The survival game that fuses monster catching to its mechanics has provided a lot of fun for me. Palworld is a lovely yet rough sandbox to be messing around in, and I’ve barely played anything else since it released. As I said, it’s rough. But this is an early access game, so from a purely gameplay loop perspective, how good is Palworld?

Gameplay starts almost immediately after creating a character. Said character creator giving enough to make yourself look distinct. Except for clothes, since there’s specific clothing options to craft that gives buffs for the survival in this world. The story of Palworld is very light, pretty much putting you in this world with a singular goal and the freedom to approach it how you want.

And that freedom also spreads into the world settings. These can be changed at any time from the world selection menu, providing plenty of options to cater the experience to how you want. While I did look through them to see many options, including sliders to set the damage output for both you and the enemy, I left them all at default. But if there’s one thing I would change, it’s the experience gain. But more on that later.

The first cutscene sees my character awaken on a beach inspected by three of the Pals that inhabit this world, who run upon seeing me awake. Rather than start at the beach, the game helpfully skips the climb through a ruined fort and starts me at the entrance upon the hills. Before I even get to doing anything, I see something I’d rather avoid. A Pal in the distance at a high level. Fortunately, it did ignore me while getting acquainted with everything the game offers.

The tutorial window on the top right runs through things such as the fast travel system, the various menus, and guides me through to having my first base. Which I knew where I wanted to set I up after a small explore of the world. At a lake with a waterfall. Too set on wanting to get a base set up, I overlooked that the Pal Box would be the centre of that boundary. So a majority of the lake is a part of that boundary. Oops.

The crafting menus are easy to use, with resources needed to build an item listed upon highlighting it. It can be a bit fiddly on a console, what with it being a radial menu, but I was soon used to it. The inventory menu is the usual grid-based style, and is also easy to navigate. The same grid-based style is also in use with the various crafting benches, which is where I first got access to the tools for easily mining stone and wood. As punching everything just won’t cut it.

As for the Pals, I could battle them myself until their health lowered enough to capture them in the Pal Spheres. Since this is all real-time combat, awareness is needed on if other Pals will join the fight. It can be tricky being in battle against multiple Pals who can move a lot faster. Pal Spheres don’t lock-on to a target once thrown, so they need a careful aim to strike true and bring one of these Pals onto the team.

In terms of Pal combat, they have moves based on their type that they will use without needing any commands. As long as they’re out on the field and detect aggression, they will engage. There are a few commands that can be given relating to how to attack, but the best defence is a great offence, so attack aggressively is the only one I’ve been using.

At bases, Pals have different jobs they can do depending on their attributes. Typing, abilities and the like can define whether a Pal will serve as kindling, field waterer, miner, or logger. Most can serve as transportation of materials, as long as there’s storage such as chests available to put them into. There isn’t much in the way of commanding what the Pals are doing, so they act based on their own priorities. Picking a Pal up and throwing them in the direction of a job is about it for directing them.

The player has a level which dictates what they have access to on the technology tree. Every level up gets a technology point which can be put into unlocking something from that tree. Tools, workbenches, and Pal items are among what are here. Those Pal items are key items which can improve the abilities of certain Pals. Some will allow you to ride them, while others will gain weapons they can use in battle.

The experience gain is a problem with Palworld, though. The best way to gain it is through the experience bonuses earned through catching ten of each Pal. Once those bonuses dry up, barely any experience is earned. Battling can net you some experience for each Pal defeated, but it feels too little for how long it takes a level up to happen. Picking things up and crafting items is barely worth it for experience, as the amount per item is tiny.

Such is why I said changing the experience gain is the only thing in the world settings I’d change. It gets very slow once going beyond the 20s. The other thing is that Pals you send out to battle sometimes won’t battle. Even with an enemy currently attacking you. It can make the world a more frustrating place to explore instead of an exciting one, as the odds of survival are further stacked against you.

For a survival experience, Palworld is a great one. The greater your level, the greater number of options you have to tame this world and live a peaceful existence with your Pals. Or be greater at surviving the wilds. Other various tropes of survival games such as stamina, hunger, and item loss upon death (though that can be toggled) are all here. From a gameplay loop perspective, it’s a great one. And with it in early access, things can only improve.

The Pals themselves are well designed, even if the designs can be similar to a certain monster catching series. While the Pals look great, the world itself could still do with some work. Most of it looks great, but there are areas that feature some low quality texturing, whether that be cliffs, mineable rocks, or even the ground. One area a bit further out from the starting area also seemed unfinished, as I followed a path that then suddenly didn’t exist despite still being visible. Though the world did still exist under that path, as I fell into a canyon.

So, can I give it a recommendation? Of course! If survival games are your thing, it will provide plenty of fun for you. Fusing the monster catching elements to the standard survival formula has given a nice twist to that gameplay loop. And even without that, the Pals make for formidable opponents to face off against. Just be aware that as an early access game, there is a lot of rough edges that can hopefully be sorted through future updates before it makes full release.

Images Taken From:
Palworld | Xbox Series S