Platform: Xbox, Playstation 5, Switch, PC | Genre: Open World MMORPG / SIM | Developer: Singularity 6 | Release Date: Still in Beta
Rating: 8/10
If you’ve got your eye on the gaming universe, you’ve probably noticed the rise of cozy sim games over the last decade. Once a genre that many “hardcore” players didn’t take seriously, the world of cozy gaming has experienced nothing short of a renaissance. It’s massively popular, especially among the rising population of female gamers (though enjoyed by all). And it shows no sign of stopping! Dozens of new cozy titles are on the docket for release in the next two years, and there’s no shortage of current options for fans of this style.
Enter Palia, an online simulation game that’s taken the cozy world by storm. Though it is still in beta, Palia has been playable for over two years now and is a common name when folks ask what games they should be trying.
But with so many other options out there, what makes Palia special? Now that I’ve played for a few weeks and put in more than a handful of hours into the game, I think I’ve got an idea.
What exactly is Palia?
Palia is a little bit of everything so far – it’s an online multiplayer and cross-platform simulation roleplaying game that centers on creating your perfect home and building relationships with NPC villagers. You play as a human awakening seemingly out of nowhere into a world populated by Majiri, a humanoid race that has taken over as the primary inhabitants. You learn very quickly that humans were extinct, or at least thought to be, until now when they all started popping back into existence.
I’m much newer to the world of cozy gaming (as a recovering try hard gamer), so my experience is basically Animal Crossing and watching Berry play a few popular titles, like My Time in Sandrock. From what I gather most titles in this genre have little back story, or a very simplistic “it’s time to take over grandpa’s farm and transform this town” or “lets open a cafe / bookshop / flower shop”. With that understanding, the lore of Palia is one of the first things that sets it apart from other cozy games I’ve been exposed to. I love that there’s a big mystery over what happened to humans, why we’re suddenly reappearing, and the many clues and quests that build a rich lore.
But the game is much more open world and sandbox than you’d think, which is part of what makes it fun to play. The quest system is compartmentalized so you can focus on the story, or ignore it and instead focus on gathering, crafting, and building. So far it doesn’t appear that you’re locked out of anything by choosing one or the other, though naturally to get the most out of your experience you want to put time into both.
I absolutely love the gathering and crafting aspect of the game, and it feels well fleshed out. Each skill has a mentor in town to go to, and it follows a logical progression system that is easy to catch on to. As you level up your skills you unlock new recipes, better tools, and more options out in the open world. They also play with each other nicely in a way that doesn’t feel restrictive. You don’t have to get too deep into gardening to cook some meals. You don’t have to have the highest quality materials to build great looking furniture for your house, and so on.
You can also romance many of the NPCs across the handful of zones in Palia, and in an interesting twist you can date as many of them as you like as the Majiri are progressively polyamorous. However, you can choose up to two main squeezes by wearing their pins.
Lastly, making gold is actually pretty straightforward. It’s not super quick but it’s consistent. Per one of the tooltips, Palia is a world of abundance. You can easily farm what you need and sell the excess to make gold. You don’t *have* to be an in-game hoarder for risk of missing out later. Though there are some items I would hold on to, almost everything is extremely renewable.
How is Palia multi-player and how does that work?
This is one area that leaves a bit to be desired, at least for me. I’m coming from decades of MMOs (RPGs, MOBAs, you name it) where partying up and playing with others is a core aspect of the game. As I’ve gotten older and my time more limited, gaming has become a hobby I try to keep social so I prefer ones where you get to play with friends.
I remember when Palia was first announced there was a big emphasis on playing with others and I think I was expecting a much more interactive experience here. The game at times feels like a solo cozy game where you happen to run into someone else while cutting down a tree. The mechanics do try to encourage group play, with bonuses to being in a party and rewards for visiting and viewing other people’s homes. However there’s nothing really compelling group play. The option is there, and perhaps the flexibility is a good thing because anybody who’s played an online game knows it can be awful being locked out of content because not enough people are around. But at the very least I think I was expecting the ability to build a neighborhood with friends.
You can kind of mimic this by giving your buddies edit access to your home. Once you buy all the land, you’ve got a lot of space to work with and there’s nothing stopping you from getting creative and building guest houses on your property.
There’s no direct trading or gifting system, which is something I would love. For now you can request any item you’ve encountered at least once, and friends and fellow players can see and fulfill that request. But you are limited to what the game decides as far as quantity for that item, and again you have to have gathered or caught that item on your own first before you can request it.
One thing that is awesome about Palia is it being cross platform. I’m a tried and true desktop gamer, Berry prefers the Switch / handheld, and Archinimus, though a jack of all gaming styles, tends to favor the console. The best part here is no matter where we choose to play, we can play together. This was the stuff of dreams when I was a younger gamer. Which kind of leads me to…
How is cross-platform play in Palia?
I would say overall I think it’s awesome that I can hop between my laptop and Switch to play, and I have made heavy use of that flexibility. That said, and keeping in mind the game is still in beta, there are some benefits and shortcomings on both sides.
I greatly prefer the PC experience for a lot of reasons. The controls feel a bit more natural, the graphics are far superior, and the performance of the game just feels smoother on my laptop. Lag in partular when there are other players is far more frequent on the Switch than on my PC.
Some mechanics, though, like fishing are extremely frustrating with a mouse and keyboard. I found myself having a far better time getting things done on my Switch.
Likewise the high fidelity graphics on the laptop actually sometimes makes finding and seeing things more difficult. On more than one occasion, Archinimus and I would be doing a mining run and he’d have to call me back because I completely missed a node on screen. Hunting also feels a bit smoother and more forgiving on the Switch and it’s easier to see and track prey.
Final Thoughts
My first few days of Palia were actually quite frustrating, and I nearly gave up. But after pushing through the initial learning curve, I’ve come to absolutely adore the game. I’ve sunk far more hours than I was expecting and am really enjoying the gathering and crafting side of things. It feels pretty complete for a game that’s still in development. My biggest complaint is lag – at times the game becomes almost unplayable, especially for Switch players, which takes away from the enjoyment.
All that said, Palia’s working with a great foundation and I’m excited to see what comes next!
