Palia

I've read a lot of other players' reviews before deciding to post one of my own. In each and every of them I found things I feel about Palia too - frustration, disappointment, sadness, sometimes even anger. It was once a very good game, whimsical, and a very promising one. I started playing long before it came to Steam and enjoyed it so much. I was obsessed. With everything - the world, the NPCs, the achievements. And, of course, with the building system. For me, Palia was like a book - catching and exiting, a small world of my own. Cosmetics has always been in the Premium shop, and it's always been rather expensive. Sure enough, there were cheaper (and less cool-looking) outfits as well. I even bought some to support the devs - though I'm a bad player and could only afford cheaper ones. Still, I find outfit skins a good way of making money through F2P game. Later, they started adding premium tool skins, glider skins, housing plot skins, even emotions. That still felt quite okay - well, I thought, they need money, just like any business does. Premium mailboxes and shipping bins were the first wake-up call for me. Previously existent premium features (except maybe for plot landscapes, but I'm ok with them) had nothing to do with our housing plots. And in Palia, decorating your housing plot is part of core gameplay cause your gather resources for building your home and you get cool furniture and other stuff to place on your plot in open world, through quests, NPCs' friendship, etc. Things that can be placed on your plot are often a reward for activities you engage in. That being said, you could spend a lot of time and effort making a house of your dreams, but that stupid default shipping bin ruined everything. And there were people who could just pay and get better one. And for a game centered at building and decorating your plot, things that can be placed at your plot should be earn in-game and not though the Premium shop. That's it. Updates have become consistent as of late, but every time you open new patch notes, you see 1/3 of the current update info and 2/3 of Premium shop updates. To say that's frustrating is to say nothing. Devs spend so much time on premium cosmetics - yet so little on the game itself. New content is lacking, bugs persist through YEARS. Today's the 11th day I'm waiting for a reply on my ticket about the 'Scholar of the Flames' accomplishment that has known to be bugged for MORE THAN 2 YEARS. And it's still not fixed. Really, devs? Finally, the update 0.206 (08/26/2026) introducing 'premium storage' became the final nail in the coffin for me. The devs that had promised not to monetize core gameplay broke their word. Storing your stuff is a core feature in Palia, that's for sure. There're really a lot of items in this game and a maximum of 18 000 FREE storage space. It may not be enough, but it makes you manage it carefully and not to stock up on everything for future bundle boards etc. The devs definitely do not want us to store 1k of every resource and log in once a month to just fill the new bundle board and collect its reward. They want us to play and grind consistently, and I understand that. (What I don't understand is how people with several plots manage their storage. I have only one and it's not enough.) The idea of premium storage sucks. Devs, you created the problem of not enough storage space yourself - and you bring us the solution on a silver platter. Just pay, you say, and you're done. Don't think we're stupid, we see to this. The premium storage is ridiculously expensive and overpriced, but I don't care how much it costs. I only care that this 'feature' exists. And as long as it exists, I can not recommend this game to anyone. I say nothing of battle passes, of premium pets, of animals you ranch for free but can't take with you without paying for it and other things other players have already mentioned. But it's sad to see a game with such potential and love dying. A game I really loved and enjoyed. I don't want to say 'RIP'. I hope the devs will see their players' reaction and all these negative reviews, and as a result, the premium storage will be removed. But as of right now, a F2P game has become a P2W game. Not recommend.

They lied about not monetizing core aspects of the game. This used to be a cozy free to play game but now they put storage and plushies behind paywalls, also if you have a horse or more guess what riding them is also behind a paywall too. I now regret spending money on this game for cosmetics to give support to the creators who seem to have gone greedy for money. For now I recommend Starsand island for an actual free cozy game that doesn’t hide core gameplay behind paywalls.

Greed Always had this as I "I'll come back to this when life calms down" game. But nah. Way too much greed. Shame, so many truly seem to love this game and the devs just kick them around. Paid storage is and always will be a "We are testing to see how much we can get away with" type of microtransaction that always leads to more in the worst of ways. It's been evident - and the video "Paylia" describes this beautifully, that this is no surprise and has been slowly creeping in for some time. Devs create the storage problem - sell the solution. Gross.

A neutral review, I love this game but toxic positivity is killing this game. Therefore, I am writing my review here where it cannot be deleted. This game now pushes constant updates that are not really meaningful to keep you playing this video game by introducing the bulletin board which feels more like a chore that I have to focus on if I want to get time limited rewards rather than being able to do things that I actually want to do in this game since I play casually. The introduction of more storage behind a paywall is slimey, however, I am more worried about the fact that the revenue from this game does not seem to be spent on this game which is evident from constant bugs that continues to infest this game. Therefore, I can only assume that the revenue goes to Daybreak who only want to line their pockets rather than the actual devs of Palia who are the only ones that can make this game better for all of us. With the introduction of more storage placed behind a paywall in a time where I feel that I have to hoard more things for the bulletin board(as I play periodically), I feel this game is trying to introduce a more fomo-like structure and gods know what else they will place behind a paywall(more decor limit perhaps? Crafting Limit?). As someone in this community, I would like to say I do not accept this step in direction.

I Want to Love This Game, But I Can't Recommend It Right Now. The update cycle increasingly feels like: New update → new bugs → “We're investigating” → next update → new bugs → repeat. At some point, this stops being reassuring and starts becoming a pattern. Bugs happen. This is a huge live-service game, and I don't expect everything to work perfectly. But after around two years of beta, I expect the testing and development process to be improving. Some bugs are especially frustrating when they affect things players already paid for. S6 previously said they wanted to focus monetization on cosmetics, yet we're now getting paid storage. If you're going to charge players for features, those features need to work reliably. There are also issues with players not receiving titles and other rewards they're supposed to get. These aren't things that should repeatedly slip through testing. And whenever people bring up these problems, there's always the same response: “It's a free-to-play game, the devs need to eat!”, “It's still in beta!” How long can we keep using those arguments? Being in beta should mean the game is actively improving and the development process is getting more reliable. It shouldn't be a permanent excuse for recurring problems. Deadlock is a good example. It also chose the beta/early-development approach, yet still showed a huge amount of progress within its first year. The problem isn't that Palia is in beta. The problem is that the same patterns keep repeating. I don't expect Palia to be perfect. I just want better post-update testing and more consistency, especially when real money is involved. I really want Palia to succeed. There is a genuinely great game here, and a community that clearly cares about it. But that goodwill isn't unlimited. I'm leaving this as a negative review because I want to see the game improve, not because I want to see it fail. Right now, though, I simply can't recommend it.

I loved this game for the first 200 hours. It felt like they put time, effort and love into their world and their characters. Now, it is a barely functional, buggy disaster where the micro transactions and Cash Shop talk and everything else walks. Huge pass from me until something changes. Also, ranching is garbage.

Paid storage (P2W)