Palworld defies conventional expectations at every turn. It presents itself as a thinly veiled Pokémon clone where you and your collectible creatures wield firearms, engage in base building and survival gameplay, and even resort to drastic measures like consuming your kidnapped creatures. The open-world co-op adventure takes a bizarre twist as you and your friends use baseball bats to harvest wool from helpless sheep. Surprisingly, despite its unconventional approach, Palworld manages to deliver hours of unrelenting fun, especially during the 100-plus hours I've spent shooting cartoon kittens in the face.
While acknowledging that Palworld is in early access and has its fair share of bugs and performance issues, it stands out with intuitive and deep survival mechanics, enjoyable action-packed combat, and an endless sense of exploration as you seek new Pals to interact with. It's a pleasant surprise to report that Palworld is genuinely good.
Palworld, despite its striking resemblance to a popular creature collecting franchise, leans more toward a formulaic survival game like Grounded. You find yourself in a wilderness filled with formidable creatures called Pals and must build a base, coerce the local fauna to work for you, and upgrade your gear to fend off hostile human factions armed with assault weapons. Unlike traditional creature collection adventures, Palworld's focus is on survival in a harsh land, battling nefarious Pal trainers, and confronting threats like enemy raids and dungeons.
The game's tone is an eccentric combination of pastoral exploration and ruthless combat, making it feel like a satire of the creature collection genre. Instead of avoiding questionable aspects, Palworld humorously embraces them, allowing you to engage in absurd activities such as using your fiery fox Pal as a flamethrower or equipping your monkey Pal with a machine gun. Despite the initial oddity, it's an absolute blast.
Capturing Pals in the open world is a fun but peculiar experience, whether you're using an axe to knock out a small penguin or resorting to guns to capture them. It may feel wrong initially, but the game quickly normalizes these actions, blurring the line between battling and capturing creatures.
The designs of the Pals may not be entirely original, often resembling creatures from the past, but their personalities shine through, making them enjoyable to hunt and battle. Notably, the Ditzy Dumud, a blob-like creature, adds a touch of humor to the game as it joyfully bounces around the desert.
While capturing and battling Pals is a significant aspect of the game, a considerable amount of time is spent managing and expanding your bases. You must gather resources like wood, stone, and food to craft items and facilities, cook meals, and arm yourself for battles. Employing Pals to automate tasks such as farming adds a unique layer to the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience.
Cooperation with Pals enhances the gameplay further. For instance, having a fire Pal speeds up cooking tasks, making it advantageous to have various Pals with different abilities at your disposal. As you level up and capture Pals with diverse skills, your bases can evolve from rudimentary camps to industrial fortresses, complete with conveyor belts for manufacturing weapons and ammunition.
However, the game's maintenance aspects can become grind-heavy, particularly with the constant need for ore. Some tasks, like crafting Palspheres, require a significant amount of ore, leading to interruptions in your adventures. It would be beneficial for the game to introduce more advanced automation options in the future to alleviate this manual labor.
Palworld truly shines when played with friends in multiplayer mode. Exploring the open world, taking on challenging bosses together, and managing a collective base all contribute to the enjoyment. Although technical issues and occasional bugs may arise, they have not significantly hindered the overall experience, and the game feels surprisingly polished in its early access state.
In conclusion, Palworld's irreverent and unconventional approach, combined with its deep survival mechanics and endless charm, make it an outstanding survival game. While it borrows heavily from a well-known franchise and has room for improvement, it's already one of the most enjoyable games in its genre. I am eagerly looking forward to its future development and evolution.
