Palworld is an open-world monster-collecting game that closely meshes its survival gameplay with the monsters you capture. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
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 Buy Palworld on Steam
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Palworld Review Overview
Palworld Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Combat is Actually Good Deep Base Management System Even Its Bugs Are Hilarious |
Deceptively Repetitive Gameplay Loop Crafting Is A Serious Buzzkill Other Minor Issues |
Palworld Overall Score - 78/100
Do not let Palworld's sub-80 score fool you. It's an incredibly fun and endearing title that only really suffers from its lack of attention to its story. Regardless of how you think of the game going in after consuming its admittedly eyebrow-raising advertisements, Palworld is sure to blow away at least most of your expectations. To be frank, it has no business being this entertaining. And that’s awesome.
Palworld Story - 5/10
This is perhaps the game’s only issue. There’s little to no story besides the one you create for yourself. Although there is some lore scattered around the island, it does basically nothing to give you rhyme or reason to be there.
Palworld Gameplay - 9/10
Palworld is basically a Frankenstein of different games, but it's done incredibly well. Those who know their way around many different titles may be able to relate Palworld’s gameplay with other games such as Ark, Legends Arceus, Breath of the Wild, etc. However, it’s unique and enjoyable enough to easily stand on its own. But on the other hand, movement is quite clunky, and it has a deceptively boring gameplay loop of crafting, gathering resources, and grinding levels.
Palworld Visuals - 9/10
Pal designs, while questionable in their originality, are still distinct and polished. And that helps, considering how similar it is to one of the biggest gaming franchises in history. On the other hand, the world you are thrown into is incredibly pretty. It’s also full of hidden landmarks, caves, resources, and encounters, ensuring that its aesthetics don’t lack substance at all. But unfortunately, most humanlike entities are copy-pastes of each other, and the special effects are above average at best.
Palworld Audio - 7/10
The most satisfying part about operating what is essentially a sweatshop at your base is the sounds that your Pals make as they toil. The sound of their mining, logging, farming, and manufacturing operations scratches a particular itch for those who enjoy those kinds of gameplay. Combat sound effects are also crisp and satisfying, although not enough to be remarkable. However, the game almost entirely lacks voice acting besides some incomprehensible murmuring, and there are also sections where background tunes are completely absent.
Palworld Value for Money - 9/10
Palworld, in its current state, already boasts an incredible amount of content for its scope. Considering that it’s only being sold at a relatively dirt cheap price of $29.99, I find it hard to think of a reason why people would hesitate if they’re open to the game’s concepts. Even if Palworld enters a state of Early Access hell, you would have already gotten more than your money’s worth with everything the game currently offers.
Palworld Review: Unreasonably Entertaining
I booted Palworld up on my unit with the mindset of playing a joke of a game. After all, its marketing almost entirely focused on its combat, giving the impression that it’s essentially "Pokemon, but with guns." While that is admittedly one of my dream games, I was still ready to objectively bash the game for whatever sins it would inevitably commit, at least according to my expectations.
Instead, I was blown away - in a good way, might I add.
Palworld is essentially a Frankenstein of many things. Off the top of my head, I could see inspirations from Ark, Legends Arceus, Breath of the Wild, and a couple of other games whose names I can’t remember, even if you forced me to at gunpoint. While that may bring questions regarding its originality, the experience I’ve had with the game tells me that it’s done enough to be able to stand on its own.
First of all, I can’t believe that Pokemon hasn’t thought of creating a game similar to Palworld already. Lore-wise, it’s already established that Pokemon live in harmony with humans, assisting them in their everyday lives even outside of battle. That’s why it’s surprising that the Pokemon Company hasn’t created a game like it.
Anyway, Palworld is unique among its peers by seamlessly blending a monster-collecting theme with the survival genre. As you create a home for yourself in the inhospitable wilderness of Palpagos Island, Pals, which are the intelligent and unique fauna that inhabit that area, become an indispensable part of your forces. They fulfill many roles, including but not limited to battling for your sake, serving as your mount, tending to your gardens, etc.
True to everybody’s expectations, Palworld features a boatload of combat, which often takes the form of firefights between you and the local wildlife. As you expand and take care of your army of Pals, they, in turn, will help you gain access to more technologies and grow your influence across the island.
