Palworld has had a successful run ever since its early access release, and it took the gaming world by surprise with its massive scope and scale. Based on its initial reveal, nobody could have expected it to rise to where it is today. Some would even go so far as to compare Palworld directly to a certain other franchise due to their apparent similarities.
However, Palworld is anything but that franchise, and that is its greatest strength.
The Story:
This might be disappointing for those expecting a deep narrative, but Palworld primarily focuses on letting you play without much hindrance. That being said, if you hunt down the lore, you will get a good idea of what happened to these islands prior to your arrival and how dark the story can get. Palworld does not shy away from darker subjects despite its cute appearance; it fully embraces them to the point where the world can feel quite bleak.
Even so, there is a lot of beauty and wonder to be found. A few side quests dive deep into humans and Pals surviving together and the bonds forged between them. Sadly, there are not many of them, as most side quests are just there for XP, but the few that exist are unique and stand out.
Truthfully, Palworld does not put much focus on narrative, as it is just not that kind of game. What is there, however, serves its purpose of giving you a real reason to explore. I enjoyed what I got out of it, though if I could wish for a few improvements, it would be for the existing cutscenes and data logs to be fully voice-acted. I will give the developer, Pocketpair, a bit of slack here. Proper voice acting and direction are not cheap, and they are not a studio with unlimited funds.
Gameplay:
I will address the elephant in the room first: "Is Palworld a blatant copy of a certain other franchise?" No, it really is not. The only similar thing you do in the game is throw spheres at different monsters to capture them and use them in battle, but that is where the similarities end.
What the game offers is an open-world, survival-crafting action RPG where every single Pal you find or capture has uses outside of direct combat. Some are dedicated to managing your base (more on that shortly). Others may not be useful in battle, but they are great to bring along because they passively buff your other Pals or yourself—boosting your bow power, enhancing a specific element on the team, increasing your carrying capacity, or, the coolest idea in my opinion, changing your own attacks into different elemental damage. Some Pals can even be ridden to explore by flying or swimming, or even wielded directly in battle.
This gives you an astronomical number of choices for who you bring on your team. At the time of writing this review, the community is constantly finding new and interesting Pal combinations for different builds, and I am certain players will continue to experiment for a long time. I cannot begin to describe how much fun this makes hunting for new Pals. Even a so-called "weak" Pal might be the exact piece you need for an electric stun build or the key to speeding up production at your base.
However, I am getting ahead of myself. The main gameplay loop involves exploring, crafting new weapons and gear, and capturing lots of Pals. In between all of that, you are heavily incentivized to find a nice spot on the map and build a base. Once set up, you can summon your captured Pals to help manage it: planting crops, chopping down trees, mining rocks, crafting food, smelting ingots, forging weapons, or transporting items to designated storage chests.
I have only mentioned a handful of things a Pal can do, but you are not defenseless either. In fact, you are by far the most dangerous thing on these islands! As you level up, you gain technology points alongside attribute upgrades like health or weight capacity. Technology points are used, as the name implies, to unlock recipes for stronger gear, advanced base structures, or saddles (which are required to ride Pals). You start off wielding simple, if downright primitive, weapons, but in due time, you will be sporting shotguns, assault rifles, and explosives to take down your foes (and any unfortunate Pal caught in your wake).
It creates a satisfying loop of exploring, capturing, fighting, and then chilling at base to upgrade your gear. The game does not force you to be a master builder to progress. The main requirement is keeping your Pals fed and giving them a place to sleep; otherwise, they will collapse from overwork, and you will have to go out of your way to revive them. Put simply, you can make your base as simple or complex as you want. Palworld does not punish bad building, so feel free to build a chaotic mess, and, somehow, your Pals will still figure it out... probably.
While exploring, you will discover fast-travel points that act as handy checkpoints and award additional technology points. There are boss Pals to capture or defeat for rare materials, as well as hidden dungeons containing treasure and schematics. Schematics allow you to learn recipes without spending tech points. You will also spot random loot chests and rogue spheres lying around. Finally, there are the main story towers. Inside, you will fight human bosses alongside their signature Pals within a generous time limit. Defeating them progresses the story and unlocks powerful ancient technologies.
There is virtually no "worthless" content in the game. Progression feels less like "I have to do this to advance" and more like "what do I want and need right now?" The only strictly required targets are the towers, but everything you do in between is entirely up to you.
