Palworld’s been one of those games that has dominated the world due to its unique “premise.” Said premise is the cutesy little Pokemon-like Pals wielding guns while you explore a world of wonder. I won’t address the discourse surrounding Palworld in this article; I’m here to offer my thoughts on the game after playing it for a few hours.
While the Internet is currently deciding whether or not the game has ripped off GameFreak’s property, I was busy immersing myself in the game. In other words, I spent a long period playing the game, capturing the creatures, and seeing what it has to offer for players who may be interested in checking it out, even in passing.
So, if you expect me to draw comparisons between Pokemon and Palworld, you’ll be sorely disappointed. This short First Impressions article aims to show how fun the experience is in its Early Access form. The game has managed to become a breakout success overnight already, so it’s likely that a huge chunk of players have been playing it. What if you want to explore the Palpagos Region? Let’s find out.
Quite honestly, I don’t even know why there are comparisons between Pokemon and Palworld to begin with, as they tackle two different genres while retaining the monster collection formula. Maybe it’s because of the common factor, or I am just that numb to the way the Internet works. But the point stays true: Palworld is a massively different game than any other genre Pokemon has ventured into in its iterations or spin-offs.
A more apt comparison would be that Palworld feels like ARK: Survival Evolved with creatures you can capture and recruit. In the game, you are facing off against the elements and massive Pals that can threaten you. The world of Palworld isn’t very kind, as you can easily find yourself overwhelmed by the elements, ferocious Pals, or both.
It’s up to you to gather resources and build a base, an armor set, and Pal Spheres that will let you take on the challenges the Palpagos region offers. As you grow your collection of Pals and level up your character, you can access more technological advancements to ease some of the game’s aspects, such as Gathering, Combat, and World Traversal.
Of course, being a survival game, you must also find food to sustain yourself and your Pals. Otherwise, your Pals might grow unhappy, and you might succumb to the elements more quickly due to starvation. You also must constantly gather resources to build gadgets, weapons, and base upgrades that will streamline some tasks.
When your base grows, so do the threats you have to face, from Alpha Pals that have increased size and stats to raids from a band of rogues called the Syndicate, a Pal horde, or crazed FreePal Activists seeking to destroy your foundation. Because of this, it’s essential to ensure your base is adequately guarded with strong Pals.
Inside the bases, you can work with your Pals to create buildings and do tasks that you would otherwise take a long time to do on your own. Each Pal has its set of stats that allow it to work in different fields, so having a wide variety of Pals at your disposal is very important.
Whether it’s for character progression or to increase the number of Pals that work on your base, it’s crucial to capture Pals. Capturing multiple Pals and growing your collection in droves has various benefits beyond just gaining EXP and having combat-ready Pals that can traverse the world with you.
I like this as Palworld allows for multiple uses for the massive collections of Pals I often hunt for. One of the buildings you can access offers the benefits of various Pals of the same type to a single one, meaning that the Pal you focus on can become more robust at the behest of the Pals you collect.
Of course, you’d rather collect Pals for the sake of having more willing workers that will help you. Still, it’s nice to see that there are benefits to collecting Pals that go beyond having them sitting idly by in a box. If you’re seeking to gain more mileage out of your experience, you are often encouraged to find more Pals to capture and take the bosses on.
Tied to this tightly-knit gameplay loop is a presentation that is still rough around the edges but works well in certain areas. I adore exploring in this game for the chance to find a rare collectible, a dungeon that has more unique resources and Pals to find, or Eggs that can be incubated and hatch into more Pals for the collection.
Now, you might be wondering why I haven’t spoken my piece about the combat so far. The simple reason is that combat in Palworld is by far its weakest aspect in my eyes. The basic gist is to use your Pals and your weapons to damage and consequently get the Pal as close to 1HP as possible and then capture it or dispose of it.
The problem is that the majority of the time, it feels like my active participation in the battle is rather superfluous compared to the battling my Pals are doing. Sometimes, even the handgun I spent so long trying to create is doing what I classify as “Peashooter damage” compared to the big numbers that the Pals pull off.
Not helping things is how frail you are. More often than not, your defeat can often come from you being KO’d rather than having your resources (and Pals) exhausted. The enemy Pals often target you because of this; because of this, you are just dodging their attacks while praying that your Pal takes them down rather than fighting them.
This also translates to another problem I have with Palworld: There isn’t much incentive for going out of your way to explore. While I mentioned earlier that there are some rewards, they are often stuff like Arrows or stuff that, while it helps when you are using crossbows, becomes more intrusive when you gain access to the high-tech stuff.
The developers at Pocket Pair have promised more endgame content for players to mess around with in future updates, so my criticisms might become invalid in future patches. As such, I’m not going to give this game too much flack when it comes to the clearly unfinished aspects, such as the glitches that can be found or the fact that there is only one Gym Leader(?) in the Syndicate Tower.
Overall, Palworld is a neat survival game that only feels like it borrows the Pokemon aesthetic. The game is a fun venture, especially with multiple players as they share your adventure with you. Palworld isn’t too hard in its Normal setting, but you can still give yourself a challenge through the game’s Hard difficulty if you so wish.
Still, I can’t help but wonder where this game will go in terms of updates and upcoming content. While this game already offered an experience that at least provided me and my friends with over 30 hours of fun, there will be stuff that will make the game even more fun. It only makes me excited to see what the game will have to offer in the near future.
