Introduction

Palworld, if you remotely frequent the internet or check-in on the latest surrounding the world of video games, you've probably heard about Palworld. So for those not in the know, what is Palworld and why is that Pokémon holding and AK47? Well Palworld is the latest from Pocketpair the team behind Craftopia and it combines the Monster tamer aspects of Pokémon with a survival game, and does it all so effortlessly. It creates a gameplay loop that becomes rewarding to the player no matter what aspect of the game that they engage with, and couples the two major loops of gameplay so which blend so well together. It's important to note that this game is also in early access so whilst I will note some things that I feel it can be improved upon, I will be a bit more lenient and understanding of the games areas that can be polished and improved upon. But I still will raise them and bring them to your attention. Lastly, as the thumbnail suggests I want to also tackle a big question surrounding this game, and that is can Palworld go the distance, as a game that can continue to expand and add features, Pals, and truly be a competitor to the games, that it takes its influences from, or will it be a trend of 2024, that we'll remember enjoying for a vacuum in time?

Gameplay

The gameplay for Palworld is two gameplay loops that run in tandem with one another. It see's the core loop of base building and resource gathering melded together into the creature capture gameplay loop of a Pokémon game. However, where Palworld's loop comes into its own is how you utilize the Pal's that you catch for working at your base. The formula for Palworld takes the monster capture aspects you're used to, but fleshes them out to provide more reasons then battling, as a reason to collect different Pals

Monster Capture vs Survival Game

I feel like what makes Palworld such a hit of a game is how it marries the gameplay systems of two already well established genres and melds them into one game that ends up feeling unique. It's clear from playing Palworld, that you can see the influences from many other games that has influenced the development of Palworld. But with so much different influences Palworld feels distinct and unique. The biggest draw on first glance is the monster capture elements that resemble a striking comparison to Game Freak's Pokémon, however the difference is in the functionality of Pal's once you catch them. See here in Palworld the different Pals have function in battling and capturing other Pals, but they can also be allocated to work at different bases and serve utility and functions, like a samurai pal is good at chopping down trees, a duck or sea serpent is good at watering the plants, or a flame fox like Foxsparks can light a furnace. There are tons of difference use cases and functions that can improve the efficiency of the production of your base, and as you explore more you'll acquire better pals that can be better resourced at your base to complete different tasks, and it is this one side of the Palworld experience that cleverly connects to with the other side of Palworld's loop, the survival side of the game. Much like with any survival game, the game starts off with the player having to collect resources to build a base, however thankfully and this is one aspect that I think Palworld actually nails, is that it trims a lot of the busy work that plagues a lot of survival games where you mindlessly need to grind for things such as wood and stone to craft different items and instead puts the various pals you've captured to work doing this busy work for you.

The survival game elements of Palworld shift more into a resource management game where it feels more like you're running a base of operations where your Pal's do the mindless busy work, whilst you can focus on building the base, planting all the new unlockable structures inside of your bases, that will help progress your base forward or better yet, have your Pals craft your arrows, bullets, and Pal Spheres that can prepare you for your next adventure in the wild. Palworld has found a great balance where it feels like you're continuously rewarded for the discoveries you make out in the open world, and the unlocks that you acquire through the Technology Tree, which we'll discuss more later.

Exploration

Whilst on the topic of the Open World in Palworld, this is one aspect of the game that I do feel can be heavily expanded upon and is one area that I do feel will be with subsequent patches to the game. I'm a bit more forgiving on this aspect given that the game is in early access, and to be honest, for an early access game there is still a good amount of content here to sink your teeth into, which is more than what can be said for a lot of these survival games that do go into early access. So what is there in Palworld's exploration? Well there is of course different Pal's scattered across multiple different biomes, and these Pal's of certain types will spawn in those particular biomes, at certain times of day depending on what type of Pal they are. There is also shiny equivalents of Pal's which are usually a larger form of the Pal which has a twinkle sound and stars glowing around them, which are a somewhat rare occurrence. There are different factions of enemies that'll attack you and even the Pals around you. There are camps that these different factions will have, with Pals held hostage in a cage, and many of these different enemies camps will look different with their own artstyle too. There's also world bosses which respawn every hours after completion. These are like harder versions of it's normal Pal variant, that usually come with some better stats and passives, which make them useful for battling or working. There are cave-like dungeons which have a pal boss at the end of them and have a bunch of resources, and unique Pals inside. Whilst I do find the caves to be a little repetitive after a experiencing them a few times, they're a nice detour to check out on a trip.

