Palworld

The version of Palworld on Xbox and the Microsoft Store might not be nearly as polished as the Steam version right now, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a ton of fun.

"The mishmash of brutal, amoral survivalism and innocent saturday morning cartoons is something that never stops being ghoulishly fascinating"

There are simple pleasures to be found in Palworld's enormous list of crafting tasks, but look beyond its base building and its world, monster taming and combat all feel quite stale and undercooked.

Ultimately, Palworld is good fun. I’m looking forward to seeing how multiplayer works out with my friends. It’s easy to argue that much of Palworld’s best bits feel like they’ve been lifted from somewhere else, somewhere that has not been intentionally disavowed as an inspiration. Palworld definitely has some features worth admiring, and is finally letting keen monster-collectors dabble in the whole ‘what if Pokemon, but dark and violent’ query that many of us have often had, but I’m quite disappointed in how unoriginal it often feels.

But right now, Pocketpair has managed to both deliver on its surreal vision, and still create something that feels like more than just a novel “what-if” mash-up of ideas.

Palworld offers an incredibly expansive survival, catch 'em all experience. Its action-packed traversal and exploration are accompanied by a fully fleshed out base building system to provide a package that's bursting at the seams with content. This game proves there is still plenty of space in the monster-catching genre for successful competitors to the world's biggest IP.

At the end of the day, Palworld is messy, ambitious and incredibly addictive.

Palworld is a far cry from the usual creature-collecting games on the market. Instead of being turn-based and bogged down with long, drawn-out cutscenes and dialogue sequences. This game lets you explore and feel the action yourself with a massive open world, a needlessly complicated base-building system, and so many Pals and bosses to take on. There are even little collaboration items and zones from games like Terraria and Ultrakill. The game is worth every single penny of its price tag, and absolutely has earned its success by daring to be different in the genre it’s in. You should absolutely pick up Palworld and have a fun time as I have!

In that regard, Palworld remains a specialized interest. Either you’re ready to get lost in the details of empire expansion and monster murder, or you’ll quickly lose momentum.

Still Fun, Despite Its Many Flaws With its full release, Palworld has changed in many ways. The world now feels more inviting to explore, with far more things to see and do. However, its inconvenient mechanics and underdeveloped elements are still easy to notice. Setting out on an adventure with your Pals remains an enjoyable experience, but there is clearly still plenty that needs to be improved.