Pals from Portia are coming to My Time At Sandrock in this week’s update

Cute and compelling life simulator My Time At Sandrock is bringing back characters from My Time At Portia, along with new areas to explore and quests to give their lives purpose. If you played Portia and bid sad goodbyes to Albert, Mint and Musa, you can look forward to being reunited over an extra 5-10 hours of dungeons, romance and whatnot when the Old Pals update lands on November 24th.

I haven’t played either game, but Steve Hogarty described Sandrock as “Stardew Valley with a gun”, so I probably should.

See the teaser trailer above for a peek at the old faces and the new areas, complete with evil mushrooms and wrench-wielding goblin men to shoot at. More details are sparse, but developers Pathea Games do mention the new place is called the Valley Of whisper Seems a bit rude to blow a big hole in a place like that with dynamite.

Another update is due in December, focusing on Logan the bandit and “the truth behind” why his merry gang are attacking Sandrock. That’s a lot of conflict and explosions for a game with its roots so firmly planted in the fantasy of living out an idylic rural life, but that didn’t stop Steve Hogarty thouroughly enjoying himself in his My Time At Sandrock review:

“My Time At Sandrock is Stardew Valley with a gun. It’s a compelling and lusciously detailed life simulator with an endlessly rewarding mine-and-build loop, and a set of diverse career paths so richly designed that it’s difficult to pursue them all.”

It’s still in early access, but you can buy My Time At Sandrock for £20/$25/€21 on Steam, humble other the Epic store.