When I first got Palworld, it was as a gift from my best friend. We had been looking for something to play together, but between her hatred of anything puzzle based and my boredom with the normal simulation-based games, we were coming up with nothing. Then, she found Palworld.
The game is an open-world styled gameplay, with animal-like creatures known affectionately as “Pals” roaming the different areas. Players can battle and then capture these Pals using Pal Spheres, utilizing them for everything from travel, base-building, farming, mining, and more. The game heavily resembles a cross between Minecraft and Pokemon, with the base-building creating a more stationary aspect than Pokemon, the capturing and harnessing creating an intricately styled base with more possibilities than Minecraft, and the open-world feature provides endless possibilities for replayability.
As the game loads, the theme music provides an exploratory atmosphere, one that motivated me to get out there and start capturing. The screen displays the left side with much gentler-appearing creatures, in stark contrast to the right, where the first thing the eye is drawn to is the giant Gatling gun held by what appears to be Pikachu’s buff, evil cousin. Although the title isn’t animated, it certainly appears to be a snapshot in the middle of a heated battle, not dissimilar to the classic “Good V.S. Evil” trope.
Two main options for gameplay exist: Start Game and Join Multiplayer Game. The latter displays further into two options: Join Multiplayer Game, which opens up to all the multiplayer servers publicly available, and Join Multiplayer Game (Invite Code), which is used for the joining of private servers among small groups or friends. For the purposes of this review, I’ll be starting a brand-new, single-player world. We’ll call it “This Is A Tester”.
Before any gameplay is done, character creation comes first. Palworld does a fantastic job of adding customization options, going so far as to include a 6 & 6 Preset list (6 Male, 6 Female). Additionally, they included a randomizer option, which (while not particularly pleasing to the eye) allows for some very… unique characters to be made.
After you confirm your brand-new character, you’re thrust into a cutscene, where you blearily open your eyes to see several cute Pals staring down at you. These, although you don’t realize it yet, are your “starter” Pals, so to speak. They can be found in the basic starting areas of the game, have no specific element attached to them, and have an incredibly low catch resistance. Lamball, the fluffy sheep Pal, has Handiwork, Transporting, and Farming as its Suitabilities. Cattiva (the smug-looking pink cat Pal), Handiwork, Transporting, Gathering, and Mining. And finally, Chikipi (the adorably stupid chicken Pal) with Gathering and Farming.
As you continue in the starting cutscene, you happen upon a strange looking device, with cryptic messages contained on it. This is your Paldeck, and it is one of the most important tools in the game. Using your Paldeck, you can access your Palpedia, your Technology tree, your Guild and Party list, and more.
Each Pal within the game comes with its own stats, element, level, and work suitability, along with a skill/trait that is unique to each generated Pal. These are all collected in your Palpedia, the ever-growing repository of Pal information. It contains the Stats for each one, along with the Habitat for both daytime and nighttime.
After the cutscene finished, you’re allowed to start walking. As you follow the clearly defined path, you happen upon the very first area in the game, the Windswept Hills. Because Palworld is an open-world game, there’s easily over 100 different locales to visit in game, containing everything from boss fights, settlements and towns, dungeons, and more.
In every major locale, there’s what’s known as a Great Eagle Statue. These serve as your waypoints in-game and allow for much quicker travel between key locations like the ones mentioned above. In order to activate them, you simply walk up to one and press the “X” button (or its equivalent), changing the color from orange to blue as well as permanently marking the location on your map. This is also your first item on the Journey list, seen in the yellow box in the top right corner of the screen. This list tells you helpful ideas if you get stuck on what to do next, or what’s needed in order to advance the storyline further.
Once your Fast Travel has been established, now comes the fun part – building and capturing. Moving slightly to the right of the Great Eagle, you’ll find the Expedition Survivor, the grim NPC that truly starts your game off. After chatting for a while and learning about the Palworld rules of the road (namely, have a Pal by your side at all times), he’ll give you roughly 10 pieces of Wood. This will be enough to grant you access to one of two key items in the game: your first Workbench.
To craft your workbench, press up on the cross to access the build menu, select Production, then choose Primitive Workbench. Place it on the ground wherever you desire, then walk up to it and hold down the Work button to build it. This Workbench grants you access to the first 10 levels of in-game items, found through your Menu –> Technologies screen. Speaking of which, now that your Workbench has been established, you’ll need to unlock Pal Spheres from the forementioned screen.
Go ahead and access the Technology screen, move one down and one to the right, and press A or Confirm. This will unlock Pal Spheres, your best friend when it comes to capturing Pals. Exit out and walk over to the Workbench, select it, then select Pal Spheres. You’ll notice that you don’t have the required materials yet. That’s alright – collect two Stones from nearby, then hop down the stairs nearby and over to the small grove to collect your first Paldium Fragment. This will give you enough to work with to get your first Pal Sphere.
Once you get your first Sphere, let’s use it to capture a Chikipi. Find one that’s just sitting around somewhere (or do it like I did and wait for nightfall so they’ll be sleeping). Aim at it with your left trigger, and press and hold with your right. This will cause you to start swinging, and the Chikipi will try to either run away or attack. Get it down to about 1/3 to 1/4 health, then use the button above your right trigger (RB) to aim and throw a Sphere at it. Since the starter Pals have an incredibly low catch resistance, there’s 0% possibility that this will fail, unless you miss the Pal itself. You’ll see a possibility sphere appear in the top right of the screen, and when it reaches 100%, the Pal has been captured successfully.
And that’s the basics of starting Palworld! As noted before, this is currently a single-player world – however, this can be easily changed to a multiplayer one with the settings available from the title screen.
Overall, I am in love with this game!! The movement aspects are clean and non-jerky, the graphics for both the landscape and the Pals are very intricate, if unrealistic (as to be expected), and the possibilities for a different playthrough each time are dazzling. Every detail, whether it’s the location of the base, which Pals are located where, who I find in different dungeons, is either randomized or customizable. A player can choose to focus on more of the building or battling aspects, venturing out into the world in order to find new materials for their base or a brand-new, never-fought-before Pal to conquer.
Control-wise, the game has a fully adaptable layout. Any button can be linked to any controller setting, although the normal settings come equipped already [the D-Pad (build menu, switching Pals, etc), the L/R joystick (movement and camera), ABXY (dodging/jumping, item/in-game interactions, etc), and obviously the back triggers for aiming and firing]. The benefits of having both have been made possible here, with easy-to-use innovative layout for beginners, as well as a more customizable one for players who know what they like and how they want it, and yet having none of the drawbacks.
Now, for personal thoughts on this game. As I stated earlier, my usual gaming style is more along the lines of Resident Evil, escape rooms, etc. So outside of Minecraft experience, this sort of calmer gaming, take-it-at-your-own pace is new to me. While I definitely enjoy the more storyline-driven, faster paced gaming, there’s certainly something to be said for this idea of being able to relax into the game rather than relaxing by choosing an in-game stress instead. The settings are highly detailed, able to provide all levels of player experience with a relaxing time. The open-world style with the suggestion-providing Journey map provides an even balance between a push for plot and a relaxing, stress-free atmosphere.
Overall, Palworld is a must-buy for any gamer, especially ones with a penchant for playing more relaxing games or those with a particular love for both Minecraft and Pokemon. Set in a far-distant land, which may or may not have ties to the Pokemon universe, the game centers itself around utilizing Pals for many things, including transport, basic labor, battling, and more. The game is a blend between carefree and focused, offering something for everyone in the series. Till our next game!
