At first glance, Palworld seems like an utterly nonsensical concept that should never work. A thinly veiled Pokémon clone where you capture adorable monsters, sure, but then you also get to shoot them in the face with literal guns? On top of that, it’s a base-building survival game where you use those same creatures as unpaid labor, and if times get really tough, you can even resort to cooking and eating your employees? And let’s not forget the ability to thwack helpless sheep over the head with baseball bats to harvest their wool. It’s a chaotic combination of ideas that defies all logic and good taste.
And yet, against all odds, this irreverent, gun-toting take on the creature collection genre has been an unrelentingly fun experience across the 100-plus hours I’ve invested so far. As an early access game, Palworld certainly has its fair share of bugs and performance hiccups, but its well-executed survival mechanics, action-packed combat, and the thrill of exploring its vast world in search of new Pals (the game’s term for collectible monsters) to kick the snot out of have kept me hooked in a way I never anticipated.
A Survival Game with a Pokémon Twist
At its core, Palworld is very much a traditional survival game akin to Grounded or Rust, just with the clever twist of being able to capture and utilize the local fauna to your advantage. You find yourself inexplicably dropped into a harsh, oversized wilderness filled with dangerous Pals, forcing you to quickly learn how to build a base, craft gear, and capture these beasts to put them to work for you.
The true joy of Palworld lies in the process of capturing new Pals and finding creative ways to exploit their unique abilities at your base. Need some wood chopped? Assign a beaver-like Pal to the task, and it’ll happily start gnawing away at logs. Crops need watering? A water-spouting Pal has you covered. Before long, you’ll have an industrialized fortress with conveyor belts staffed by Pals assembling weapons and ammo for you to use against the rotten human factions that regularly try to raid your camp.
This delightfully twisted take on the Pokémon formula is where Palworld shines brightest. Instead of hanging out in idyllic towns or challenging gym leaders, your goal is to survive the harsh wilderness and wage war against evil and/or psychotic Pal trainers who raze villages, attack your base, and command foreboding towers filled with goons who shoot to kill on sight.
An Absurd Sense of Humor
One of Palworld’s greatest strengths is its ability to maintain a constant sense of absurd, self-aware humor throughout the experience. This is a game that never takes itself too seriously, often feeling like a satirical commentary on the inherent silliness of the creature collection genre.
From accidentally discovering that you can capture humans and force them to work at your camp (an insane inclusion that’s never advertised to the player) to the ability to give your panda Pal a rocket launcher and watch it gleefully obliterate everything in sight, Palworld is steeped in utter irreverence at every turn. Even the process of catching new Pals is played for laughs, as you’re forced to hack away at penguins and other adorable critters with an ax or riddle them with bullets before stuffing them into your Palspheres.
It’s a twisted sense of humor that somehow works in Palworld’s favor, making the already inherently silly premise of catching and battling with monsters feel even more delightfully unhinged.
Familiarity Breeds…Well, Familiarity
While Palworld’s gameplay mechanics are incredibly well-executed and filled with personality, one area where it falls a bit flat is in the originality department when it comes to the design of the Pals themselves. The majority of the collectible monsters you’ll encounter are clear rip-offs of existing Pokémon, with some even bordering on direct copyright infringement.
There’s a mouselike lightning Pal that’s essentially Pikachu, a sassy two-legged cat Pal reminiscent of Meowth, and even a dinosaur with a flower on its head that’s an obvious homage to Venusaur. To be fair, while unoriginal, the Pal designs are still charming and well-executed for the most part, but their shamelessly derivative nature is hard to overlook.
A Vast and Varied World to Explore
Despite the lack of originality in some of its creature designs, Palworld makes up for it with a vast, varied open world that’s an absolute joy to explore. From bamboo forests filled with goofy panda Pals to murky swamps overrun with goblin-like creatures, there’s an impressive amount of environmental diversity packed into this expansive map.
One of the highlights of my adventures was stumbling upon an active volcano where all the Pals were, fittingly, made of fire. Scaling its treacherous slopes and battling against the lava-spewing monstrosities that called it home was a thrilling challenge that exemplified the sense of wonder and danger that permeates Palworld’s world.
And looming in the distance from virtually any vantage point are massive, foreboding spires that serve as a constant reminder of your ultimate goal: to reach them all and challenge the lethal bosses lurking within. It’s an enticing incentive that kept me pushing forward, upgrading my gear and Pal squad to survive increasingly unwelcoming biomes in hopes of uncovering the secrets they hold.
Technical Troubles and Missing Pieces
As an early access title, it’s no surprise that Palworld still has some rough edges that need smoothing out. Frequent framerate hitches, hard crashes, and multiplayer disconnects are par for the course, though thankfully none of these technical issues have been so severe or commonplace that they significantly impacted my enjoyment.
However, there are some more fundamental aspects of Palworld that feel distinctly unfinished or underbaked. The lack of any real story or narrative through-line is noticeable, with the game offering little more than a bare-bones premise to set you off on your adventure. Likewise, while the open world is massive, there are still large swaths of empty space devoid of any real content or points of interest.
Perhaps the most glaring absence is any sense of progression or evolution for the Pals themselves. While catching and leveling them up is undoubtedly enjoyable, the majority of Pals become largely irrelevant in the late game as you acquire stronger, more specialized options. The ability to evolve or otherwise enhance your early-game Pals could have gone a long way in making them feel like more meaningful long-term investments.
Better with Friends
Like most survival games, the entire Palworld experience is elevated when you have friends along for the ride. Running wild through the open world, taking down powerful bosses together, and managing a collective base are all significantly more engaging when you have others to share the workload and shenanigans with.
Multiplayer in Palworld is a relatively seamless affair, allowing up to 32 players to join a single server on the Steam version (though this is currently capped at a paltry four players on Xbox and PC Game Pass). While not without its occasional disconnects and hiccups, the ability to explore this extensive world and build up a thriving community with friends is an absolute blast.
Just be warned that playing with untrustworthy pals can lead to issues like resource theft and general tomfoolery, so it’s best to stick to gaming with those you can rely on.
An Irreverent Gem Packed with Potential
Even in its current early access state, Palworld is an utterly delightful experience that constantly kept me grinning with its irreverent humor and surprisingly deep survival mechanics. Is it a bit rough around the edges? Absolutely. Does it shamelessly pilfer designs from a certain iconic monster-catching franchise? You bet. But when you’re riding on the back of a flying dragon while shooting a hapless blue duck with an assault rifle, those blemishes just seem to fade into the background.
What Palworld may lack in polish and originality, it more than makes up for with sheer personality and fun factor. This is already one of my favorite survival games, and I’m incredibly excited to see how it evolves and expands as development continues. If you’ve been yearning for a creature collection game that leans into the inherent absurdity of the premise while providing an engaging