As it is now, despite its early access state, Palworld already has a large amount of content to go through. There are dungeons hidden all across the island, boss fights against syndicate bosses and their own Pals, and collectibles scattered throughout the area. Even though it still suffers from the same gameplay loop that many survival games use, it rarely feels empty due to the micromanagement needed to organize your bases and the Pals that end up calling it home.
Oh, and have I mentioned that Pals can essentially cannibalize each other? And that you can also capture humans just like how you would Pals? Yeah. This game is awesome.
Pros of Palworld
| Things Palworld Got Right |
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Combat is Actually Good Deep Base Management System Even Its Bugs Are Hilarious |
Combat is Actually Good
If I was to describe Palworld’s combat, it would be that it’s like a combination of Breath of the Wild and Legends Arceus. However, considering that Breath of the Wild isn’t available on the PC or on Xbox, it may be more accurate to say that it’s similar to, and I’m already tired of using this comparison, Genshin Impact.
You can use the usual lineup of cold weapons expected from survival games set in isolated islands, such as clubs, spears, and bows. However, as promised by its marketing, there are also hot weapons such as miniguns, missile launchers, and assault rifles that are craftable later on.
On top of its third-person action or shooter gameplay, you also have access to your Pals to help you in combat. Through their assistance, you can opt to experience cooperative gameplay with your Pals or even mounted combat as you ride on top of the larger ones. Staying true to their promises, some Pals can also be equipped with guns. In fact, you can even equip some of the Pals as weapons. Although not many of them can do so, it at least adds another layer of depth to its combat.
Despite its scope, Palworld was able to integrate multiple gameplay types quite well. Even its boss fights are pretty fun, even through their bloated HPs. You aren't even limited in your options when dealing with them, as the game encourages you to make full use of your abilities to call on and retrieve your Pals mid-combat and your veritable arsenal of weapons at your disposal.
Deep Base Management System
Just like The Forest, much of the gameplay revolves around managing your base and exploring the world. Concerning the former, developing your base involves gathering resources, creating facilities, and "hiring" Pals to manage them.
Having access to Pals is what makes base-building so intriguing. You see, regardless of a Pal’s intelligence, they can only work on certain jobs. For example, Rushoars will almost exclusively spend their time mining rocks. This means that you’ll have to consider which Pals are deployed on your base, as some of them might inevitably just slack due to not having anything to work on.
In addition, you’ll also have to take proper care of the Pals you deploy by regularly crafting entertainment facilities. Their moods have quite a significant effect on their work efficiency, and they may even stop working altogether if their moods degenerate to a certain point.
Yes, that means you can't make sweatshops here or run black companies.
My only tip here is to focus on deploying Pals that can chop down wood or mine rocks at the beginning of the game. An abundance of resources will allow you to craft more facilities readily later on.
Even Its Bugs Are Hilarious
As expected from an Early Access release, Palworld has more than its fair share of bugs that infest various parts of its gameplay. While I personally haven’t seen many bugs on my playthrough, the ones I did witness are quite hilarious.
For example, while I was exploring the northern side of the map from where I set up a base, I was able to run into a fight between a Rushoar, a Jolthog, and three Direhowls. Perhaps due to size differences, the Jolthog quickly lost in the fight as it got incapacitated by the Rushoar’s charge. But, as if that size difference was depicted several dozen times more than necessary, the Rushoar’s charging attack ended up catapulting the Jolthog’s unmoving corpse hundreds of feet into the air until it disappeared.
The game’s problems with pathing are also not limited to you. Enemies experience them, too, and would sometimes get themselves into really awkward situations. One such example is enemy syndicate thugs finding themselves stuck inside the cage of the Pal they’re keeping hostage.
Bugs are a common element in an Early Access game, so I don’t really mind. In fact, with the proper mindset, even the most egregious bug can be taken in a positive light.
Cons of Palworld
| Things That Palworld Can Improve |
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Deceptively Repetitive Gameplay Loop Crafting Is A Serious Buzzkill Other Minor Issues |
Deceptively Repetitive Gameplay Loop
There’s a lot to do in Palworld. You can go out and catch more or rare Pals, craft better equipment, tackle area bosses, gather resources, explore uncharted territories, etc. As long as you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone, you can always find something novel.
But despite everything, you’re still restricted to the same loop that the vast majority of survival games have. That is, you’re gonna have to keep gathering materials, upgrade your equipment, tackle harder content, ad infinitum. It doesn’t matter what you decide to do that day; you’re still going to fall somewhere in that loop at one point.
