Palworld is a monster collecting, open-world crafting game with online multiplayer. There has been a lot of controversy and hype circulating about Palworld. It has been dubbed as “Pokémon with guns.” There are mechanics and design elements from other series, such as Breath of the Wild, Fortnite and Ark: Survival Evolved. The game was released on Jan. 19 on Steam and on Xbox Game Pass. It has over 8 million downloads and has reached over 2 million concurrent players on Steam. Without a doubt, it will climb in sales as it has been available for only a week or so. 

The game’s official description on Steam states: “In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them!”

The game is a somewhat dark parody of Pokémon and a player can do anything they wish, including catching characters, which PETA has criticized.

The character designs are similar to those of Pokémon, the most well-known examples being the Pokémon “Wooloo” and Palworld’s “Lamball”: a cute fluffy ball with a black face and beady eyes with horns. Enough of the essential factors are there to say there is direct inspiration. A statement by the CEO Pocket Pair relied on a recently-hired graduate student to design over 100 monsters and that the student was in the clear for legal review. The edginess and shock of it all is the antithesis of what The Pokémon Company stands for. However, that may be the thing that protects Palworld from the wrath of Nintendo. 

In response to the games’ similarities, The Pokémon Company stated: “We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future.” 

Pokémon does not own the concept of monster collecting role-playing games (RPGs) and was not the first to do it—some of the first were Digimon and Yokai Watch. Pokémon popularized it and changed the demographic from edgy teens to children. The sheer number of cute, strange and fantastical creatures was what drew people to the franchise. After over 25 years, there has not been that many changes to the same formula: go to a new region, collect all the Pokémon, defeat the gym leaders and defeat the champion to be the new one. 

Palworlds is filling a niche Pokémon fans have been wanting forever, which is an open-world Pokémon game. It is something Nintendo has addressed in recent games like Arceus and Scarlet and Violet, both of which are fundamentally still story turn-based RPGs. Getting rid of that core is debatable. Palworld’s gameplay feels more survival based and while the Pokémon designs are close; the environment feels closer to semi-realism similar to Ark or Fortnite. Palworld gives players the freedom to do whatever they want with cool and cute monsters. 

For $30—half of a regular Pokémon game—give Palworld a shot. Co-op multiplayer works well and it isn’t locked into one system exclusively so friends can play together easily. 

Image from IGN via YouTube.com