Game:

Palworld (2024)

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I turn the settings up a bit in Palworld. But not my speed of uploading VODs...


About Palworld (Per Wikipedia):
PalWorld (パルワールド, Paruwārudo) is an action-adventure survival game by Japanese developer Pocket Pair. The game is set in an open world populated with animal-like creatures known as "Pals". The players can battle and capture Pals in order to use them for base building, traversal, and combat. Palworld can be played either solo, or online by up to 32 players on one server. First announced in 2021, it launched via early access for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in January 2024.

The game's comedic premise, which involves using firearms and equipping Pals with them, earned it the nickname "Pokémon With Guns". Other elements, such as using creatures for food or placing them to work in mines and factories, have also garnered attention. It sold over four million copies within the first three days of early access, and was generally well-received, with commendation for its gameplay, content, and satirical premise, but criticism for its reliance on shock humor and use of unoriginal designs and mechanics.

Overview
In Palworld, players control a customizable avatar from a third-person perspective with the goal of exploring the open-world Palpagos Islands and uncovering their secrets. Similar to other survival games, players need to manage their hunger level, craft basic tools, gather materials, and build bases that also act as fast travel points. Unlocks through a technology tree allow the player to craft and use new weapons, structures, and decorations.

The islands are inhabited by over 100 creatures known as Pals. Players directly engage in combat with Pals in order to weaken them and capture them using "Pal Spheres". Pals can also be bought on the black market through NPCs or traded with other players. After obtaining Pals, they can be summoned to battle or stationed at the bases to assist with scavenging, crafting, cooking, etc., depending on their type. Each Pal has a Partner Skill, allowing further utility by using them as weapons or mounts.

The game's antagonists are various factions, such as a crime syndicate, a Pal liberation movement, and a police-like island defense force, led by powerful Pal trainers who reside in Towers across the islands and act as the game's main boss battles. The factions have human NPCs who occasionally spawn in the world as well, either patrolling or battling each other, who are hostile to the player and can fight them with weapons. The game also features a wanted level system, where if the player commits a crime (usually against humans, such as assault), other human NPCs will become hostile against them and defense force troopers will spawn to attack them, until the player is killed or they evade their pursuers.

Development
Palworld is being developed and published by Pocket Pair, an independent company based in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It is their second early access open-world survival project, following Craftopia. Like that game, it uses gameplay mechanics reminiscent of Minecraft and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but adds creature-collecting mechanics popularized by the Pokémon franchise.

The Pocket Pair team claims that Pokémon was not one of their main inspirations. According to CEO Takuro Mizobe, the concept of Palworld is based on Ark: Survival Evolved, which also had monster companions in dinosaurs; the survival mechanics and in-game tasks were inspired by Rust, while the Dragon Quest series influenced the creature designs. Early in development, it was decided to move the game from Unity, which powered all of Pocket Pair's earlier projects, to Unreal Engine. The game's budget exceeded 1 billion yen, and the company hired over 40 additional employees.

Release
The game was revealed on June 5, 2021, detailing key features such as survival, crafting, exploration, exploitation of creatures, and the multiplayer focus. More details were shared over the following years, and the game made appearances as part of presentations such as Tokyo Game Show, where Pocket Pair announced the release for Xbox consoles in addition to PC, and Summer Game Fest, where they revealed the January 2024 early access launch window.

Palworld was released on January 19, 2024, through Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview (available with Game Pass from day one), where it is expected to remain for at least one year. Planned features for future updates include PvP modes, guild raids, and cross-server Pal trading.

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