For example, if you want to go out and capture Pals, you’re gonna have to gather resources and craft the spheres to catch them with. If you want to explore other parts of the map, you’re gonna have to craft the consumables you’d have to take with you. The same goes when you want to tackle a dungeon or if you want to fight an area boss.
But then again, that’s not really much of an issue. You can positively get a lot of enjoyment from the game, even if it sticks to the same loop. But it does need to be mentioned, at least.
Crafting Is A Serious Buzzkill
Ever tried playing Minecraft? The game has "Craft" in its name, so its crafting system is accordingly good. As for Palworld, well… It’s not bad. But it’s not good, either. At least it doesn't have "Craft" in its name, right?
There is nothing wrong with the fundamentals behind Palworld’s crafting. In fact, it has a really robust crafting system that allows you to use materials stored anywhere within your base, cancel queued items with no loss, and even have your Pals help or even automate its crafting.
The problem, however, stems from the latter fact that your Pals can do so. It was perhaps this feature that necessitated crafting some items to have unreasonably prolonged processing time. Alone, you could be on the workbench creating a single item for a couple of dozen seconds or so. Imagine how long it would take to craft about fifty separate batches of arrows for your bow. While every batch doesn’t take more than a few seconds to make, you’re gonna have to watch that progress bar fill up for a long time.
While it’s entirely possible to get rid of this problem once you’ve streamlined your processes, you’re going to encounter this issue quite frequently early on. I would highly recommend planning your crafting in advance and loading them onto your crafting tables ahead of time. Doing so will at least allow you to leave it to your Pals to craft so you can come back after an expedition with your items already done.
Other Minor Issues
First and foremost, there are not a lot of customization options for players right now. The few dozen hairstyles, eye patterns, facial structures, etc., are quite misleading, as most of them look rather similar at the end of the day. At the moment, you can't even edit your character after you make them until a future feature gets patched in.
There’s also a severe lack of background music for the majority of the game. In fact, the only times when I was able to hear something besides my own footsteps were when raids were coming to my base and whenever I was in a big fight. Though some may argue that it’s more immersive that way, that’s only if your idea of immersion is equivalent to replicating reality’s lack of a good tune in the background.
Accessing the right interactable object is also troublesome since the game doesn't expressly target the one where you point your crosshair at. Say you try to access a box that you've placed in between a worktable and another box. More often than not, unless you approached that box directly parallel to their positioning, you'll interact with the object adjacent to it unless you reposition yourself to be as far away from the others as possible, or moved your crosshair enough that the game recognizes what it is you're doing.
Lastly, movement is quite clunky, with your character often clutching onto walls at inappropriate times, your Pals failing in their pathfinding, etc. There are even some times when your own Pals will walk through the campfire and set themselves on fire. Fortunately, this also extends to your enemies, as they will sometimes get themselves into sticky situations that can only be escaped from by their deaths.
Is Palworld Worth It?
Definitely
Despite its bugs and Early Access state, Palworld is definitely worth the small amount of money it’s asking from you. There’s a lot of content within the game already, and you can easily spend multiple hours just managing your base. Although it does suffer from the typical survival game’s boring gameplay loop, it doesn’t really matter as long as you’re fine with the grind.
Ah, and you can pet your Pals on the head, too.
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
 Steam |
$29.99 |
 Xbox |
$29.99 |
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Palworld Overview & Premise
The game unfolds on the Palpagos Island, a strange land where curious creatures known as "Pals" roam freely. But after it was discovered, numerous factions occupied the land and started to exploit its resources and creatures.
Players take control of an explorer who finds themselves washed up on shore following a shipwreck. To survive in this unfamiliar land full of ambitious cliques, players must rely on the unique Pals that inhabit the island.
Palworld FAQ
Does Palworld have multiplayer?
Yes, Palworld can support up to 32 players on public servers or up to four players on private ones.
Does Palworld have an endgame?
Technically, yes. You can explore the entire island and defeat every syndicate boss there is. However, it’s similar to Ark in that its endgame is dependent on your satisfaction with your own progress.
Palworld Product Information
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| Title | PALWORLD |
|---|---|
| Release Date | January 19, 2024 |
| Developer | Pocketpair |
| Publisher | Pocketpair |
| Supported Platforms | PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One |
| Genre | RPG, Shooter |
| Number of Players | 1-32 |
| ESRB Rating | TBA |
| Official Website | Palworld Website |
