Life sim Palia feels completely at home on the Nintendo Switch

In PaliaAfter generations of extinction, humans have suddenly reappeared in the middle of a serene fantasy world. Our new elf, robot and cat-man neighbors, surprised to see humanity running around again, help us set up our own cozy farm plot, a circle of friends and a few useful professions. The game has been in open beta on PC since August and today marks its arrival on Nintendo Switch.

In Palia, the player is an amnesiac human who has stumbled upon this new world. The locals, elf-like people known as Majiri, will quickly arrange a farm for you. From there, the player takes up the professions of fishing, hunting, cooking, furniture building, farming, insect catching and foraging. The villagers, who help you set up your new home and teach you how to use your new tools, can also be friends (or romanced) and have surprisingly deep personalities.

Unsurprisingly, the portable nature of the Switch is a big plus for a game like this Palia. This is a game designed to be easy-going and low-stress; it's perfect for stretching out on the couch or lying under the covers in bed. Even better, Palia has cross-progression; if I log into my PC to go hunting and gathering pelts, I can hop over to the Switch later in the day to do some gardening. It's a seamless transfer; I can jump back and forth without feeling punished or hindered.

Overall, the controls transfer nicely to Nintendo's console as well. The game's control scheme is so simple that despite being used to months of playing on a keyboard and mouse, I was able to immediately jump into the game and puzzle out all the major mechanics. The only thing I had to pay attention to was the command to switch ammo types, and I figured it out after about five minutes of experimenting. Otherwise I could run into the ground.

When it comes to performance, Palia works fine on Switch; after all, it's not a particularly demanding game. I traveled from Kilima Village to Bahari Bay, explored the Temple of the Gales and hopped my way through the platformer challenge tower. All the problems I encountered, such as struggling to climb over the edge of a cliff, were also present on PC.

The only thing I really missed was a good keyboard, namely to participate in the text chat on a server. Fortunately, the only communication is you really need Palia can be conveyed via short messages such as 'on your way' or 'thanks!' And using the joysticks to send these messages isn't much of a hindrance. But in a game with a friendly community full of talkative people, there have been a few instances where I missed the ability to be more verbose.

Unlike many fun games, Palia is truly a live service game; there are constant updates, events and always promises of more to come. Since launch we've seen two new elemental temples, new quests, a new villager, more romances, a new beast to hunt, the temporary Maji Market, and an expansion of the underbelly black market beneath Kilima Village. Characters often talk about potential new zones, such as a dark forest or the great capital. These conversations hint at possible future updates, and the dialogue is written well enough to pique my curiosity about these new locations and what they might look like.

Because of this slowly unfolding progression, I have become comfortable with occasional putting Palia back on the shelf, so to speak. I devoured all of the game's launch content. I completed a large collection of rare items, romanced the town chef Reth and the fishing robot Einar, made good friends with everyone else, and built a beautiful starter home. But with so many great games on PC updating regularly, it's easy for a game like Palia to fall out of my rotation.

In that sense, the Nintendo Switch feels a little more natural for this routine; it's easy to pick up and play Palia in small bursts. My neighbors do not reprimand me for my absence, and there are no weeds to pick a la Animal Crossing: New Horizons — I'm just back in business, my good reputation untarnished. Palia often feels just as comfortable on the Switch, which rekindles my interest in playing on PC. With a new audience, this game still has a lot of potential to expand and evolve.

Palia was released in beta on Nintendo Switch on December 14. These impressions were written using a pre-release download code from Singularity 6 Corporation. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information about Polygon's ethics policy can be found here.