How Palworld Performed in Early Access

As of last night, I have spent the last ten days completely immersed in Palworld. Palworld is a survival game that utilizes elements from popular survival games like Rust, a little “Souls-like” inspiration, some Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon.

Despite the hype, can Palworld live up to its hype? Initially, it might seem similar to “Pokemon with guns!” as many have referred to the game. After 40 hours of gameplay, it’s much more.

Essentially, Palworld is a survival game. As is common with many survival games (or so I’ve heard), preparation is key. The world of Palworld is vast and unforgiving like many survival games.

If you venture far without the right gear, Pals, and food, you will have a bad time. Poachers want to kill you, PETA-style cultists want to kill you, and the elements want to kill you. You’ll not have a good time if you venture too far without the right gear, Pals, and food.

The majority of preparation and advancement will occur at your base(s). While you must rely on the right Pals to keep food production, crafting items and resource upkeep going, you are also responsible for keeping your Pals healthy.

You quickly learn that while your character in Palworld is fragile and slow, the right tools are crucial to survival, and you just happen to catch them in the wild.

The tutorial in Palworld introduces you to how to craft your first tool, the Pal Sphere, and how to farm materials and catch Pals. The next step is to build a Palboard and set up a base. Building in Palworld is similar to Fortnite, which features very similar graphics.

When you build your base, you will be required to level it up and install resource-gathering solutions, such as a berry farm, lumber site, or rock quarry. At this point, you will need the Pals to help you.