Dear Pathea Games, I Demand an Explanation

Back when I was in my infancy years in gaming, there were many titles I tried from the life-sim genre, but none quite ever stuck out to me like My Time At Portia. The world, the characters, the stories, and even the gameplay all quickly captivated me and ensured that I'd spend several hundred hours enthralled with the experience.

Despite the atrocious voice acting in the title that had me muting the game at light speeds, My Time At Portia became my favourite farming simulator to this date. With hundreds of hours that I've played and several save files across my own playthroughs and my wife's, I've quite enjoyed just spending my time in Pathea Games' engulfing world.

Naturally, I was one of the first in line when My Time at Sandrock was announced, not only for its brand-new setting and promise of cameo characters from the original but also the multiplayer aspect (that we're still waiting for). The sandy plains of Sandrock seek to be explored, with a new gameplay mechanic that I loved (sandpit fishing, who WOULDN'T want to do that?), all the while playing the game with the person I care for the most in the world — my wife.

Despite what the title and body of text might make you think, this article is neither about Sonia's insult-to-nature voice acting (seriously, I still can't get over it years later — it brings me to tears) nor the year I've been waiting for My Time at Sandrock's multiplayer to finally be available so I can jump into the world. No, Pathea's sins against humankind go far, far beyond just minor gameplay quibbles I have with both of the entries.

The keen-eyed and grammatically inclined may have already seen it — an inconsistency in naming that will transcend past the game's flaws and issues. Scattered throughout this article is Pathea's greatest sin to the videogaming industry thus far — the haphazard naming in their game.

Now, I'm always down for properly following grammar rules, and I'm happy to see a company growing past their original mistakes, but today, as I wrote a spreadsheet on some of the games I wanted to play (and replay), both My Time At Portia and My Time at Sandrock made the cut (naturally) and writing the names side by side felt... wrong. There is no world in which both games should have different spellings in the “My Time At” section, which connects them all to the franchise overall. But, the original title — My Time At Portia — has capitalisation on its “At”, while My Time at Sandrock does not… and it will haunt me for the rest of eternity.

All jokes aside, I just wanted to write a quick (and hopefully funny) article that got a chuckle out of you. Naming practices have gotten complex over the years, and it's been grammatically all over the place — all caps, no caps, strange capitalisation rules (looking at you, My Time At Portia). This is all in good fun, and perhaps starting a secret revolution that will force Pathea to change the name... One can hope. I will forever yearn for you, My Time at Portia..