Summary
Paliais breaking new ground by combining the MMO and Cozy genres. Games likeStardew Valleyhave allowed their audience to play with friends, andAnimal Crossinghas had limited multiplayer support for multiple entries, butPaliamakes multiplayer the focus. The game entered into its beta in August and, since then, has received a steady stream of new content and features alongside the expected bug fixes. It may be receiving consistent support in the form of cosmetics, quality-of-life updates, and more, but the game needs to provide players with something more substantial. Palia has a lot of potential as a game, but it is not living up to it fully.
ArecentPaliaupdateadded several cosmetics alongside system-level overhauls. These changes allowed for players to build more, enhanced customization, and gave players some other small things to do in the world. A smaller update followed in the middle of the month, adding one new huntable creature and a new NPC to meet, Subira.Palia’s new customization options help to make players feel more connected to their character, but more substantial content will be needed to keep the player invested in the world.
New Customization Options inPaliaVersion 0.172
Palia Needs More Creatures To Hunt
Palia’s newest update also overhauled the building limit for players. Now, 3000 objects can be placed instead of the previous 2000, and the housing add-on limit was doubled, now sitting at 30. These updates allow for Palians to create bigger homes and be more creative in doing so. In the future, however, Singularity 6 needs to make the world that those homes are in bigger, better and more feature-filled. This month, the game received the Muujin, a third huntable creature. This is a step in the right direction, but there is still a lot ofchangesPalianeedsto succeed.
The Muujin Is A Step In The Right Direction
The newly huntable Muujin is a great start, butPalianeeds more huntable creatures. Adding new creatures means that there can be a wider variety of resources, making crafting more interesting as well. These hunts can also be made attractive in their own right. The Muujin will hide from players in trees, meaning that players must watch where it flees. If it goes into aFlow Tree, then the player will require help to get it out, but it will become a rarer variant. Hunting Muujin is more engaging than other creatures in the game, and the creative puzzle-solving necessary to do so is something that future huntable creatures should build on.
Palia Needs More Areas to Explore
Paliacurrently has two main areas, Kilma Valley and Bahari Bay. Updates have included new explorable rooms and buildings within these locales, but the game needs more major zones. These zones could house new activities, different creatures to hunt, and more resources to gather. A new zone would also expandfishing in Paliasince each of the two existing zones has unique fish to catch. Exploring is only a small part of the appeal ofPalia, but right now, its map is small for an MMO, and having more for players to see and do would help to make the game feel more engaging for longer.
Community is a pillar ofPalia, both the one formed by players and the one the developers have created with NPCs. New zones would allow for the developers to add more NPCs to romance and interact with and more for the community of players to do. So far the game’s updates have provided more to craft and build, but with a limited variety of resources and so few creatures to hunt, the gameplay loop runs the risk of growing repetitive and tedious.Paliais a unique game; more substantial content additions would help it live up to its true potential.
