Palia Is Like the Bizarre Lovechild of World of Warcraft and Animal Crossing

ign.com:

For the past month, many of my gaming hours every week have been dedicated not to action-packed fantasy adventures like Final Fantasy XVI, but to picking mushrooms, fishing, and crafting furniture in the upcoming cozy MMO: Palia. Channeling the likes of Disney Dreamlight Valley’s community-building, Palia hopes to kick things up a notch by throwing players together in one big server and letting them loose to farm, hunt, and romance NPCs alongside one another, and from what I’ve played so far that premise has enormous potential. I never knew that I wanted to catch bugs and go fishing with my buddies in an online cozy game, instead of fighting alongside them in a battle royale, but here we are – Palia’s got me hooked.

If you aren’t familiar with the genre, cozy games are recognizable for their slower pace, emphasis on homemaking, and social links, with notable entries including Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Most don’t have combat or fail states of any kind, instead putting calmer activities like gardening, fishing, cooking, crafting, and decorating front and center. While many games in the genre have only limited multiplayer components or are strictly singleplayer, the upcoming Palia reimagines the formula as a massively multiplayer online game where social interaction and real-world cooperation is at the heart of things.

You’re able to see and interact with other players out in the world, and even help out with things like hunting or mining for raw materials like copper. All of the basic multiplayer functionality you’d expect to find in Animal Crossing are accounted for, and I was able to do everything from visit friends at their own homestead, to send items via mail to assist others with their cozy undertakings. But