Recently, there’s been an abundance of life simulation games appearing on the scene. The success of titles like ConcernedApe’s Stardew Valley and Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons has inspired numerous other developers to experiment with this genre, creating relaxing experiences infused with distinct gameplay elements. For instance, Singularity 6’s Palia stands out by transforming the genre into a sort of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), where you interact with a world that is simultaneously inhabited by other players. Most recently, the game has introduced fresh content through its Elderwood expansion.
In the game Palia, players are gently immersed into a mysterious and enchanting realm, provided with enough incentive and a subtle storyline hook to spark interest; you assume the character of a newly-arisen human who’s appeared thousands of years after the entire human race became extinct. While many questions about this situation linger, they can be addressed later. For now, it’s crucial that you get acclimated to this peculiar new environment by securing a home, learning how to create tools and earn income, and above all, building connections with others.
In the heart of the game, Palia, the initial narrative serves as a guide to set up your home complete with crafting stations, cooking areas, and a plot for vegetable cultivation. However, as the tale unfolds, it transcends these simple beginnings and delves into something more substantial. A significant portion of the story involves you discovering ancient ruins and tackling simple yet intriguing puzzles. The intervals between dungeon explorations are occasionally filled with tasks that seem to merely extend the gameplay, giving the impression of excess padding in an already lengthy and grinding experience.
From the get-go, I’ve got the freedom to bypass the settling part of this game and instead, venture out on my own for some solo exploration.
As a gamer, I’ve found that while Palia does have a narrative to follow, it’s quite lengthy, repetitive, and frankly, not very engaging. However, what truly shines in this game is its life simulation elements. The extinction of humanity serves as an intriguing opening, but the core of Palia lies in its home-building and decoration, resource gathering, interacting with villagers, and potentially earning some in-game currency to buy additional items. The game isn’t particularly invested in you unearthing lost history; instead, it encourages you to immerse yourself in other aspects of the game.
In the realm of Palia, there are three main areas: Kilima Valley, Bahari Bay, and the latest expansion, Elderwood. From the start, players have the freedom to bypass the farming elements of the game and venture out on their own expeditions. Despite this flexibility, the game is structured with a development arc in mind. Activities like chopping trees, mining minerals, or hunting animals and their furs in Bahari Bay will only become possible once you’ve acquired your initial gear upgrades, for example.
In the game Palia, though the progression system may seem straightforward, it certainly does not skimp on complexity. Your primary abilities are categorized and as you engage in activities associated with these categories, your proficiency grows. For example, by chopping down trees frequently, you’ll enhance your foraging skill. Similarly, cultivate, tend to, and reap enough crops to boost gardening, or catch fish and hunt game to improve your fishing and hunting abilities respectively. These skills can then influence others; the items you gather from gardening, foraging, mining, and hunting can be utilized to prepare food, which has its own skill level to advance.
When you advance a skill, you gain access to fresh crafting blueprints that propel you deeper into that area. Achieving level 3 in mining, for instance, allows you to enhance your mining tool, enabling you to mine larger, tougher, and more precious minerals that can subsequently be employed to fabricate other items. In essence, Palia promotes diversifying your skills and interacting with almost every game feature. Fundamentally, these abilities serve the purpose of helping you create furniture to adorn your home.
The primary emphasis in this game is on designing both the interior and exterior of spaces. You’re provided with a variety of resources to construct your ideal home. Moreover, you can exhibit your creation to other players by either hosting tours for friends or making your house open to the public, allowing virtually anyone a peek at your design skills.
In Palia, you won’t find traditional combat as such. Instead, the hunting mechanic offers a unique form of interaction where you employ a bow to target and shoot at creatures roaming around the world. Continuous hits will cause them to disappear in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind pelts, meat, and potentially valuable items for sale. The creatures don’t retaliate, and there is no player health system or possibility of death within the game.
“When it comes to combat, there just isn’t any of it in Palia.”
In essence, Palia is similar to a comforting video game embrace, but it’s worth mentioning that it has a tendency to consume your time. The process of refining materials takes considerable time, with a single copper bar requiring around 3 minutes to produce and you typically needing anywhere from 5 to 15 for various in-game tasks. Additionally, there’s a lot of running around within the game due to its multiplayer focus, meaning you can’t fast-forward time like other games do. Instead, you might find yourself waiting for vendors to open or for that final stone brick to become available, which can result in lengthy periods of screen-gazing.
In the recent significant update for the game Palia, known as the Elderwood expansion, there are numerous new elements introduced to the game. This includes an entirely new zone to explore and a chance to meet a fresh villager as you journey through the enigmatic Elderwood. Scattered throughout the storyline are clues that can be uncovered, although these primarily manifest as a sequence of independent quests which may generate more questions than they answer. The expansion does not reveal any major secrets about Elderwood; instead, you might come across some journal pages that suggest something larger, though this never fully develops into a climactic conclusion.
Regarding further details about Palia, Elderwood offers some additional activities, primarily due to the introduction of new animals to trap, a different type of tree to fell, new fish to reel in, and these elements combine to create new crafting recipes. The diversity of these new recipes includes Elderwood-themed furniture and food that provide various advantages. In essence, this expansion seamlessly fits within the larger game, however, it lacks a distinct identity of its own.
Regrettably, the music in Palia lacks excitement. The score aims to spark awe with its heavy reliance on strings and piano in orchestral pieces, but it often falls flat and becomes generic and unmemorable. Unfortunately, the overall sound design isn’t much improved, as sounds for actions like mining or hunting animals with an arrow offer little significant contribution to the gameplay experience. Consequently, during gameplay, you might find that the audio in Palia blends into the background and may even lead you to lower the volume and focus on other activities.
In simple terms, the most recent significant update for the game Palia is called the Elderwood expansion, and it includes quite a few new elements to make the game more interesting.
In the free-to-play game, Palia, there are opportunities to spend real-world money, but none of the purchases impact the actual gameplay. Instead, most items available for purchase are fashion-related, such as different outfits and pet options, which might be a concern for players who place emphasis on character customization in games like this. Additionally, you can buy skins for tools. While I don’t find these microtransactions bothersome given the free nature of the game, since there are no time-saving items to pressure spending, some players may find the store intrusive because customizing your home and character is a significant aspect of Palia.
In essence, since Palia is free-to-play, it has room for flexibility regarding the amount and pacing of content in its expansions, including periods of waiting. Regarding life-sim games, Palia performs admirably well, and the multiplayer aspect adds a sense of liveliness to the world due to numerous players moving about as you explore. However, it’s important to note that the grind in this game is significant, and those seeking more active or action-packed experiences may not find much appeal in Palia, even with the addition of the Elderwood expansion.
This game was reviewed on PC.
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2025-05-20 20:12