Palworld Review (PS5)

'You take on the role of a castaway whose ship has crash landed due to a mysterious fog and awaken on a strange beach in nothing but your underwear'

How did a ship manage to put on my underwear?

Other then catching monsters in balls its not like Pokemon at all. Its a survival game in the vain of Ark with monster tamer aspects. Anyone expecting Pokemon from this will be in for a shock. Palworld is excellent and a great survival game but its not Pokemon.

Great review and I love that someone on here played it and did a write-up. I don't usually do this but I just paused the game to clear some small things up.

Bloated number of items and workstations.

• This is true but a lot of those workstations in the Technology Tree exist as replacements of the previous. So for example the forge, the updated versions allow the crafting of both older materials (iron) and newer (reinforced iron, Pal metal) it appears bloated when it's taken at face value. The same for crafting materials, of which there are many but crafting can be automated as can storage of all those items. When I return from a dungeon I drop it all on the floor and a Pal scoops it up and sorts/stores it. Another gets crafting underway and I relax.

Lengthy level up grind

• The fastest and intended way to level are story dungeons and the capturing of new Pals. It's possible to gain one level by capturing three to four (if they are your level) Right now one-hundred of my Pals are off running dungeons and getting experience. It's done by an item you can unlock called the Expedition Center.

Poor terrain texture resolutions

• True, I'm at the moment building yet another new base. This one is really tall and the game is arguing with me about render distance. This on the Pro too, my PC playthrough looks flawless.

It gets a little smudgy down there, compared to the ground and it looked a lot worse last year, it's definitely improved.

Occasionally janky traversal

• Traversal improves with upgrades to your grapple, and glider, the Developers put a lot of emphasis on mounts too.

Like a lot of games, especially survival there are tips and tricks, mechanics too that make the game easier or harder on the player. Palword will respect peoples time but it will devour it too, there is a lot under the surface and unlike most games base-building is very intuitive and not at all demanding in materials. I'm basing all of that on two-thousand hours with the game, they've been adding to it with each update but 1.0 really is the best way to experience it.

@Ravix I forgot to mention I finished tower, it's bigger than expected and still needs an interior, I can actually see it from my other base. It's become an almost point of interest on the map. I'm going to put in a pent-house and live there too.

Also Simon why are you watering your crops yourself? (In the picture) If you pick up a water Pal and throw them (gently) at the plot they'll do it for you, that little elephant you see in the starter area? that's what they are for. Others will plant, harvest and even cook those meals.

Does anyone else find the game weirdly silent? Seems absent of music

@RomanRiz I listen to Spotify as I play or rip books from my Audible account and play them through the consoles music player. It's never had much of a score. It ramps up when you start a battle, it was more subdued in early access though, it's a little more apparent now. The same for NPCs, there are a lot more now, merchants/traders etc. The original build of the game was kind of barren, not sterile but there weren't as many Pals or biomes.

@GirlVersusGame Interesting. Seems weird to omit a good soundtrack. I think the game could really benefit from quality ambient music

@RomanRiz I absolutely agree and also spoken dialogue which I understand comes down to localization. I've seen people write music for the game, fan created just like Rimworld and if they can do it then the Developers should be able to. You probably notice it more coming from other games, I use Spotify for most games so it's not as obvious but to a new player it definitely would be.

I started playing this for the first time with 1.0. I usually don’t like survival games but I’m have a really great time with this one! I especially love making pals do all the work 😂

I'm going to provide a couple of small tips for anyone new to the game and to the genre.

A big one like I said is storage and item sorting. The easiest way is to place your container and add whichever item you want stored. Once you get a Transport Pal (cardboard box icon on their stats/traits) you can just hit Drop in your player inventory and they'll do the rest.

Turn off Decay settings (set it to zero) it won't affect trophies but it does mean building outside of your base, high walls especially for when raids start. It also prevents a rookie mistake, building a base without placing a Palbox. If you do it without the Box your base will start to silently decay and you'll wonder why you fell through the floor or are buried under rubble.

Don't discard lower level schematics (blueprints for gear) eventually you unlock an item that allows you to combine them for Epic/Legendary versions.

Once placed a Palbox allows you to fast travel from anywhere in your base, some Folks run to the box and use the button, it's not necessary, others run to a nearby Eagle statue.

Use the guild chest to store food, it won't spoil there removing the worry about freezers and so on.

Merchants can be grabbed and zapped away into a Pal sphere (yes Humans) but it's seen as an illegal action and the game will send reinforcements to kill you. I captured them too. There are the wanted stars, just like Rockstar. The reason for catching a merchant is simple, ease of trade without going far.

One for building. Use the Triangular wall if a wall isn't playing ball or if you want to clip it through terrain, just use the replacement tool on that placed wall and you should be good to go.

Food matters, try to focus on food with high Sans (sanity) they'll get depressed less.

Don't stop with just one of each type, you'll eventually unlock the condenser and be able to combine multiple Pals into one making them Godly. Place the Statue of Power as soon as possible. It allows you to upgrade your stats, your Pal's too.

