Palia
Palia is a vibrant new world made just for you. Craft, cook, fish, and farm with friends as you live the life of your dreams and discover an enchanting adventure filled with colorful characters and a mystery to unravel.
Welcome Home
Welcome to Palia, a cozy community sim MMO made for you and your friends! Explore a vibrant new world and craft the life of your dreams and befriend the colorful characters around you.
Do What You Love
Fish and farm or cook and catch insects – you can live off the land any way you like! Tend to your home plot and nurture your garden or explore Kilima Valley and Bahari Bay to forage for items, ingredients, and rare critters.
An Always-Evolving Adventure
Unravel a deep mystery about what happened to ancient humans as you reappear in a world alongside other players. Befriend the local Majiri, learn their backstories, foster relationships, and maybe even romance! Be sure to give back to the community by providing gifts and honing your skills in fishing, hunting, crafting, and more.
Make Your House a Home
Customize your character and build the home of your dreams! With hundreds of craftable items and customizable options, you can decorate your plot to make your home uniquely yours.
Better Together
Play solo or jump in with friends at any time! Palia is a friendly, cozy community that’s always here to welcome you home. Discover a shared world full of players and new friends and enjoy your adventure together.
Steam User 191
I have been playing this game since June 2023. (not on steam)
It has come a long way in that time, I do enjoy this game but as much as I want to say everyone should play this game, you should know a couple things.
Once you finish the quests/friendships/relationships/collected everything there is nothing to do except redecorate your 5 plots over and over again and try beat the tower... that pretty much it.
There isn't enough things to spend your renown on, so once you've bought everything, and you hit your cap of 1,000. The rest is just wasted (so you wont want to progress)
there is a gold cap of 300,000 and a storage cap of 10,000 items. - With this, once you hit either or both caps, you wont want to play as everything after that is wasted.
This is a good game. It really is. But my god, they try SO hard to stop you progressing too quickly.
- 9 Farm Land, even though I can buy 5 housing plots and have to share the 9 farm land over 5 plots? Give me 9 per plot... or just unlimited...
- The storage and gold caps are purely there to stop you from hoarding too much gold or items so when they do put out an update you're held back a bit. (Which is dumb)
- no trading between players, only gift requests (and players can only request what they've already collected/unlocked) (Also, you can't gift star quality items)
- Honestly. Think Clash of Clans, but 3rd person and on PC. You'll be waiting hours for things to smelt, pickle, grow, and build... as well as waiting 24 hours to gift people or NPC's, an hour to use the black market.
Oh and if you happen to be running round mining, you best hope you're close enough to the person in front, or all the ores you want will vanish before you get a chance to mine them, and you'll be waiting for those to re-spawn.
- There are many other complaints, but you're best off looking at the Palia Discord for the most up to date issues.
TLDR.
Yes, its worth playing.
You will spent a lot of time waiting in this game.
You're forced to play slowly.
Steam User 177
I love this game. It's perfect for someone like myself who just wants to listen to a podcast and do occasionally rewarding nonsense like kill a thousand deer for a chance at getting a cute plushie, or mining two million nodes of rock and iron because sometimes it drops you a neat placeable gem. The community's mostly chill and cool and, as someone who is extremely suspicious of monetisation in f2p games, I have to note this game down as one of the only ones - if not the only one, period - where I don't feel like I'm being scammed every moment of my game time. I actually like putting money into the game's premium store cosmetics solely because it feels like money I'm choosing to give to support the development, rather than feeling that I'll be missing out if I don't pay. 10/10 points for the player-friendly approach on that.
What I don't like about this game is that RNGesus hates me and every in-game night I can hear Zeki laughing at me in his sleep across the valley. I think he's personally rigged his gambling machine to never drop anything but clam meat and carrot seeds for me and me specifically.
Waiting excitedly for the eventual implementation of a weather system, so I can continue exploring the world and lore in rain for a change.
Steam User 170
I have been playing since last year August on other platforms, in total I have 100+ hours in the game at least.
TL/DR
I really like this game, because it hits just the right spot for me in multiple ways: cozy, grindy at times, great creative outlet, storytelling and world building is great, music is beautiful, can play solo and with friends too.
Detailed version
What I like about the game:
Music and SFX:
Music is beautiful and sound design is one of the best I've heard in a game. For example each shop has their own version of the main village theme played with different instruments reflecting the owner of the building. Each foragable plant has their own unique sound effect so you can easily notice if you are near one.
Loveable characters:
The NPCs are unique and interesting, even the ones I did not like originally have interesting backstories and some was even able to turn me around and make me like them. The friendship and relationship system is nice and flexible, you are not tied to 1 or 2 NPCs.
Story:
The world and story of Palia is very interesting and it is a continious journey that is getting expanded with each update. Devs said that the game is planned to be moving forward, so if you join later, there will be extra NPCs that will get introduced to you differently compared to how they are right now. This makes the game evolving throughout its lifetime.
