A cozy MMO? Palia, a free-to-play MMO, has carved a niche for itself in the cozy gaming world. That’s right, it’s an MMO with no raids, no guilds battling for dominance, and no pressure to min-max your character. Instead, this visually stunning MMO focuses on the simple joys in life, set in a charming little community.

Reminiscent of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, you’ll spend days tending to crops, raising animals, crafting, and building relationships with quirky townsfolk. The art style is delightful, and the vibrant open world is begging to be explored — at your own pace. Befriending villagers through conversations, quests, and gift-giving unlocks backstories, new shops, new crafting recipes, and special areas.

But there’s room for improvement. Our biggest gripe with Palia is that it’s underdeveloped as an MMO. While you can see other players running around, interacting with them is limited to pre-written chat messages and basic emotes.

Our wishlist: We’re craving a more robust MMO with a more engaging gameplay loop, and more fleshed-out maps and servers, but considering that Palia is free-to-play, we’re more than happy to wait for patches. Another thing we’re surprised to miss is a swimming feature. Currently, if you wade into any body of water, you immediately drown.

You’ll probably want to play this game on PC for smoother FPS and overall sharper visuals. The Switch version works just fine — all its issues are to be expected of a port. Keep in mind that Palia is still in beta, so bugs in early access shouldn’t come as a surprise. That being said, Palia offers a lot at no necessary cost, and has infinite potential for growth.

? Rating: 6/10 on Steam, 95% on Google Reviews.

⌛ Hours of gameplay: The main story will take you around 70 hours, and all PlayStyles will take you 135 hours. If you’re looking to achieve 100%, you’ll have to sink 400 hours of your time. Catch the trailer here (runtime: 2:17).

? Platforms:Steam or Epic Games for PC, Nintendo Switch.

? Price: Free-to-play.

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