It's an interesting virtual world, in that it doesn't have combat but still has a pile of the cookie-cutter quests you find in regular MMORPGs, mainly gathering, crafting or FedEx in format. It also has a lot of home-improvement content.
The setting isn't really Fantasy or Science Fiction. The idea is that the world was once dominated by humans who mysteriously disappeared, and it's now populated by other humanoid species (who are purple). You're a human who has suddenly appeared in their world, and neither you nor they know why. The game is only in beta, so right now we don't actually find out why, but I'm sure it'll be made clear in future patches and expansions.
As such, there isn't really a main story quest. The most immediate long-term goal is to get yourself a "shepp", meaning a local who'll vouch for your good nature so you can become a fully-fledged member of the village. There are about 30 villagers, all with distinct personalities and jobs, although not all are able to be shepps (some are too young, some are mechanic beings). You have to grind reputation with one until you manage to reach a certain threshold, then they'll agree to be your shepp. You can chat with them and give them gifts to increase their opinion of you, then upon reaching a particular level you can start flirting with them. I don't know if flirting is essential to get to shepp-compatible level, but I did it anyway seeing as how I was visiting the same villager every day to grind some more rep anyway.
There are skills in the game that you can level up: gardening, cooking, hunting, fishing, mining, foraging (which includes tree-chopping), furniture-making and bug-catching. I don't know what the bug-catching is good for, other than "catch me five grasshoppers" quests, but it probably plays or will play more into fishing or hunting or something later on.
The players are friendly, but somewhat insular. I initiated conversations with several of them, but no-one ever initiated one with me. I suspect that people either play solo or with real-world friends; I didn't ask.
Anyway, Palia certainly different, and if you're not a fan of combat and like playing with no direction at your own pace, you might enjoy it. Personally, I got rather tired of the repetitive nature of the quests, even if the flavour text was fresh. I was glad when I got my shepp and felt qualified to quit.
As you can tell from the screenshot, I'm not really into gardening or home-making either.
By the way, "Mareigh" is one of the names on my roster for MMO characters. I invariably use "Richards" as a surname because "Richard's" doesn't really work.