Palworld: Casual fun collecting monsters

Whaddaya know, there I was feeling the gaming blues all summer until I ended up getting Palworld and Once Human this September and finding myself enjoying both for different reasons. The last two weekends were mostly dedicated to monster catching however which is why Once Human has to wait its turn for a personal review.

First of all, I did not intend to ever try out Palworld. I am not a Pokémon fan (which is how the game was advertized in some corners) and I had marginal knowledge beyond this before it was gifted to me by my longterm gaming buddy. I knew it’s open world survival crafting which I generally enjoy…until I don’t, which is the inevitable fate of this genre. Once your base is functional and expanded and chest inventory management becomes unbearable, I tend to lose interest unless there’s a reason to keep exploring and/or doing quests. Valheim does this pretty well but many titles really don’t.

About 25 hours and 20 levels into Palworld there’s an undeniable charm and gameplay variety that’s very engaging. Maybe it helps that I never played Pokémon so there’s not the constant ingame comparisons to Nintendo’s giant IP, over which they’re now currently suing Pocket Pair Inc.  because apparently only Nintendo are allowed to use monster catching mechanics that involve throwing round balls. As far as I’m concerned the corporate bullies can suck the aforementioned but that’s neither here nor there.

An early Palworld review

Palworld starts the player off without much bravado; as you leave the familiar MMO cave, a wide open world awaits that is ripe for the exploring. It’s up to you where to head to first and where to set up camp, although venturing off into higher level areas early is not recommended. The map is vast and biomed in all the familiar ways. All across the world monsters of different levels, magical schools and random skills await to be conquered, some friendlier than others. Add outdoor bosses as well as dungeons and special instanced challenges to the mix, plus a linear quest progression to offer a sense of direction.

The crafting and leveling process are solid. New recipes and skills are unlocked through tech tiers that require different levels and resources. Some upgrades revolve around base building features while others improve your character’s gear or add special skills to pals. The workstations look fine – overall building and decorating are functional and simple without offering nearly the depth of Valheim or similar titles. If you’re looking for landscaping and detailed custom architecture, Palworld ain’t for you.

A large chunk of the game revolves around micromanaging the different pals you collect around the world and how they are put to optimal use in your homebase and combat. Creatures come with different schools of magic, innate skills as well as synergies and thus your quest for optimal outcomes beginneth. Gathering and crafting are mostly automated by way of putting suitable pals to work and overseeing their well-being. And yes, there’s a ton of cuteness involved as you watch your pals’ distinct animations and goofy behavior as they go about their daily tasks. Palworld is a cute game in a good way, it has a sense of humor about it. Naturally there’s also pal breeding and a process called ‘pal distillation’ which create longterm incentives for players to gather multiple pals of the same kind and hunt for special “lucky pals”. As I’ve only just started playing, I’ve no idea how important all of this will be further down the road.

Then there’s the exploration and combat part of the game which keep things varied. A degree of preparation is required before bigger excursions as you have to take food and other materials for yourself and up to 5 pals you’re allowed to bring along. The pals will aid you in combat and add other perks like riding, flying or scanning for dungeons to your journey. Besides hunger mechanics, there’s also gear decay and special gear for certain weather conditions – all your usual survival game fare. Catching new pals involves timing and throwing corresponding spheres of a certain level of which 3 different varieties exist so far. I’ve a feeling the dev team will keep adding more content in this regard. Traversal is made easier by things like different rideable pals as well as grappling hooks and a glider which you receive early on. There’s also fast travel by way of unlocking new areas.

The game is very vertical in places and it’s fun to climb up towers and mountains of which there are many. As you explore the map, you keep running into new pals, special collectibles and the odd dungeon or special encounter. If there’s one criticism I have right now, it’s that soundtrack is non-existent but that’s a personal thing. It’s weird to me how silent the game is when you’re out there looking for treasure. Otherwise I’m quite happy with the casual gameplay it offers and the flexibility of customizing your own world client side. Few things need improvement but nothing major enough to get on my nerves just yet. There’s multiplayer too of course which is slightly less ideal in terms of how progress is managed (for example tech unlocks aren’t shared) but it still feels very early days so I’m happy to go solo or join my friend on his server when we manage to coordinate. Let’s see if the game can keep our interest the next 20 levels.