Decoration and building:
I really like the building system, which is also getting continously expanded. You can decorate and shape your house inside, and you can decorate your plot of land fully outside. With the steam release now we have flowers and different stages of growing trees. Developer update letter confirmed that they are working on expanding the building and decoration system (such as paths, modular buildings with multiple levels, and many more things).
Cooking system:
Cooking system is the most fun and interactive system I had tried in similar games and I'm really happy that you can do it with other players.
Multiplayer aspect:
I appriciate that the game is fully playable alone, with friends, and with total random people too. I have players from the other side of the world whom I play with regularly. We cook together, gather resources, hunt and catch bugs together. Especially with cooking it's very nice when you help each other out with recipes to complete achievements and quests. You can also help your buddy with watering their crops. The request system also makes it easy to help out other players.
Options:
You can either buy recourses or go ahead and collect them. If I am feeling lazy about collecting and creating woodplanks, I can just go to town and buy it from Sifuu's store.
Set your own goals:
I love that I can do however I feel like at that day. If I want to do quests I can do that, if I only want to decorate my house for 8 hours, I can do that as well. There is no repurcussion to putting off quests, or gathering, or other parts of the system.
Shared resources:
Anyone who has targeted a resource will get the resource (2-3 player hits the same rock, all of them get the same amount of resource; 5 of you hit the same bug, all of you get the bug; etc)
No pay to win:
Only thing you can buy for money is cosmetic items (clothes, pets, glider skins). The cash shop is put into your face exactly once and then no annoying popups or reminders ever again. Cash shop uses an ingame currency, but the monetization is set up in a way that you can fully spend all the ingame currency you bought (no leftover).
What I don't like / What I would like to be improved:
Communities are underutilized:
There is a community system, which is basically a guild system, but you can't do much with it other then have a common chat for the members.
Better first time experience:
When I started the usage of renown wasn't very clear. Also there needs to be a better tutorial about how resource sharing works, because lot's of new people thought that resources are not shared when both of you target the same resource.
Earneable clothes:
The basic clothes are usable (game has about 15 free outfits), but it would be nice to have some non-real-money clothes that one could earn through gameplay. Same with pets.
Local prices in monetization:
Currently everything is in USD/EUR and there are no lower prices for poorer countries.
Bugs:
Game has quite a few bugs in it, which the devs are working on fixing, but sometimes fixed bugs come back, or some nasty bugs take months to fix. It would be nice to see improvents in this area. I myself have never faced a bug that would cut me from progressing, but lots of others did have such bugs.
More voiced lines:
Dialogs are not voiced; NPCs have some quotes that they say when you start and finish interacting with them. Would love to hear actual voiced lines.
Weather:
Currently there is only sunny weather. I would love to see rain, thunderstorms, snow and fog in the game. Also changing seasons would be awesome too.
Steam User 303
I decided to do my review to explain in as much detail as possible what game Palia is.
I've been playing this game since long before it was put here on Steam.
I'm sorry to see so many negative reviews, especially made by players who have played for a few minutes or a few hours or simply don't know how to do/craft some things and therefore decide to put negative reviews.
Palia has a well-organized wiki where you will find everything you need or don't understand during the gameplay.
I won't talk about any bugs and glitches that the game has at the moment since I personally have never had any major problems.
For whoever wrote that this game is a survival game, no, that's not true.
This is not a survival game, you only have to eat so you can have energy to continue gathering, crafting or working, you don't have to sleep, you have no health bar, there are no enemies and there is no combat.
You cannot die. You can stay away from home even during the night.
The only combat there is when you go hunting animals with your bow.
I personally really like the audio (especially the sounds of nature, the sounds of the animations, etc.) and the graphics.
The animations when cooking and crafting are very nice (obviously this is quite subjective).
I've read reviews where people say you have to spend $50 for a skin, that's not entirely true.
With €8.50 you can buy 850 Palia coins with which you can buy a skin and you will also receive 1 pet.
The only thing you can buy with coins are skins.
It's not a game where there are rankings or you have to feel forced or in a hurry to do/get everything right away.
You can play at your own pace whether it's a few/many hours a day or during the week.
There are many things you can do: skilling your skills (8 skills in total at the moment), you can dedicate yourself to quests, friendship/romance relationships with NPCs, explore Kilima Valley and Bahari Bay, build and decorate your plot and your house.
The skills are: cooking, hunting, foraging, furniture making, bug catching, gardening, mining and fishing.
You can choose the way you want to play, whether to play with your friends and/or random people you meet in the game or do things on your own with your own pace and commitment.
I recommend this game to all people who love this genre.
If you are a new player or are about to try the game you can send me a friend request and ask me for the info you need.
Steam User 143
I don't normally write reviews, but I'm surprised by the mixed responses to Palia. I've put many hours in (pre-steam) and personally find it to be a really fresh and enjoyable take on your standard farming/life sim.
First, I just want to admit that Palia is for those of us who like open-ended games. If you like a linear type of game that holds your hand and tells you what to do, you probably won't enjoy Palia. But if you like sandboxy experiences where you get to choose what to do at any given moment, you might love it.