Use the Expedition Station as soon as you unlock it. Place the Pal Gear Station as soon as you unlock it too, saddles are hidden in the Technology Tree as are many things. Make a habit of scrolling up not just down, many items have prerequisites.

The Ring of Mercy is the best way to grab Pals. It will stop you from killing them and therefore increasing your catch chance. I can blast them with a rocket launcher and with the ring they stay at 1% HP.

Hacking Stations offer some of the best rewards and are easy to find and complete.

Wooden Bases can burn, most Folks learn that the hard way.

Another sneaky food trick, if you don't want food spoiling and you are very lazy use the sort button in your player inventory, it resets the timer, even in 1.0.

Don't sleep on the Pal Labor Research Lab either. It's a great system that allows you to unlock upgrades like faster task completion/faster expeditions/it's one of the best additions to quality of life.

I shouldn’t like this game as I’m not a huge survival fan but hot damn for 30 bucks you cannot beat it. So incredibly fun and the update has addressed so many of the issues.

I’ve only played solo and it’s great. The more you play it the more you realize how so much of what they do is tongue in cheek and are intentionally trolling Pokemon and botw. It’s pretty hilarious.

I think they should have a fall on Spartacus expansion where your pal slaves rise up and try to overthrow the slaveholders.

@DennisReynolds But the journalists told me it was Pokemon with Guns! (Which is probably what set the Pokemon Company off in the first place!).

Though Rare Shiny Pals and breeding for eggs to manipulate stats is....that sounds like Pokemon.

@guacguacboo If are new to survivals you might enjoy Abiotic Factor. It doesn't get a lot of attention but like Palworld has humor and respects your time with the game, it has fully customizable world settings too so you can go at your own pace. The whole game is one big love letter to Half Life. What surprised me was how well the story was implemented and how fun and intuitive it was to loot and gather materials in an interior, and not like a traditional survival game. Deep Stranded, The Long Dark, so many focus on being in the wild (like you'd expect) but Abiotic Factor did things differently and it really shines because of that. It's on Plus+ if you are ever stuck for something random to try.

@Haruki_NLI Have you played Palworld? Its just a more accessible and better optimised Ark with the gimmick being instead of Dino's you tame its monsters you catch with balls. Its a survival game its not a monster tamer JRPG.

You can adjust the experience gain rate.

I've been gaming a long time, and the only Pokemon game I have ever played is Pokopia, which I enjoyed for a good while.

I had heard about the Palworld legal issues, but didn't really know anything about the game. When 1.0 came out, I researched the game and decided to take a chance. Been playing for about a week and may be addicted. Fun game.

@DennisReynolds With a little Grand Theft Auto thrown in for good measure.

@DennisReynolds No, I've never played Palworld, and before you jump to conclusions, it's not because of the reasons you'd think.

With the game hitting 1.0, I definitely want to give it a go.

@Haruki_NLI What reasons? No seriously i can't think of any reasons as to why i could think you won't play it.

Anyway yeah its just a survival game at its core. Like in my 1.0 playthrough i've spent 20 hours alone just building my base and getting my Pal slaves working to get me the materials to build said base 😂 Even when away from the survival stuff it has more in common with the recent Zelda's then Pokemon. Its why Nintendo getting so pissy with the Devs is so pathetic as its not really like Pokemon. Monster Hunter Stories is more Pokemon then Palworld.

Meh. I was excited and expecting some type of polished single player adventure story after playing the early access awhile. (The trailers even seemed to ellude to that leadining up to v1.0) This is definitely not that. Feels like a mobile game with good/decent? graphics.

The crafting will keep me from it. They always show the player riding an armored pteradactyl thing with lazer guns and mythril armor in trailers for crafting games, and then you hit a tree with rocks for 70 hours.

@DennisReynolds You really can't think of a reason why I have yet to play it? Notice I didn't say "won't".

It's time. I don't have time. For example, I picked up FF7 Remake in January, I beat it in 39 hours according to my save file. That happened in May. I picked up Pokopia in May, still only on the second area. It's been two months. DOOM: The Dark Ages? Sat on my PC unplayed since launch. The last time I sat down and played a game? 3 weeks ago.

Now, I'm sure you would say "make time". No, not really an option, but that's how life works sometimes.

I could also make a game with lovable creatures if I just ripped off Pokémon designs.

@Haruki_NLI There could be a 100 different reasons as to why someone won't or can't play a video game. I feel its best not to assume a particular reason.

Yeah i get the time thing. I can barely managed nowadays as it is as i work two jobs 😅

@Markatron84 im sure nintendo thought the same when they ripped off dragon quest designs

@ReacH that's certainly a statement.

Visually, it looks like an amateur project. The creatures and environment are done in different styles. UI looks like it is from another game entirely.

@DennisReynolds I don't know if you noticed but they added a toggle for single use actions. So before when you had to hold square down to craft all you do now is go to options, settings and under controller select 'single button interactions', I know Pals obviously craft too but it's really useful if you want to leave your character crafting/cooking while you do stuff offline.

@GirlVersusGame Thanks that's good to know.