In case you missed it, the "cozy MMO" Palia was published to Steam recently. though so far, the reviews are decidedly Mixed. My first thought is Steam's largely hardcore gamer user base doesn't like an MMO with a decided dearth of face-punching. But then again, Steam players gave Overwhelmingly Positive reviews to the seriously cozy farm sim Stardew Valley.
In fact, the top review on Steam brings up that comparison too:
Palia had a 50 million dollar budget. Team consists of 20+ employees which come from big companies like Blizzard, Sony, Epic, Zynga, and Riot. Development started in 2018. Palia was released more unfinished than Stardew Valley, a game that only took 4.5 years to make and was designed by one person who was working as an usher for a cinema.
Then again, here's a positive review
I don't normally write reviews, but I'm surprised by the mixed responses to Palia. I've put many hours in (pre-Steam) and personally find it to be a really fresh and enjoyable take on your standard farming/life sim.
Palia brings "cozy" to a whole new level by cutting out the minor stresses and anxieties that other farming sims can create. There is no need to do inventory management, NPCs are always accessible (even after they've gone to sleep!) so you can always talk to them when you need to, EVERYTHING that you place can be moved at any time (even crops!), there is no need to rush back to your house to sleep at night, and the "energy" (focus) bar provides XP bonuses only, so there's no penalty for letting it fall empty. They really did a good job of removing all forms of stress from this game.
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