Palia brings "cozy" to a whole new level by cutting out the minor stresses and anxieties that other farming sims can create. There is no need to do inventory management, NPCs are always accessible (even after they've gone to sleep!) so you can always talk to them when you need to, EVERYTHING that you place can be moved at any time (even crops!), there is no need to rush back to your house to sleep at night, and the "energy" (focus) bar provides XP bonuses only, so there's no penalty for letting it fall empty. They really did a good job of removing all forms of stress from this game.
What might be my favorite thing about Palia is that there are actually times when your dialogue choices matter. In most games (even our beloved Stardew) when an NPC asks for something and you do it, they say "thanks" and that's the end of it. In Palia, there are times when your dialogue choices actually do influence what happens next, and how an NPC interacts with you. You might give an answer they don't like, and they may get mad at you (and then send you a letter later apologizing). It may not make a huge impact, but it does make the interactions feel much more meaningful. The NPCs also have a decent amount of dialogue and I don't feel like they're recycling the same five lines on me over and over.
When it comes to performance, I haven't encountered any game-breaking bugs. The worst bug I have encountered (once or twice) was a friend getting stuck at the oven, causing us to have to wait out the clock on our recipe and losing a few ingredients. Other than that, I have had a solid experience on PC.
And when it comes to paid outfits... C'mon guys. It's a free game with completely optional, purely cosmetic purchases. You can enjoy the entire game without spending a cent, and I really don't understand why people are mad about that.
Steam User 182
Glad this game is finally on Steam! In case you're wondering, you don't need to start over. Just link your Palia account and you can just continue the game where you left off!
Steam User 59
This is a single-player farming & decorating sim with optional social elements - not an MMO. If you enjoy games like "My Time at Portia / Sandrock", you'll love this.
If you're an MMO player that skips the text for quests, an original backer who expected an MMO, or don't like Animal Crossing - your interest will wane fast. Also, the "endgame" is house decorating. If that doesn't scare you off, continue on.
It has many features you'd expect from the genre, like farming, crafting, fishing, interior design, hunting, bug catching, cooking, mining, foraging, romancing NPCs & so on. However, unlike other offline farming sims, the twist is that 25 random humans from your regional server will be running around your map.
You change servers every time you change maps, meaning that you'll probably never see the same people again. Also, some server regions (e.g. APAC) contain so many countries & languages that it's impossible to communicate. Many play on Switches & don't type at all. While there's very little community-building, I think it makes the world feel more alive. You can completely ignore other people if you wish & treat them like background extras, as the amount of social activities can be counted on one hand.
The "cash shop" is sparse, purely cosmetic & uninteresting. Not even a gacha box (shocking). There are some uncreative player costumes & a handful of glider skins. I have never opened a microtransaction shop & left wanting more, but they somehow managed it.
My biggest critique is that Palia is not grindy enough. Even compared to other offline farming sims, you obtain or level most things too fast. Things that might take a year in a real MMO can be obtained in days. The "Focus boost" feature is like a permanent EXP boost for everything if you keep it up.
It's also way too easy to farm gold (by literally farming) as a new player. So if you're into that & are new, focus on spending gold on obtaining soil plots, crafting licenses & Seed Collectors first - then farm Bok Choy, Potatoes, Rice & Wheat (planted in a pattern where you get 100% Harvest Boost coverage) to turn into seeds endlessly. Sell the excess seeds. Log in every hour after the in-game hourly rollover time (6 AM in-game) to tend to the crops. Then keep unlocking more licenses & making more Seed Collectors with the income. You'll have more crops than you can process, so sell any excess. Once you have enough starred crops (they're worth more), only process the starred crops to turn into starred seeds. Eventually, you'll unlock Preserve Jars & upgraded storage. At this point you might have 10-20 crop processors in total. Start processing the starred Bok Choy & Potatoes into preserves instead of seeds. Repeat. I noticed all the "garden generator" sites & fan-made gold charts don't take into account the crop processing time, which makes them completely misleading if you want to min-max.
There are also a lot of visual & UI bugs. Things like NPCs, players & mobs being stuck in animations, flying, going underground & so on. Or getting stuck infinite-fishing. The "/unstuck" chat command will be your friend. Nothing too serious.
I also noticed there's a legal third-party map addon that the developers have said is acceptable, which I don't like. It's the equivalent of a "node radar" bot in a typical MMO. You can get a customizable live map of your game & show all rare nodes (Flow Trees, Palium) & rare creatures updated to the second. However, as the game has zero anti-cheat features whatsoever (you can do basically anything if you're tech-savvy), you can see why there are so little social features. Even adding an auction house would completely break the game.
You might have also heard about the company's layoffs. As an MMO veteran who has witnessed shutdowns aplenty, I wouldn't worry about it. This is essentially a low-maintenance solo offline game with little upkeep on their part. I saw that new locations were already datamined, so they're clearly still working on it.
Whatever the case, it's free. You have nothing to lose except your time. And trust me, this game might use up a lot of yours!