Palia: A Beta Done Right

A breathtaking new world to explore, filled with stunning visuals and characters that might have you falling in love - here’s why I fell in love with Palia and I think you will too!

Palia, brought to us by the team at Singularity Six, is an open world high fantasy MMORPG in which you are a human, which would usually go against my rule of never playing a human in a fantasy game, except in this game simply being a human makes you a legendary race, because the humans disappeared thousands of years ago. Rather than battle based, Palia is community based and revolves around building up relationships with villagers, farming, fishing and similar activities. Sound familiar? That’s because Palia is inspired by games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. 

Now I don’t know about you, but if there’s ever an MMO that I needed, it’s an MMO inspired by Animal Crossing. You can even romance the villagers, if that’s what tickles your pickle. 

If I’m honest, Palia wasn’t even remotely near the top of my list of games to play this year. I was going to try it eventually and I signed up for the closed Beta, but I wasn’t too fussed whether I had to wait until general release for my chance to play it. 

However, having been accepted into the closed Beta and marvelled in the sheer beauty and joy that is this game, I am now hooked. As is my Husband. We’ve spent five hours playing, which I know doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but if I’ve been so utterly impressed by this game in the two hours I’ve managed to play, then that fills me with excitement for what’s to come. We’ve met robots and elves, encountered the most insanely adorable creatures I could imagine and even begun to build our houses. 

Why have I fallen so deeply in love with Palia? Keep reading to find out. 

The Setting

I mean, just look at it! It’s stunning! The art style is realistic enough to keep my attention but quaint enough to make me go “awww” multiple times. Not only is the world gorgeous, but it is absolutely huge. It was only by accident that my Husband and I stumbled across the fact that there are multiple maps to explore and we were perfectly happy with the size of the first one. 

The world seems so alive. It’s filled with random foraging opportunities, animals and bugs that you can hunt or capture and the villagers wander through the world, seemingly of their own accord. Having played other MMOs, I’m so used to going to a defined destination for a quest and having to run after an NPC in order to talk to them took me by surprise, resulting in me saying out loud “Hey wait, come back!”. 

The Personalities

This picture speaks for itself, too. There’s absolutely no shortage of character in Palia for you to get to know, befriend and like I said, romance if you so desire. From golems (like Einar, the friendly golem who runs the fishing shack) to elves to the best character I’ve met yet, the most loyal boy of all - Tau. 

As with Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, each character has a gift that they wish to receive, though you can also gift them other things. Talking to a villager will increase their friendship level, which I assume will eventually result in you getting the keys to their private rooms. I haven’t yet figured out whether you need to romance them in order to get their keys, but I’m excited to find out. 

There are also multiple dialogue options when you talk to a villager, each of which is accompanied by its own icon. My assumption is that these icons correlate with different character traits, which help you to build the story of your own character. 

The Community Aspect

Palia is an MMO so, obviously, you can play with others. While it’s fun and enjoyable alone, it is so much better with friends and you can play in a party of 1 to 25 players. With your party, you can build, forage, explore, hunt and even run around catching bugs. One thing that I’ve discovered is the fact that when playing in a party, loot drops for anyone who was directly involved with an action. For example, myself and my Husband went hunting together and the loot from our kills dropped for both of us. When gathering the randomly placed resources (plants that spawn in the open world) we could both gather from the same location. 

The same doesn’t apply when you are both occupying one private plot, which is fine, because having the ability to help clear space in someone else’s private plot is an amazing feature. Hell, having the ability to visit each other’s plots is a blessing in itself. 

I should also mention that there is a Kudos system which lets you give Kudos to other players for things they do within the game. I’m not sure what these Kudos go towards, but again, I’m excited to find out.

The Physics & Premium Shop

In an effort to fully test everything in the game (and absolutely not because I fell in love with an outfit), I purchased something from the Premium Shop. 

Now, I’ve come from FFXIV, which is and always will be my favourite MMO. However, FFXIV has one severe downfall - clothing physics. It doesn’t matter whether you craft a piece of gear, if you gain it as a reward or if you buy something from the cash store - the physics are lacking. I’m so used to stiff, nonmoving clothing that when I put on my Premium Shop item in Palia, I’m not ashamed to admit that I squealed in delight when I discovered that it actually moved. 

Is the Premium Shop a little expensive? Yes. However, I don’t think we can honestly hold that against the developers considering that Palia is currently in a free Beta testing stage. The last Beta I signed up for was Disney Dreamlight Valley and I’m not afraid to admit that I very quickly regretted that decision. Not only did I have to pay in order to test the game, I was left with a sour taste in my mouth due to the sheer amount of bugs, the lack of attention to detail and the many, many as-yet unfulfilled promises. On top of that, Gameloft then made the bizarre decision to introduce a Premium Store which includes items that are more expensive than an entire Sims 4 game pack. 

So yes, while you do need to spend some money if you want the outfits from the Premium Shop in Palia, I’m willing to do that considering everything else the game has to offer - for free. 

The Plot

Perhaps my favourite thing about Palia so far is the customisation options and methods when it comes to your own plot of land. Not only can you place items pretty much wherever you like within your plot, there is so much rotation! One of my biggest qualms with games like Disney’s Dreamlight Valley or Animal Crossing is the lack of rotation options. I very much enjoy the ability to put items on a diagonal and guess what? Not only can you place items on a diagonal, you can also place them just at a slight angle. I squealed in delight when not only did Einar give us what essentially equates to be Wall-E’s boot, you know the one with the little plant in it? But I could also place it diagonally on the table.

The area around your initial plot is currently locked, but presumably you will be able to purchase it for expansion later on. There seems to be no end to the items you can either craft yourself or buy from the furniture store, which means that every plot is going to look entirely unique to its owner. This level of customisation has been something I have desperately wanted in a game and now that I have it, I will be spending many hours making the perfect little home for my character. 

You should play Palia

If you’re wondering whether you should bite the bullet and download Palia, I have one question for you; why wouldn’t you? It’s free, it’s visually stunning and the UI is easy to navigate. Palia is easily the most relaxing, enjoyable and cosy feeling game I have played in years. There is nothing about this game that I do not enjoy and so far, at least, I’ve noticed no bugs or issues. 

Best of all, it’s free! All you have to do is go to Palia’s website, sign up for the open Beta and download the game. That’s it - no subscription, no payment to make and no real effort involved. Then all that’s left is for you to sit back, relax and immerse yourself in the world and characters of Palia.