After playing Palworld for a while, I do have a few pros and cons on the game:
Pros:
- The catching mechanics are very satisfying. Seeing the actual capture % adds a lot to the tension and hype to the game if you're trying to catch an overleveled pal.
- The actual movement and combat is fun. Takes a lot from ARK and BOTW in this regard. But you have the option to either utilize pals for more pokemon-style combat or rely on your firearms more. The option to use certain pals as weapons and ride/fly/glide on a large selection of pals is also a treat.
- I really like how most pals have different utilities outside of battling. It allows players to keep using their favorites even if they are not optimized for combat. Also, breeding and condensing mechanics allow players to use early-game pals in the lategame which I appreciate.
- The world is pretty massive with different biomes. The hot/cold system in different biomes reminds me a lot of Monster Hunter and ARK, and I'm a sucker for environmental effects actually affecting the player. The fact that different pals appear during the day/night cycle is also cool. Hopefully in a future update the devs can implement weather like rain to further push this concept.
- The custom difficulty settings are a great inclusion. I really appreciate how there are so many customizable elements in the game to make it as easy or difficult as the player wants.
- The pals in general are very emotive in their animations and they each have their own little quirks on how they do tasks or relax. They generally have a lot of charm and I can see why certain pals are quickly developing a fanbase. It seems like the animators really had fun creating the animations for a lot of them. Most of the pal designs are really good too, though there are some that take a little too heavily from pokemon.
- The $30 USD price tag definitely is a plus. I feel that this game at that price is a steal.
Cons:
- The game currently has a lot of glitches. Sometimes pals will go flying off into the horizon randomly if you try to attack or catch them. Pal pathing is also a big issue. Sometimes base workers will get stuck in hard-to-reach areas and slowly starve. There are also rare instances where the player will get stuck behind walls or get stuck using the grappling hook. I haven't personally encountered anything game-breaking yet. The dev team announced that bug fixes were their top priority, and their latest patch has seemingly resolved a few of those issues.
- Even though the world is massive, it's still pretty empty aside from dungeons and collectables. There aren't really any meaningful NPC interactions either, and the syndicate leaders are just glorified pal bosses at the moment. There are several journals scattered around that tell a little bit of a story, but I would love to see more meaningful NPC interactions. The grunts walking around have no real purpose except randomly chasing you if they see you. This is an aspect that the devs should work on more to make the world feel more alive.
- Some of the pal designs are very heavily influenced by pokemon, though this topic has been beaten to death already. It doesn't personally bother me to the point of not enjoying the game, but there were definitely a few pals where I was going "this is straight-up using pokemon parts." The main examples I've seen were Dinossom (Meganium head on Goodra body with Lilligant flower on head) and Azurobe (Serperior body with Primariana hair). Even though the designs look very similar, I think at most they were tracing the models instead of taking them 1/1 though. Curiously, Pokemon might not have been the artists' only inspiration, as Blazehowl and Blazehowl Noct look very similar to Teostra and Lunastra from Monster Hunter (though the case could be made that this was moreso inspiration as the cartoony pal models are very different from MH's more realistic renders).
- The base building can get very janky sometimes. A majority of the building mechanics are solid, but there are some parts that are needlessly finnicky.
Is the game a Pokemon killer like some people are saying? No, it most definitely isn't. But after the initial hype for the game inevitably dies, I can see it still holding success as a survival/crafting game mainstay if the devs listen to the community and put the time and care into updating it. All in all, I hope that the game does well in the future.
I personally am excited for It.
