Like Pokemon. Only this time, we have GUNS!
We have a new gaming phenomenon sweeping the entire world! With its bright bold colours and changing scenery this game has gripped quite literally millions of players.
In its opening weekend alone Palworld hit some incredible figures. It has taken second place on the Steam all-time leaderboard. It clocked in at a staggering 1.85+ million concurrent players on Steam alone. This is an incredible achievement only being beaten by the crazy PUBG score of a whopping 3.2 Million in first place. It is Crazy to think that there is still a blistering 1.4 Million player gap between these 1st and 2nd place numbers.
The huge concurrent numbers aren’t the only win they captured this week (Yes that was an intentional joke…. And no I’m not sorry). This game has been a huge instant hit with communities generating an astonishing 8 million sales in 6 days on the STEAM platform alone. There is no reference to Microsoft/ Xbox sales but as this huge hit is included in game pass subscriptions (on both console and PC) the player numbers will be quite an eye-watering figure at our guess.
So then, what has made this such a hugely popular hit in such a short time? Let’s dive in and see what we think!
Visually, Palworld is a bright, bold and colourful world to become a part of. As you explore the wider map, multiple biomes and different areas come with their own individual aesthetics. Each biome also comes with its own challenges but we will cover this later in the gameplay section.
The Pals do come with some variety as well. On release, we currently have a total of 137 different pals. While there are huge differences between some of the Pals, some of the others available are more like different members of the same family. Think back to the original 151 Pokémon, Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon. While classed as different Pals each with different skills or elements, they are visually very similar.
Gameplay time! So on the face of it, the gameplay loop is straightforward. Gather resources, build a base, collect food and capture Pals. The early gameplay lends itself to this very simple and basic style of gameplay as well. There are tutorial hints along the way but it also doesn’t give you the full hand-holding experience either. I found it a great blend of the two.
On first loading the game you spawn in the starter area. Low-level Pals are here and there is a minimum variety. You manually collect some resources from the floor, build the primitive workbench and craft some basic stone tools.
Now that we are armed with some low-level tools we can chop trees directly and mine stone from the ground. But this is where the fun starts to ramp up. Those early-level pals we captured can now help us with some basic tasks as we start to build up our camp. Great tip for those new to the game, explore the starting area more than just the 12 steps I took and build your base somewhere open and flat, you’ll thank me for it later!
I won't go any more into the early gameplay to avoid any potential spoilers however, I will say that the first hour looks nothing at all like the 60th or the 100th hour.
As previously mentioned above. There are different biomes within the game each that come with their unique challenges as well. Fire/ lava biomes will be rather hot and you will need to make sure your armour is appropriate. Same for the frozen frost biomes and so on. There is currently a limited number of area-appropriate armours. Standard, Heat resistant and Cold resistant. These areas also then house different Pals with the Lava area being home to some of the most dangerous Fire types and the Frosty Mountains offering some of the most vicious Ice Types.
Before starting any new game or joining a friend's game for the first time you enter the character customisation. Choices here while plenty fun enough with a decent-sized variety still feel somewhat lacking and basic. I feel this may be something they plan to work on further down the line as they also intend to bring in a character editor down the line however for now you are locked into that initial choice.
Conclusion time!
So, is Palworld worth your money?
For me, this is very challenging indeed. I absolutely love this game and have very, very happily sunk over 100 hours into it already. I find it very easy to play, fun to explore and play with friends and overall an amazing experience. There are however some holdbacks. I have had numerous issues with game engine crashes when trying to load into my game. My first game world was abandoned as I simply couldn't load into it anymore. I eventually created another new world and 30 hours into that, the same issue. There is also no cross-game carryover for each friend's game you join you start at level 1 again.
I had been playing on Xbox Gamepass for PC however my Co-op partner also played in this manner and has had significantly fewer problems while playing on a lower-spec'd PC. I have also heard rumours that the Steam version is much more stable and less problematic however I have not been able to test this out at this time.
The game does give multiple warnings about this still being worked on actively and even issues this warning each time you load the game. They have also put out multiple social media posts to advise of issues/ bugs they are currently working on and keep the community updated with behind-the-scenes information which is a nice way to stay up to date.
So would I recommend this game? ABSOLUTELY!
Grab some snacks and relax in this beautiful and peaceful world where you capture Pals and work alongside each other in harmony. Or force them into a strict work life with no rest for the wicked!
While I would love to score it a solid full mark offering a 10/10 my issues with game crashes and being unable to load into my worlds have held me back. I will revise this title at a later date and I will continue to play.. When it lets me.
Following a patch update this seems more stable now. I found a useful workaround as well. turning off multiplayer in the world settings before loading into the game seems to have helped out and stopped my crashes.
My current score is now 9/10