I could easily spend hours explaining every system here, but I will be honest, dear reader: there is simply too much to cover. I have barely scratched the surface. There is a deep breeding system allowing you to combine different Pals into entirely new species, merchants who help refine passives and stats, an arena, challenging raid bosses, and yes, you can even capture humans, break the law, and get a wanted level!
Palworld simply does not want to get in the way of your fun. You might expect a game mixing this many genres and mechanics to turn into an unstable mess. Yet, somehow, everything just works. I do not mean to sound hyperbolic, but many survival-crafting games try to blend multiple genres and fall flat on their faces. The game balances everything so cleanly from a design perspective that you cannot help but admire it.
That being said, it is not perfect. One design choice (not necessarily a flaw, but an interesting decision) is the default XP rate. You gain so much experience doing basic activities that you quickly overlevel the local areas. While this can be adjusted in the world settings, it feels slightly odd to manually tweak settings just to smooth out the leveling pace. Still, this is not a strict flaw per se, as many players prefer fast progression over a grind. While I could have played on harder presets or built custom settings, I wanted to review the game on its default "intended" balance, which is the way most players will experience it.
(That said, the one setting I did change was increasing the maximum number of Pals allowed at a base, though you still have to unlock those slots naturally through progression!)
Pros and Cons:
Beginning with the cons: the story could have been presented more directly through a few choice cutscenes rather than forcing you to hunt down scattered data logs just to understand what is actually happening. I know narrative is not the primary focus, but I still would have loved to see more because the lore that does exist is interesting enough to leave me wanting more.
The melee combat is fairly simple. While a few melee weapons feel distinct, I wish the system were as diverse and engaging as the firearm gameplay.
The base size limit feels restrictive. Unless I missed something, there is not an official way to expand the build radius. I understand why limits exist on busy multiplayer servers, but having an option to increase it in single-player would have been a great touch.
The post-game content needs rebalancing. Rather than simply inflating enemy stats, I would have preferred to see increased difficulty driven by new attack patterns or fresh boss mechanics.
Personally, I wish you could carry six or seven Pals instead of just five. I know five keeps things balanced, but lacking the right element in your party for specific elemental chests always feels frustrating.
Visually, the game looks good, but the environment leans toward semi-realism, creating a stark contrast with the stylized Pal designs. It does not break immersion, but I would not have minded seeing the world given the same stylistic attention to detail as the creatures inhabiting it. That said, the final three areas are genuinely memorable.
One minor nitpick: I wish there were more exploration music tracks in the game.
As for the pros: the pacing and overall sense of progression are so finely tuned that it is easy to lose entire evenings to "just one more task."
There is so much variety in team building that encountering a new Pal in the open world always feels exciting. The sheer depth of the mechanics provides hours of experimentation.
Speaking of Pals, their animations are fantastic across the board. They do not just look good; they express distinct personalities through detailed idle animations and behaviors. How Pocketpair managed this consistently for over 200 Pals given their studio size is pure magic. You can tell the developers loved bringing these critters to life.
The game also features a specific encounter that redefines what "legendary" means in the monster-capturing genre, and it is an absolute joy to experience.
Customization is fantastic. You can tweak world settings to your exact liking, even to game-breaking extremes if you prefer. Better yet, options exist to randomize gear drops and Pal spawn locations, giving subsequent playthroughs tons of replay value.
While the soundtrack is sparse, the few music tracks that are present are absolute bangers.
Finally, the game fully supports mods, and no, dear reader, not just the kind you are thinking of.
Closing Thoughts:
When it was first revealed, Palworld was treated as a joke and not taken seriously. Over the years, it has continuously proven to naysayers what a small, passionate team can accomplish when they are simply allowed to make games. It showed the industry what genuine passion looks like and took the time to refine the player experience. It even managed to shake up one of the largest franchises in the world by proving you do not need a massive team or blockbuster budget to craft a quality game people love, and that smaller studios are the future of gaming. The few flaws I mentioned never truly took me out of the experience; they are mostly minor nitpicks.
To me, Palworld is the ultimate underdog story that nobody expected to rise to where it is today. It has consistently improved over time leading up to an impressive full release. I do not know what else to say: it is a great time, budget-friendly, and delivers far more than expected. The developers themselves said this game was built purely to be fun and oh boy, were they right.
VERDICT: Essential
Reviewed on PC
Available On: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
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