Palia’s Royal Highlands update arrives May 12 with mounts, a new zone, and outfit giveaways starting now
Palia’s next free expansion, Royal Highlands, is set to launch on May 12 at 1 p.m. EDT. The update adds a large new adventure zone, horses as the game’s first mounts, new gathering materials and fish, a new NPC, more housing items, and outfit dyeing for clothing.
There’s also something live right now. Starting April 21 and running through May 12, Singularity 6 is holding an in-game event to mark Palia reaching 10 million players. Players who take part can earn quests, rewards, and two free mystery outfits, which is notable since cosmetic cash shop items haven’t been given away like this before.
Royal Highlands is meant to be accessible pretty early. Players only need to have unlocked gliders to enter the zone, though the Royal Highlands main story still requires finishing the Elderwood main quest first. If you just want to explore and gather, you can head in without clearing all of that, and the zone’s harvestables are tuned around Palium-tier progression rather than top-end tools.
The biggest addition is probably mounts. Horses are finally coming to Palia, and the basic one is unlocked through an easy quest after reaching Royal Highlands. You’ll be able to ride in the open world and on housing plots, but not in Kilima Village. The update also ties into ranching, with horse breeding available starting at ranching level 2. Two other horse types exist as well, but riding those is tied to new supporter packs.
Beyond that, Royal Highlands adds new ore, wood, flowers, bugs, and 20 new fish, plus a new resource called Amber Echoes that can drop from nearly everything in the zone once unlocked. The area also introduces elemental critters with special behaviors and extra loot tied to nearby vault turn-ins.
Other additions include two housing sets, a new storage upgrade, and three-channel outfit dye palettes for clothing. Singularity 6 also said it’s working on PC controller support, but it didn’t make any promises about Steam Deck support or a full 1.0 launch.