There are also little towns which you can stop into as well, and which I'll be honest do feel barebones right now, but is one area that I'm hoping with sequential updates they really continue to flesh out with functionality, vendors, and activities. Not to mention that there are already a plethora of different gym leaders that you can find in these big towers across the map, and battle, although defeating them doesn't seem to reward you with much at this point in time, which I personally find a little disappointing, but overall there is a good base and blueprint for the content found in Palworld.

Gameplay Systems

Progression System

The leveling system, for Palworld is quite an interesting model. The unlock tree follows a battle pass style structure where as you level up you unlock new items that you can craft and upgrade. There is also stats that you can upgrade with each level that improve things such as your carry weight, stamina, and work speed. These upgrades feel like minor boosts and number goes up kind of progression with the only one that feels significant being the carry speed, which incumbrance in of itself is a hassle.

The Technology Tree will be the main area where you'll be spending your time upgrading and unlocking many of the resources that'll progress your base, alongside the weapons you can carry and the Pal Spheres you can use to catch better Pals. Overall I do feel like the progression in Palworld is one of the big major hooks, alongside efficiently levelling up your base. It does feel like most of the items that you unlock do feel like a meaningful upgrade that serves some feature or function to the experience, and I'm keen to see how they build on this, especially with the new features they'll be adding to the game such as PVP and Raids. I hope that as this game evolves they continue to add some crazy ideas that further build on the solid bones and foundations of the formula they have here.

Resource and Pal-Management

So the one of the major hooks to the Palworld experience is kidnapping Pals or people and assigning them to work at your base, or alternatively shoving them into a box to look at. But as I mentioned earlier one of the things that I feel Palworld brilliantly handles is how it utilizes Pals. Whilst some may be better equipped to wonder the open world with you, others feel like a great fit for the base and being assigned to different tasks. There are also different versions of the same Pal that you can collect which come with different passive skills which could improve how effective they are at working on a given task, and how quick they are at completing tasks, which opens up a whole other realm of base min-maxing if you really did want to go down that route.

There are different consumables you can find in the world that you can use to level up your Pals and facilities that you can unlock to help keep your Pals under control, because believe it or not, your Pals have a sanity meter. Yes, if the work conditions are bad enough your Pals will become hungry among many other aliments like fractures, ulcers and depression. Yes your Pals can become depressed from neglect, isn't that awesome. So the base building and management side of Palworld to me really does feel like it is more managing facilities and the health of your Pals more than busy work, whilst still sustaining the item flow that makes resource gathering important in one of these survival games. It's just great having a lot of the busy work abstracted from you, so you can focus on the real issues, like building a new spa, so Tombat can sit in it for the 10th time today.

Can it Compete Long Term?

The biggest question that I have surrounding the Palworld phenomenon that has kicked off this year, is if the game is able to go the distance in terms of establishing itself as a series that can rival the like of its obvious inspirations. There is a reason why Pokémon has had so much staying power in the world of video games, the first few generations of Pokemon were iconic for their personality, designs, and evolutions. Despite being over 100's of them, we could recall most of their names and the regions they originated from. Here in Palworld there are a good handful that I do feel I remember the names of, but I feel like I wonder with time how iconic the first generation of Pal's will be. This leads me to the second big question mark I have which is anything remotely resembling a story. As you've probably noticed in this review, I don't have a segment relating to story for the game, and that's because the story for Palworld is pretty much absent from the current experience. There are collectible logs which talk about the world, but this absence really does make the more Pokémon inspired aspects like gym battles, or the different little cities and hubs currently a little shallow if I'm being honest. I'm interested to see how they flesh out this map and hell if they add any future regions later in the games lifecycle. There is so much potential for what Palworld can be, and if it sounds like I'm being overly critical here, it's because the game is still in Early Access and can build on itself and improve. The initial pitch is promising for Palworld, but there are two paths it can walk from here, and that is one of long term evolution and growth that continues to pull us back in, or a passing trend that had us hooked for a window in time.

Conclusion

To bring this review to a close, I'd like to end this review by saying the road is still long for Palworld to reach it's full potential, but man for a game to be this fun and this addictive in early access, really does mean something. In my honest opinion Palworld shows a lot of promise and I'm really hopeful that it can go the distance. I feel that all the essentials are there, and the foundations and skeleton for this game is something that feels really refreshing, and given the current sentiment around games like Pokémon, it shows that people are really eager for a fresh take on the monster tamer experience and I feel like Palworld is perfectly primed to deliver on that demand. The only thing now is for Pocketpair to continue to evolve and build on these foundations, and run with the recent success, only time will tell but I'm willing to believe that Palworld can go the distance.