hollow blocks. I don't think the placement is working as intended. It's counted per interaction and not by block. I've done the tutorial, the contracts and built a house and I've just crossed 1k. I feel like I'm trying to bail my sinking ship with a tea-spoon.
- Sell 1000 items. You what? This isn't house flipper. You're asking me like a lemming to buy 1,000 items to then sell them. You know how I did the 100 achievement? I bought and sold balls. Now I don't mind playing with my balls, but at that point that's selling enough balls that I could fix Japan's declining birth rate.
- Generated 100 houses in Interior Designer. This one should be out-right scrapped. I get it, You like your interior designer. I like my cheese grater. It grates it up really nice, goes really well on fajitas. That doesn't however mean I want to grate 100 blocks! It's not that good! My hand would sound like a cement mixer after it's done.

Conclusion:
6/10 gold doubloons. The house building is solid. Interior Designer is not so much. There is jank. If you like anything to do with leisurely but janky simulators. You're golden. If that doesn't appeal to you, You've embarked on the wrong ship.

This be ye local piratical reviewer comin' to tell ye if My Time at Sandrock be worth your precious doubloons or whether she be sent down to the briny depths!

I want to tell ye first, I've played the predecessor My Time at Portia to completin' and will be makin' some comparisons between 'em, I'll also be splittin' me thoughts into Ayes 'n Nays for easy readin'


A real sense o' progression
My time at Sandrock (MTAS) nails that sense of progression that My time at Portia (MTAP) pioneered. As ye be making ye adventures, Ye'll be changing Sandrock, from buildin' cranes te' fixing the hydrogel, expanding the Yakmel network to more serious ventures like plantin' forests in the desert and building the road to Portia.

For each quest chain ye complete, You'll get reminders just how far ye've came. Making ye feel apart of the world, and ultimately it's my most favourite draw to MTAS.

Craftin'
Goin' hand in hand with makin' ye changes in Sandrock, the crafting is an improvement upon MTAP. Ye have a bounty o' machines to be gettin' ye buildin. Most days ye'll be havin' machines runnin' all day pumpin out manner o things for ye designs. Ingots, Screws, slabs, everything to be gettin' everythin' built. Occasionally, you'll feel overwhelmed but honestly, I felt that it feed it the hectic job that is bein' a builder in MTAS. Ye'll eventually condense this into ye crown jewel near the end, the almighty factory.

Exploration
The world of Sandrock is huge and thar be plenty to see and dive. You'll be prowlin' through dangerous ruins, fighting robots and mobs for parts ye need for your builds and ye'll be spendin' a fair chunk o' ye time in the abandoned ruins, bringin' up various ores and relics to both smelt and reassemble. I've got no complaints.

The Characters
In this pirates honest opinions, the characters in MTAS shine far brighter then those in Portia. Every character has a small chain that details there daily lives and a insight to their personality. It added that depth to life and some reason to care about the characters compared to Portia, The massively expanded amount of quests featured in MTAS, Really helped in this situation.


Combat
Thar has been a' few changes to combat, however, it still be simplistic. You'll be finding yourself usin' the same strategies ye found in Portia. Ye'll be dodging the choreographed events, going in to Break' em and then just devastating 'em. It's the same ole' song and dance. It be worse with guns, Ye'll whip your pistol o' rifle and just stun lock and break your enemy in place, making short work out most o' everything. Disappointin' really.

Performance
This be nay game breakin' but ye'll certainly notice it in ye adventurin'. MTAS doesn't play aswell as Portia, Ye have pop in galore, especially o' anything ye've added to the world via the quests. The game chugs in the town itself and has random slow downs in various places. It can detract from ye' experience.

The small positive is for me, Is that the game has mostly been light on bugs and Pathea has been on the ball since release.

DLC practices
I hated to be addin' this one but £4.49 for costumes for 4 characters and putting the favourites separate in individual packs is a practice that belongs in Davey Jones locker. Either bundle them together for a tenner or reduce the price of the individuals. Currently it looks a cash grab and add as a Tarnish to this shining treasure.

MTAS is a large game and it's hard to condense everything inte' a few paragraphs. It's a massive improvement on MTAP. If ye loved that game, ye'll be right at home here. A no brainer for ye doubloons.

If ye the kind of Sailor that loves a solid sense o' progression with an in-depth crafting system, memorable characters and a massive chain of quests to go on and doesn't mind some minor annoyances and lacklustre combat system. Ye'll definitely find some good sailing 'ere.

I give MTAS a solid 8.5/10 gold doubloons. A massive improvement over Portia if not marred by spotty performance and cheap DLC tactics.