Palworld has released and has come out swinging HARD. Knocking Fortnite off of the most played list, selling a gazillion copies and, stirring up controversies. That's right, I am sure you have heard the rumors of AI assets, Pokemon modeling theft, and overall a general sense of "This is definitely a knock off Nintendo game."
But does that deter you? I see the numbers and it looks like the consensus is no. Palworld itself has sold over 8 MILLION copies of the game. Proving one of two things: People do not care about how a game is made, as long as it has hype, they will buy it. OR people have been sick of the recent releases of Pokemon and were looking to find something they can be content with.
Actually, I think it's both of the above. Now, this is a game that has been branded as "Pokemon with guns" and I have played it and while it for sure has the undertones of the game, it feels so much different. To me, Palworld feels more like Ark with creatures that vaguely to sometimes blatantly look like Pocket Monsters. You don't necessarily tame any of the monsters to capture them but you do give them a full on beatdown. Whether that's with a stick, a companion, or both, you lower the health of your opponent and throw a sphere at them in hopes that they forgive you and join your squad.
I know I know, minus the stick part is sounds familiar. But it feels different than playing something like Arceus. Let's take a look at this from a purely video game/gameplay standpoint. The entire time I played the game the reality is that I felt like I was playing just another survival game. Palworld's hype has reached an all-time high for sure but it doesn't actually do anything spectacular. You start off by punching, you guessed it, trees. You also pick up rocks. You build a workbench. You build a square house. You craft cloth clothes. All of these things I have done a million times before in various survival games. Sure, your little Pals you capture can assist you in speeding up the ungodly long "work times" to craft something but it feels more for show than anything else. I swear to you my beginnings in Ark felt nearly identical to this game (without the super obvious sounds and references to The Legend Of Zelda). The only major difference was when I spawned, a vicious dino wasn't ensuring that I couldn't leave the area.
If anything, Palworld has copied the trend of the stereotypical Survival game. I will admit that I bought into that hype at the beginning and for the first few hours, I was excited to what I would find next. Boss battles, capturing humans (yes) and crafting a submachine gun for your Pal all SEEM exciting, but ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, Palworld is just another survival game. If you like those, you'll like Palworld. If you were looking for something different and innovative in the genre, you may be disappointed.
Controversies aside, from a video game standpoint, Palworld has failed to keep me interested for more than a few hours. I may be in the minority here but I do not see myself hopping back in to more of the game except for maybe unlocking a few of the easier achievements to pad my Xbox Gamerscore.
Have you played Palworld? What are your thoughts on the game?
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