Palia Update

 Palia Update

Release: Since August 3rd, 2023, Palia has been slowly releasing a series of builds as early as 0.165. Although they launched on Steam March 25th 2024 with Build 0.180, the developers still had their hands full trying to keep players busy. June 2024, EG7 buys Singularity 6 and enlists Palia with Daybreak. This was my moment to try the game and wrote an extensive review of their systems. As part of their target demographic, the game was good. My last achievement was on August 13th when I completed the Bundle of the Gales that becomes available after visiting all the temples. 

Slow Builds: Since their release, every content patch had you collecting some new decoration set, toying around with some new feature, and a bunch of new cosmetics to purchase. For approximately a year, the only new buildings that were available released while I was playing with the Grand Harvest House in May and the Conservatory in July. Touring houses, name tags, and jukeboxes all came out in Build 0.182 in July. They introduced Plush Trading in October and bouncy decorations in March.

Expansion

Elderwood: May 13, 2025 brought Build 0.191 with some major shuffling around. There was an entirely new region, new essence system, relics, villager patrols, and a bunch of new quests. What you could collect was massive with new fish, bugs, creatures, and trees. Systems were being completely changed with fishing rates being increased for epics, an entirely new currency window, and an opportunity for the first time a non-premium pet. I should mention that all of this was entirely free.

Limits: Things were changing for your house. No longer did trees count against your maximum if they were placed in another plot. A whole new chest tier increased your storage from 10,000 to 14,000. The decoration limit was increased from 3,000 to 3,500. You still can only have at most 1,000 flowers on your house plot. 

Features 

Activities: Palia loves to introduce new mini-games. They added the Piksii Blossom Bounce in Build 0.192 and Flower Bloom Event in Build 0.194 for a chance to collect new flowers. They reworked the Maji Market to regularly be available for a week once a month. In addition to the monthly Bulletin Board, they introduced two quests per day that contribute to Tailor Tickets and your Lunar Path. There are roughly a dozen new hair styles, makeup styles, and beauty marks that cost ten tickets and a long range of custom colors that cost one ticket each. You earn three for completing a daily activity.

Ranching: In Build 0.195, they introduced a decoration that takes you to a completely new area where you handle a bunch of animals. You can harvest chickens for eggs, bees for honey, pigs for mushrooms, cows for milk, slime creatures (Build 0.196) for flowers, and moose-like animals (Build 0.198) for fish. How often you can collect depends on their happiness, hunger, population, and age. You can pet them, feed them, offer them special cookies for perks, and breed a couple for more. They do not die, but they lose their functionality once they get too old.

Changes: Some modifications are very subtle. Some of the icons might have been changed or blown up to be more visible. You now get a notification when you collect a plushie. Being able to lay in beds and sit on benches was made easier. In Build 0.196, they introduced player profiles where you can press the 'G' button next to someone for a brief list of plot value (cost of total placed items), accomplishments, skills, romance pins, level, and a short custom biography. Any of these things can be made hidden from the public. Build 0.198 changed the modification bench to the tint system. You can now preview a color scheme beforehand without moving the decoration at no cost to storage.

Home Line

Modules: In the beginning, you had one house with a maximum of 15 extensions (not counting hallways). The maximum number of structures on your plot is 30. These can include windmills, gazebos, and the water tower. These new "rooms" can be placed anywhere, can be stacked to have two floors with the possibility to add decorations on the roof, and can have special objects like windows (not see-through) placed anywhere. The system automatically opens the way if you put in some stairs, whether to the second floor or attic. You can have a maximum of 10 connected and additional 2 with the new Lunar Path system. 

Possibilities: They first introduced the Alchemist Cottage in Build 0.195 back around September. These rooms were rather expensive, costing about two or three times the standard rooms. This month in Build 0.198, they allowed people to build the Estate with certain objects only obtainable in the Lunar Path. Most of these things are interchangeable with a subtle difference in the entryway and wood type shown up top. You can also place things like snow on the sides of the roof or a few decorations in the middle at the very top.

Timeline

Preparations: Build 0.198 came out on December 9th, 2025, but I didn't begin stripping away my house plot until December 20th. Each and everyday has been filled with a number projects to get everything back in order. 

• December 20th - the entire day was dedicated to drawing up blueprints as everything went into storage. I completed a few straggling achievements, especially since fishing was made easier.
• December 21st - a few hours were spent gathering enough essence for the gazebo. This was to be the centerpiece that directed you to the other houses. I was making enough progress to obtain some things doing dailies and changed my whole outfit. 
• December 22nd - the Bulletin Board made discovering what to gift the villagers easier. I made enough progress to maximize some relationships and complete some unfinished quests. There were a ton of things that needed to be purchased like the new tint recipes, the yardwork decor from Build 0.185, and dice from the underground from Build 0.187.
• December 23rd - my two-hour attempt to finally collecting the legendary Maw ended in failure. Meanwhile, my progress on growing all the flower and tree seedlings was moving right along.
• December 24th - my two-hour attempt at collecting a single makeshift box without using any bait at my house plot ended in failure. Meanwhile, I started visiting the Maji Market.

Remodel: As you can tell from the past five days, there was a lot of work with mixed results. I went through about 5 pages of paper trying to come up with a reasonable layout. I started with the gazebo and put together a very nice centerpiece. The original house designs would be to the left and the new home line houses would be to the right. The conservatory proved to be the most problematic since you are not able to place down soil to grow crops or any sort of vegetation for that matter. It was converted from a spa to a market headquarters. 

• December 25th - experimented with building material from Build 0.193 but found the new trees to be a better fit to surround the gazebo. Unlike the old fences where you draw a line, the new designs have you build each individual fence and attach them into connector slots that allow you bend them in one direction or another. 
• December 26th - learning how to arrange the new home line buildings proved to be quite the endeavor. There are quirks to how the system automatically adjusts while you connect them.
• December 27th - choosing whether or not the houses will have backyards was something I struggled with for quite some time. I chose to add a "boundary race" where you straddle between pine trees along the fence. All the decoration sets were placed down and organized in each room. 
• December 28th - figuring out how to decorate the "spare" houses in the corners took some time but not nearly as troublesome as I feared. The snow house would be two-floors with a big open gap in the back where the giant snowman plushies will be after the event finishes. The spooky house later turned into a spa when inspiration hit with the bathtubs. 
• December 29th - arranged the spa decorations on top of the roof. This included learning how to situate the new bushes with the recent string light additions. Thankfully, they allowed you to place the canopies and tiki bars on top. 
• December 30th - this day was perhaps the longest with a number of small details being worked out. This included putting down food on tables, utensils in pantries, plushies in chairs, and putting bugs on shelves. I compiled a list of hidden treasure chests for players to find.
• December 31st - with the houses firmly in place, everything in the center had to be moved ever so slightly to give them some room. This turned out to be very nice for the grow furniture to be placed in the far back of the house plot.
• January 1st - after adding the final bit of flowers, the time to add surface, wallpaper, and roof tiles arrived.