Whether you want to spend your time crafting, farming, fishing, or questing, Palia has everything and best of all – you can play with all your friends! Palia has a wonderful art style and has a beautiful world to explore. The game is now in Open Beta for you to enjoy on PC and can be wishlisted on Nintendo Switch in anticipation of it’s later release on the platform.
The story of palia
The beginning of the game brings your character into the world of Palia, which is full of a race of people called the Majiri. Your character and all other players are of humans who have long been gone from the world. The first NPC you encounter is Jina, a young researcher working in the ruins where you appear. Your continued work with Jina will serve as the main quest line. However, you’ll quickly venture into town and begin meeting all the villagers and helping with their quests.
THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS (DUH) SO PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Developing Friendships
Bring in the Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing vibes! Palia’s charming townspeople are a wonderfully diverse collection, each with a unique vibe. Each of them have their role within the town of Kilima and neighboring Bahari Bay. I’ve really enjoyed the process of getting to know them all. I love how different each personality and voice is!
As you meet each person, you’ll learn a little bit about them and what their role is in the town. You’ll also be given quests that help you navigate the game. And of course you’ll have the opportunity to become better friends.
Each week, you’ll be able to initiate conversation with a villager and select a special option to learn what they want. Over time their wants change, so be sure to bring them what they want before the next week begins! So far, most requested tems are usually pretty easy to quickly find or make so you’ll be able to easily develop those friendships.
Home Sweet Home
You can’t have a cozy crafting game without the ability to build and decorate your own house! And of course, Palia does not disappoint us. You’ll be given a tent and a building site at the beginning of the game to get you started. After learning how to chop trees and mine rocks, you’ll level up your skills enough to be able to purchase your first crafting stations.
After conversing with the Mayor, you’ll work on getting the materials for your house. Once you’ve gathered it all up and committed the materials to your house, the building will commence. This is not an instant process! You’ll have to wait eight hours to enjoy your new home. Crazy right?! But don’t worry, it will be worth the wait, and you’ll have plenty to do in the meantime.
Crafting, Farming, & More in Palia
Much of Palia’s appeal is it’s cozy, no pressure vibe and a lot of that comes from the skill focused quests. You’ll be foraging, chopping trees, mining, farming, and fishing. Then of course, you’ll be refining all that into different materials useable for making things like furniture, decorations, upgraded tools, and food.
Cooking has some additional steps that make it more interesting. There are multiple stations including a campfire, stove, oven, prep station, and mixing station. Different recipes require different station use to make the ingredients for the dish. I really like the little added ‘rhythm’ element on the prep station for chopping things. It’s a small addition that just gives it a sprinkle of something different.
Similarly, fishing in Palia has a little something different. You cast your lure and patiently wait for it to hook a fish. Fight that instinct to immediately click when a nibble happens!
The fish will nibble a few times before biting proper. At that point you’ll click and begin automatically reeling in the fish. If you’re wondering, so it’s just automated? NOPE! Your task will be keeping the fish within the green brackets (which turn red when the fish is outside the zone).
More rare fish will of course put up more of a fight to catch. So be prepared to wiggle that mouse around to keep the fish in zone!
The World of Palia is Gorgeous
As you may know, I’m an absolute sucker for a good looking game. While I can definitely get into a game that’s not as polished, I can’t pass up checking out a game that is really pretty. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover is great and all but I’ve picked up so many books just cause of pretty covers!
Palia has the same visual vibes as Fortnite and World of Warcraft for me. And that bodes really well for someone who gets simulation sickness very easily! (It also has the ability to turn of shake, which is often a common cause of sim sickness, so thank you Singularity 6 for adding that!) I often find myself running around, climbing to the tallest points, and just looking out on the world. If it was possible to take selfies in this game I would, but screenshots will do – which I try to remember to share on our Discord server.
Look at me, fancy pants
While Palia is a free to play game, it has to make money somehow! That of course means that it is employing an in game shop – specifically for cosmetics. Currently this takes the form of costumes your character can wear. And I gotta say, those onesies are calling to my wallet!
Don’t worry, currency for the in-game shop isn’t too terrible. I would need to spend $20 to get one of the onsesies, but I’d have a bit of coin left over for my next purchase.
My question is: will the shop be expanding to include other cosmetics? Like different versions of households items? Or skins to apply to your tools? Other cosmetic changes that don’t alter functionality so it remains firmly out of the pay-to-play realm.
Let’s be honest, everyone knows I’ve got a serious weakness for game cosmetics. I’ve dropped thousands of dollars into skins for various games and I have a feeling Palia would be no different if I could make the things in my house as unique as my character!
Should I download Palia?
If you enjoy crafting, want a chill game to play either solo or with friends, and want to explore a new world with lovely characters – then yes, definitely download and play Palia (and be a pal and use my referral link to do it!) Definitely wishlist it on Nintendo Switch if you like to curl up and be cozy while playing cozy games.
This looks FABULOUS! Thanks for doing this!