Palworld (2024)

I loved Palworld. Obviously, it is Pokémon with guns and carnage, but it has a certain addicting appeal in the way the resource gathering and crafting works.

In the glorious land of Palworld, you start with nothing after washing up on a beach. You punch your first tree and collect your first stone and catch your first level 1 Lamball. Soon, you craft a little stone axe, gather wood faster and build your first little cabin. You set your base and keep expanding it with new, unlocked buildings and decorations. In the end, you build a well-oiled base (or bases later on) that produces items on its own, leaving you time for your adventure and exploration.

The rest of the game is an endless loop of leveling up, catch Palls, upgrade stuff, unlock stuff and ultimately, craft your endgame gear and battle the strongest bosses in the game. You can craft special saddles to ride certain palls, craft weapons that your palls can use and create your very own production factories, including slave labor. Each Pal possess a special ability to help your base grow. Water Pals water your crops and rock grinders, Rock type Pals can mine and chop wood, Electrified Pals can Power your base etc.

You defend your base against the Syndicate thugs that are everywhere, you raid their camps for Pals and resources and eventually clear all the boss towers and search for legendary Pals in the far corners of the map. You collect 12 of each Pal for huge XP bonusses, keeping the game interesting.

The Graphics look gorgeous for a big open map like this, and the viewing distance is great. The animations are fluent, and the lighting is polished.

The music is also great. It sounds just like a better Pokémon theme and it when you hear the iconic boss music, you know that sh!t is about to get real, and a very strong Pal is lurking towards you from somewhere.

The controls take some time to get used to but are very fluent. It just works and responds perfectly.

There is a cruel and sadistic aspect to Palworld. Of course, it is not Pokémon, but sometimes it is hard to forget that this is not a child game. You can butcher your palls for resources, sacrifice them to create better versions, punish them with slave labor and three hours of sleep a day and even execute them to set an example for the other palls at the base.

The map is huge and features many different regions, each with their own biome, Palls and Boss Towers. There are also some Wildlife Preserve Island with special Pals that are heavily guarded.

There are a lot of items, chests, points of interest and goodies to be collected in the world. Searching for them and collecting the junk you need is oddly satisfying and keeps you playing.

Although I really like the game, there is one special note that I must make for the endgame. When you want to craft the best gear in the game, it is only logical that it costs a lot of resources. The problem is that the time it takes for sh!t to be produced, is absolutely horrendous. You want to create 30 rockets for a big battle ahead and need to wait 20 real life minutes for it to complete. The only thing I see when firing a homing rocket at a boss, is 2 minutes of my life that flies through the air every time. The same (even worse) goes for Legendary spheres. After 10 lightyears you crafted 5 of them, I throw them at a Pal, miss, and see 10 minutes of my pathetic life thrown to waste in the abys, just like my hopes and dreams.
But the absolute worst part is the Oil Rig. You need a lot of oil for special metals later on, and besides the immense costs of the Oil Rig itself, the time, power and effort it takes to produce 10 barrels for example, is insane. It is faster to search for chests in the wild, airdrops or raid the newly added Oil Rig, assuming the Death Star Laser does not burn you to ash first.

Another problem is the terrible AI of the Pals. When assigning them to task, they often fail to register on a certain job, simply walk away, abandon their post after producing a single item, and just do not get their priorities straight. Many times, I started the production of 500 Assault Rifle ammo for example, knowing that it would takes years to complete. I assigned 4 (healthy) Handiwork palls to the assembly line, went on a glorious conquest on the other side of the map and when I returned 40 real life minutes later, not one single bullet had been produced and all the assigned palls where just transporting f*cking berries and tomatoes.

But the base principal of the game and the rewarding experience overall makes it worth it.

The game is still being updated, and new content comes out every once in a while. New towers are being added, new challenges and new areas to explore.

I would surely recommend this game to everyone.