Palia

For any considering this game: The game itself is (was) a beautiful concept that has long since lost it's luster beneath the heavy focus of mini "content" releases that are really just dangled bait to keep those who loved the game from the start to keep playing in the hopes that some kind of serious content drop is coming. The game I fell in love with is gone. In it's place is a FOMO nightmare of timed event chores. Coveted plushies and nameplates and achievements are locked behind a ridiculously high RNG rate. Ranch animal grow old and become useless if you are offline for any significant length of time. And the devs have turned to the number one sin that kills most games (especially EA) microtransactions. The absolute shift in focus to creating paid store content rather than real playable content should be sign enough to walk away. It certainly feels like the Devs have. Every micro-release only brings more of the same. Yes, it is FtP. But that doesn't excuse the fact there has not been a major content release in over a year. A year. The storyline just - falls off a cliff - and what remains leaves no point in continuing once you reached the end of it. Yes, it is rumored that the devs were bought out by another company which proceeded to fire most of the staff. If that is true - that's enough red flags for me to walk away for good. Maybe one day I'll be proven wrong and something will change - but I cannot in good faith recommend or continue to support this game in any respect.

It is very sad to write this review after spending so much time in the game, but it is what it is. I really loved and still love this game, but not as much as before. Since the time when the game was just starting to show potential, a lot of time has passed. And time is not working in Palia’s favor. The potential was incredible. I really like the setting, the style, the vibe, and the community of the game, but all of this fades when the game does not develop and releases small patches for years that do not improve the gameplay, but only slow it down. I used to be a developer, I know how things usually work from the inside. Making a game that most people enjoy is a heavy burden, and I always try to be understanding towards the development team, but I do not understand how it is possible to do almost nothing over so many years. Yes, I see that bugs are being fixed. Yes, I see that furniture is being added. And yes, I see outfits and mini events, and sometimes, if they feel like it, the story also gets updated. But I do not understand why all of this takes so long. It feels like the developers are not interested in their own game. For example, furniture from locations. The assets for these 3D models already exist. Changing colors or adding them to the game is not that difficult. Usually, this kind of task takes about a week, but in this game it can be stretched to a year, which is very strange to me. Events and mini games are always the same, and there is no interest in playing them, even if they have unique rewards. They are not worth farming the same event over and over again with small changes. During all the time I have been playing, there has not been a new event or a new mini game like hot pot or chapa catching. In other games this is added in months, but here they cannot refresh the gameplay even in years. Many long time players have already farmed almost everything and completed everything. There is no development of new skills, no long story content that takes more than a few hours or a week, no game modes to have fun while waiting for updates, and no automation for high level skills that would make sense when endless grinding no longer has a purpose. The farming system is very strange. It took me about two weeks to completely lose interest in it. Animal farming is just another routine that becomes boring no matter what animals you add. Animals do nothing, they do not move around, you cannot herd them or walk them, you cannot wash them, take them home, or show them off with different variations. There are no goals like raising a specific animal and selling it or anything like that. Where is the gameplay? Why is there only grinding for the sake of more grinding? Explain to me why there are so many bad outfits in the shop that are not cheap, when those efforts could be used to add a new crafting system like tailoring basic clothes for regular players. You even have an NPC who sews. Why would I buy things if I have nothing to play? I built houses, I almost completed all achievements, I finished all quests, I know all events and all animals, I have almost maxed out relationships with all NPCs except the new one. Why are there no new NPCs? Why are there no new cities? I am very disappointed. When I was waiting for Elderwood, I thought I would spend three to five months actively playing, with a lot to do, but it only lasts about a month and then it is just farming and nothing else. The randomness is so extreme that you can catch an epic fish on the first try or after a month of playing seven hours a day. This is not normal. It should not be like this. Artificially extending gameplay in this way is very strange. I really love building in this game, it is its biggest advantage. But again, after all this time, do the developers not see that players use bugs to rotate objects? Why not add this as a proper feature? If it is possible with bugs, why not make it normal instead of making players struggle for ten minutes just to place a book horizontally on a table instead of vertically? I honestly want to keep loving this game, and I still hope it will become something bigger. But right now, every time an update comes out, I feel angry and disappointed. If you are not planning to fully commit to the game, you can try it casually, it will keep you busy for a while. But after that, if you want progress, you will end up waiting forever, hoping and giving up just like me. If I and my friends alone have so many ideas, imagine how many ideas the community has and how much could be added, even small things that would improve the gameplay instead of just adding more grind. Thank you for your attention. I wish everyone good games and hope for the best.