My Time at Sandrock Review (Dev)
I recommend this game for any fans of open world RPG/sim/lite survival/social interaction sandbox games. This game has some bugs including some serious and frustrating quests/event triggers that sometimes don’t trigger properly, NPCs glitch out of entire map boundary due to been reserved for other quests, optimisation issues affecting maximum fps.
Overall, the bugs are generally temporary if you keep playing through with most unexpected behaviours able to resolve as various side quests/events expire/complete. The game has generally solid performance & graphics on Steam Deck, PC handhelds like the Rog Ally and scales well on 2K/4K monitors on 4090/13900 albeit with low GPU/CPU utilisation preventing maximum fps @ maximum settings.
Addressing negative reviews
Most negative reviews are regarding significantly less story driven experience in multiplayer. I don’t play multiplayer so can’t comment but if like me you’re predominantly or only looking to single player then this game is a gem and storytelling is great for indie/even AA & AAA level.
Another common complaint is game performance, bugs, pacing and Sandrock not deemed to have received proper post v1.0 release support like no major content DLCs or fixed all bugs. First the game has some janky bugs like events/side quests not properly triggered if you are not at the exact right location at the exact hour on the dot, other issues include your mount would sometimes get stuck trying to walk onto a porch (minor issue resolved by just walk away few paces to respawn) or menu/inventory can take few seconds to tens of seconds to load in at times. The loading issue affects SSDs.
But this game imo is still overall optimised from low end to high end PCs & the bugs that are still in-game are minor UI/glitches that doesn’t impact overall gameplay except for maybe losing out on some extra in-game items/progression points etc. due to faulty event triggers etc. I would rate this game as more optimised than most games released these days especially in the open world/sandbox genre.
Gameplay
The game is a treat to play. A huge variety of mini games, systems within systems & excellent world design and content pacing. The onboarding experience was not overwhelming despite this game containing a lot of inter-connected systems like skills/equipment/base progressions tied into quests/gameplay mechanics/social interactions etc.
You can play this game in short bursts even 15mins sessions here and there or go for hours at a time. The game has intuitive UI/UX considering sheer amount of information, stats, mechanics, upgrades, NPC relationships, resources, quests and more. I did not encounter anything frustrating to be noteworthy.
Technical Performance
This game at current ver Oct 2024 is robust and performant on variety of hardware from the Steam Deck (LCD model - originally installed on a SD card & migrated game file to stock SSD due to SD card too slow), to the Rog Ally (2TB SSD 30W mode) & ultimately looks awesome on higher rigs/displays like my 4090/13900 paired with QHD OLED.
Steam Deck: can easily play at 60FPS on low settings 800p or mix of medium - high settings locked 40FPS. Rarely does game underperform & dip below 40FPS.
Asus Rog Ally 30W turbo 1080p: With AMD AFMF I’m getting generally 70~120FPS on high settings. 25W turbo mode on battery works just as well.
4090/13900 PC: Most games that play well and look ok on PC handhelds etc. generally won’t scale as nicely on higher hardware as the assets etc. were likely designed & optimised for lower end PC. This game looks good on higher end hardware and is arguably where I’d recommend the most immersive experience is. However, there is a low GPU/CPU utilisation issue where the game (and only this game) only uses 30~40% of my GPU and 10~20& of my CPU. So I should in theory get 144FPS (max FPS of this game) but I'm generally around 80~120FPS at maxed settings due to this low GPU/CPU utilisation issue which doesn't seem to have any updated responses from devs since 2022/23. This of course is not game breaking issue and vs. other comparable sandbox games that barely work (looking at you Craftopia) this might be a luxury problem for most Sandrock players.
Overall recommend and especially good value as s single play through can easily last 50+ hours even skipping most of the optional things.