Singularity Six Offers A Look At Palia's Next Big Update The Royal Highlands

Palia’s next big update, The Royal Highlands, is slated to launch on May 12. When it does, it will introduce a whole new area to the free-to-play cozy MMORPG and quite a few exciting features, including things players have been asking for. Ahead of the update, we were offered the opportunity to get a brief look at the update and see some of that content in action. Overall, it looks like something Palia players will be pretty happy with. It might even attract some newbies, as it’s pretty obvious that there will be plenty to keep players busy.

The Royal Highlands, the update is named after, is accessed via the Elderwood. As players enter this area, it will open up, being far less dense than the woods and featuring rolling hills and high mountains in a yellow and orange color palette instead. It features new creatures wearing magical elemental masks that can be used to unlock features and is 1.6 times larger than the existing map.

Of course, a new map means new gatherable materials, and the Royal Highlands boasts quite a few. These include the new metal Jadium, which is needed for storage chests and other recipes. Gathering will be a bit different in this area, however, as there are now specific gathering spots that players will need to move between. The good news is that players will be able to do this on horseback. Yes. Horses are being added to the game.

Apparently, horses are newly reappearing in the world, as they disappeared alongside Humanity a long time ago. Of course, since Humanity seems to be making a return, it makes a bit of sense that one of their most trusted companion animals might reappear, too.

That said, you won’t just be going out and grabbing a horse and riding off on it. They require a bit of taming – using special flowers found in the new zone. Once tamed, you can ride them, and like real horses, they’ll run at varying speeds. There are five in all. Although, players should keep in mind that just as with real horses, if you run them too hard, you’ll wear them out. Or, in game terms, you’re going to have to deal with stamina.

In addition to being a noble steed, horses have traits that can affect gameplay, and players can breed them for some of those traits. They’ll just need to give them special items. Note that breeding can result in “premium” horses. These horses are visually special as well and will require players to have a license to ride them. The license is not required to obtain them through breeding.

As we mentioned above, the new map is less dense than the woods, which makes sense, as there are fewer trees clustered in one area. But that doesn’t mean its players can’t expect plenty of variation. For one thing, the map still offers verticality. It just functions differently, with players exploring the map by passing underneath or going over various levels to get where they need to go.

There’s plenty to discover in the new map as well. In addition to the gatherable items, players will encounter Echos. These are lingering emotions that have been crystallized. These can be obtained from almost any activity, but the best way is to break amber. To do this, players will need to use a weapon or tool. Axes and the like will generally work. But if you’re going for the amber in fishing spots, bows are the only way to go.

As for what you can use these echoes for, the map contains discoverable décor. These décor pieces are scattered throughout the map and will require the amber echoes to unlock.

Moving on to housing, your homes are about to get a lot more roomy as you can now add a third floor, while mixing and matching the different available Home Lines. The ability to do this will need to be unlocked, and you have to do that through the Lunar Path. Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay for it. On a side note, you will always be able to go back and complete previous Lunar Paths.

Housing is also becoming a bit more customized, with players being able to use furniture tinting. When tenting furniture, players will pick a preset trio of colors to dye a piece. This is different from the new costume tinting, which also allows players to change up to three colors on an item, but as individual choices.

Finally, you may or may not have noticed that a special celebration event dropped in Palia today. This event is to celebrate the player’s 10,000,000 player milestone and features a celebration track with two premium mystery outfit gifts, event-exclusive rewards, décor, plushes, nameplates, and more. More details on the event and the update can be found on the Palia site.