Palia

I have logged out of Palia for the very last time today. After giving Update 0.206 some careful thought over the past several days, I have decided that I will no longer play or patronize this game. I have been playing Palia since 3 years ago, when they first opened their doors, long before the game was even on Steam. At that time it was promised that the game would always be free-to-play and that the cash shop would contain “cosmetic items only.” While I would have preferred a subscription model where everything could be earned in-game, I was perfectly happy with that model. I fell in love with the game. I happily spent money on cosmetics because I genuinely wanted to support the developers and the game I enjoyed so much. But with this recent update, they haven't merely toed the line regarding their “cosmetic only” cash shop model. They have completely crossed it. 1. Paid storage You can now - for the low, low price of 10,625 Palia Coins - upgrade your storage by 100,000. That is more than five times the 18,000 storage capacity available for free. That's right. 5X!? To put that into perspective: you would have to purchase enough coins to buy that storage upgrade by purchasing the $99.00 USD coin package - which provides 11,050 coins at a discounted rate compared to the smaller packages. Storage isn't cosmetic. It is a gameplay feature and a significant quality-of-life improvement. 2. The Valhäst They have also released a much better-looking mount, the Valhäst, which you cannot ride without purchasing a Valhäst Riding License for 2,550 coins. That means purchasing the 3,400 coin bundle for $32.49 USD. The license itself wouldn't bother me. You can ride and breed a Dawnspur for free and, through breeding, obtain one with improved steering and other desirable traits. However, the Valhäst comes with a built-in turning trait called Dressage, giving it an advantage in maneuverability. So if you want the best possible turning performance from your mount, that advantage is tied to a mount that requires a purchase. Again, improved maneuverability isn't a cosmetic either. Like the paid storage, this is a gameplay feature and a quality-of-life improvement. When mounts were originally announced, I was actually excited about the possibilities. I was hoping they would do something really fun with them: maybe riding competitions or something similar to Star Stable. But this? What a disappointment. As consumers, we have voting power. We can vote with our money and we can vote with our time. The developers of Palia have gone back on the original promise that attracted me to this game in the first place, and that is not acceptable to me. I've been playing MMOs for decades. I've seen this pattern before, and I don't want to spend my time watching another game gradually move further and further in this direction. There are so many other great games out there. There are games with subscription only models. There are games that continue to maintain a cosmetic only approach to monetization. There are one-time-purchase games. And there are countless single-player cozy games I haven't even tried yet. Palia is NOT the only option. I've spent three years playing this game. I've spent money on it (and quiet a bit at that) because I believed in what the developers were building. But ultimately, a game's players are its customers, and our time and hard-earned money are votes. For me, this is where I cast mine. Goodbye, Palia. I'm moving on to better and brighter games... ones whose developers respect their player base enough to stand by the promises they made to us.

Like many others have said, the addition of locking more storage behind a pay wall is a deal breaker. Especially when you take into consideration how they said premium items would remain purely cosmetic. I loved this game, but I just can't keep playing it if this is the way that things are going, and I certainly can't recommend it.

Used to love this game (2,000+ hours). Core game functions are now behind paywall. I do not recommend anymore.

The game itself was okay at first, but then we started noticing misleading sales tactics--things like saying something completely unlocks an event pathway, but then it only unlocks the stuff you would get for free while playing the game. Dealt with customer service that was just one runaround after another. I can't say I'd recommend this game, especially if you ever spend money on it. You're likely to find yourself out of the money and nothing to show for it. They'll just blow smoke for ya and do nothing.

With Daybreak Games owning the IP, I figured it was only a matter of time until they started down the pay-to-win path. They now charge you about 400 points or so for more storage. That's close to $5. This game is all about hoarding resources. Each time they add new content, you have to hoard more stuff. There is no way to get more storage except to buy it. They already make a killing selling cosmetics. I'm personally done with it. This was a test by them to see how people react. Other than the die-hard whales who sniff their gaseous excretions, people aren't happy about it. What's next? The "free" game will probably charge a subscription soon.

hi just wanna let you know a little about this game: just watch the youtube :) and you hate it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyNs9pYDrxs

As someone who has 100+ hours on my old switch, then comming back and playing palia on my steam deck for another 70+ I can't recommend this slop anymore. The amount of bugs, Prexsisting and new, is atrocious, the lack of new content compared to the sheer amount of consistent new overpriced micro transactions is sickening. The final nail in the coffin for me is the stupid p2w storage they added, you have to pay REAL MONEY if you want more storage now, which palia has had a major storage problem since adding elderwood and now highlands. So many new items but not enough storage for it all. These devs said that they would never monetize basic game features and that it would only be cosmetic, well now they have gone back on that promise and it's only going to get worse. They continue to mislead players as well, not stateing when a new feature will be locked behind a pay wall. If any of you want a better explanation (I know this review is very scatter brained) I HIGHLY recommend ADHDecent's video on the issues, they sum it up quite nicely. Screw you singularity 6 and daybreak. Go play Stardew or fields of misteria instead 👌

another cool game inevitably corrupted by the f2p model.. RIP rest in palia </3

As someone who has been playing since literally DAY 1, this update is very disappointing. It was promised from the beginning that only cosmetics would be premium (IRL $) items. Now we have to pay $100+ just for more storage? A core gameplay feature? Started with courier pet slots, then went on to mounts and now this. Slippery Slope. I spend a lot of money on this game because I'm happy to support the dev team seeing as its a free game, but this is just disgusting behavior. Feels like the game is just becoming a money grab, as many others have, and if that's the case then I have no interest in continuing to support it. Would not recommend playing to anyone until this is made right.