Palia may be known for its cozy charm and community-oriented gameplay, but behind the slow-paced fishing, crafting, and friendly NPCs is a world preceded by a forgotten but devastating history. Long before the player's arrival, humanity mysteriously vanished during a mysterious catastrophic event that can only be slightly understood through fragmented lore bits. This mystery has largely remained in the background for quite some time now, but with Palia's upcoming Elderwood expansion set to launch on May 13, that might finally begin to change.
The Best War Games recently attended a preview of Palia's Elderwood map, which sent us on a virtual tour of one of its earliest quests and gave us a first look at the expansion's darker aesthetics and deeper story. Shortly after the preview, we interviewed senior game designer Richie Berry, during which some answers about Elderwood's place in Palia lore were divulged—specifically, answers concerning the game's oldest mystery.
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Palia's Elderwood Expansion Might Reveal More About Humanity's Disappearance
While Palia has consistently shown itself to be a low-stress, cozy MMO filled with charming NPCs and peaceful pastimes, there has also always been a deeper story unfolding beneath the surface. Throughout its story, Palia has hinted at a past far more mysterious than the game's warm atmosphere lets on. With the upcoming Elderwood expansion, that mystery may finally start creeping out of the shadows. For players who’ve paid attention to Palia's lore, the new map could lay the foundation for the truth behind Palia's thousand-year-old history. Elaborating on this, Berry explained,
"If you played through some of the Temple quests in Palia, you've probably seen that there's always been a little bit of a dichotomy in the game. Humans went extinct a thousand years ago and are now coming back, right? It's clear that something pretty bad happened a while ago."
While Palia's lore may be subtle, it's nonetheless present and accounted for. What appears on the surface to be a typical cozy game is actually a post-apocalyptic world that has spent a millennium recovering. This is what makes the addition of the Elderwood expansion so important for Palia. While Kilima and Bahari Bay have hinted at the world's history, Elderwood will dig even deeper and potentially finally reveal some major plot threads. Berry continued,
"Baked into Palia is a little bit of a deep backstory, and in this zone, we've always wanted to dig a little bit more into it so that players can come to understand what has happened and make things better — take whatever it is that happened and improve things. We're starting to dig a little bit more into the things that have always been there, but maybe a little bit more subtle or maybe a little bit more in side quests or that one log in the corner that you could read or maybe miss."
This gradual storytelling approach perfectly mirrors Palia's aim to ensure players are never shocked or stuck in a difficulty spike. In the end, it's just layer after layer of story, gently revealed to build the world around the player. The difference in Elderwood, however, is that it takes players deeper into that story than Palia has ever done before, with a whole new, darker look to contextualize that journey. In that way, players won't just hear more about the past, they'll set foot in a world that feels atmospherically, visually, and tonally more like an echo of the past.
In the end, Palia's Elderwood map appears to be more than just a new zone for players to explore. Instead, it's a shift in the open world game's narrative and worldbuilding, as it expands Palia's world by entrenching players deeper into the game's lore within a tangible, explorable space. By giving players greater access to the stories that have remained in Palia's background for so long, Elderwood is gently lifting the veil on the past and inviting players to walk through it, one quest at a time. It may be that Elderwood doesn't hold all the answers, but it will at least lay the groundwork for Palia's future.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 67%
- Released
- August 10, 2023
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco
- Developer(s)
- Singularity 6, Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Singularity 6, Inc.
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
- 1-25
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Simulation, MMO
Palia is currently available on PC and Nintendo Switch, with its PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions to launch on May 13, alongside the Elderwood expansion.