Palia Impressions

This year has been a massive year for the cozy game genre, with many wonderful games coming out (especially in October) to keep even the most hardcore Cozy enthusiast busy. Palia has been out on PC for a few months now, and at the Game Awards last week, it finally settled on today as the release date. With almost 10 hours under my belt, playing since 3am this morning, I thought I would share my thoughts on the game so far. What’s It Like? Sit back, chill out, and do whatever you please as we take a look at Palia on the Switch.

Let’s address the free-to-play elephant in the room. Palia is indeed a free-to-play MMO cozy game. The great news is that the microtransactions are cosmetic only, ranging from hiking gear, to flamboyant buccaneers, there is a style to suit everyone. Not once during my playtime was I prompted to buy anything, and I had to seek out the shop to see what it was all about. As a matter of fact, the only prompt I received was when I was in the shop about to purchase some coins that I would receive a free companion upon purchasing any amount of coins, and even then I had to navigate to it. Some outfits are expensive, yes. But all are completely optional and have no bearing on the game whatsoever.

Loading into the game is a breeze and you start by creating your avatar, and linking your account should you already have one. There’s a plethora of options when it comes to creating your avatar, and I’m very pleased to report that bearded gamers can rejoice as there’s a selection of facial hair you can have to make your avatar uniquely you. You are also able to change your appearance at any time in the game with no penalties or currencies which is a nice touch.

Palia is a gorgeous-looking game where you enter the world and can participate in it how you see fit. I would say it’s somewhat akin to Animal Crossing, but in MMO form with more realistic graphics. There’s a lot of crafting, gathering, and socialising as well as most of the standard tropes you get in a cozy game, but Palia manages to stand out of the crowd with its multiplayer aspect and exceptionally deep customization mechanics, ensuring that no 2 players houses are the same. The denizens of the world of Palia are incredibly expressive thanks to the wonderful animations, and the world feels very… alive.

Your world will center around your very own plot of land which you can expand. You start with a tent and build your way up to a house. When you finally build your house, there’s an 8-hour wait in real-time before it’s fully constructed, encouraging you to explore the world, gather materials, or make as much money as you can. This is one of the strengths of the game, there’s so much for you to explore despite the world being smaller than your standard MMO. Each corner of the world is filled with bugs to collect, fish to catch, or treasures to unearth.

You can farm for profit, growing and cooking crops for some decent coin, or you can smelt iron and sell that to fill your coffers. Crafting allows you to learn new recipes and construct furniture and decorations, and allows for a lot of personlisation. So far it’s very new and exciting. I’m still yet to move into my new house, I haven’t unlocked the glider yet, and there are a lot of dungeons waiting for me to explore. I will cover these in my full review in the next few weeks.

The game looks very sharp in docked mode, and while the resolution does take a small hit in handheld, both modes look great still and perform well. There are some performance hitches, mainly notable in the main town of Palia, and due to the lower quality of my internet connection, I did notice some movement-based stutter when sprinting around the world. I would say people with a standard internet connection may not experience these issues at all.

You can create guilds called “Communities” so you can stick with your friends, and the developers encourage a very friendly playing atmosphere. You can even donate goods or make requests should you be stuck for time or resources to get your next job done. It’s all very well thought out.

Palia is most definitely worth jumping into on Switch, especially since it’s free of charge. Players will find themselves in a large world full of things to do. There isn’t any combat with the exception of hunting, player interaction can be as limited as you want it to be, and you can just hang out by yourself exploring the world or building a sanctuary if you want. Like the loading screen that reassures players you will be home soon, Palia is most certainly at home on the Nintendo Switch.

Stay tuned for a full review soon.