Palia is finally on Steam, but it’s not all roses

Palia, the cosy MMO from Singularity6, is now officially available on Steam. However, despite a myriad of updated content added in time for the latest platform addition in Palia’s repertoire, the reviews remain firmly seated in the ‘mixed’ category.

Patch 0.178 has bloomed (pun intended), and now Palia players can gather flower seeds by capturing bugs, attempt to conquer the Temple of the Roots, finally get their hands on the remaining Emberborn furniture pieces, and even pretend to get married in Bride and Groom attire. 

Though the biggest news to come out of Patch 0.178 and Palia’s Steam debut is the massive — both literally and figuratively — Frogbert. This plush grew to this gargantuan size thanks to a huge number of people adding Palia to their wishlist on Steam prior to release and will now be waiting for anyone who plays, new and veteran players alike. 

However, there is a dark cloud looming over the Steam release of Palia with the accompanying mixed reviews. The feedback comes from new and old players alike, but the biggest stand-out complaints include:

• Overpriced Premium Store items, with one bundle of purely cosmetic items costing more than major new releases and no way to earn cosmetic items in-game
• Lack of ability to link Palia and Steam accounts if you’ve already opened the game, losing any progress made on other platforms permanently
• Updates launched too quickly, many of which have rendered a previously functioning feature completely broken
• Severe lack of end-game content, despite the countless updates that have been received
• Game not advertised as beta or early access on Steam, despite this status never officially being dropped by developers
• For an MMO, there is a severe lack of multiplayer content (unless you enjoy cooking)

These are just a few of the most prominent complaints that are coming up time and again in the review section of the Palia store page on Steam, and having spent over 200 hours in the game myself, I have to admit that I can see where they’re coming from.

These are the same issues that caused me to stop playing two months into the open beta. And although I rushed to download the game on Steam, hoping to try the numerous updates and hotfixes implemented, the negative reviews coupled with my own less-than-enjoyable experience with the game mean it’s going to sit in my library unplayed for a good while yet.