Fans of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley and other cozy games, listen up! There's an upcoming free-to-play MMORPG inspired by community sim games going into the open beta stage soon. And if you're like me - you're going to want to check it out.
Coming soon to a PC or Switch near you – Palia! The cozy sim MMORPG set in a high fantasy world is now playable in beta for PC players. Similar to relaxing games such as Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, Palia offers a multitude of activities to do. You can go fishing, foraging, do some mining, cooking, gardening and even make your own furniture to decorate your home. Not only that, but you can catch insects and even go hunting if you wish to do so.
The MMORPG will also feature various villagers to interact and build relationships with. You can even choose to play solo, or with friends! With over 600,000 people already lined up to play, this game looks pretty promising.
Palia Open Beta: When & How To Play
While the closed beta has already started on August 2nd, 2023 the open beta phase will begin soon. Just a couple of days later, on August 10th, the open beta phase will allow everyone who is interested in the game to play. Anyone that has registered an account will then be able to download the game via an e-mail link and can then fully dive into the MMORPG fantasy world.
For those of you that are interested in playing once the open beta starts, here are a few steps you can already take:
- Create an account on the official Palia website. This way, you can immediately dive into the game once open beta starts!
- Check if your PC fulfills the conditions to run the game.
Here are the recommended specs from the devs:
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit or higher |
| CPU | Intel i5-7300 / AMD Ryzen 3 3300U |
| GPU | Nvidia GTX 1060 / AMD RX 580 (4GB VRAM) |
| RAM | 8GB |
And don't worry about losing your progress once the game officially releases: The developers of the game have announced they don't plan to wipe any player progress.
Palia Release Date
As of now, it seems the game will leave the beta phase and be released by the holiday season of 2023 for the Nintendo Switch. An exact release date has not been set yet.
PC players will probably have to wait a bit longer for more information. The developers have been listening to their community and are working on releasing Palia for PC before it comes to the Switch, but aren't making any promises, yet. They are also currently working on making cross-play available in the future.
So if you're interested, go check it out for yourself!
Check out the official cinematic trailer: