Explore Palworld’s depths by delving into the gameplay loop and diverse inspirations
A mere month into 2024, the video game landscape has been shaken by one title – Palworld. Not only did it soar to eight million copies sold within five days of its January 19 release, but it has also sparked controversy within the gaming community.
Although recently launched, the game had its initial unveiling as early as June 2021 by Japanese developer Pocket Pair. The reception varied widely, ranging from pure excitement to utter distaste.
Over time, Palworld gradually gained notoriety as it drew comparisons to larger AAA titles, particularly to the iconic Pokemon franchise. The widely adopted phrase ‘Pokemon with Guns’ became a common reference within the broader gaming community.
This comparison extended further upon the game’s release, with numerous criticisms directed at the developer.
Allegations ranged from the use of artificial intelligence for art and design to the incorporation of 3D models directly sourced from Pokemon games.
However, it’s important to note that these claims lack direct evidence.
Setting aside the buzz and controversy enveloping the game, I chose to explore the realm of Palworld, eager to understand the factors that have resonated so deeply within the gaming community. It intrigued me to uncover what aspects of the game have garnered both praise and criticism in equal measure.
DIFFICULTY DYNAMICS
Upon starting the game, one point worth noting that many seem to overlook is the difficulty setting. As an open-world action-adventure, survival, monster-taming game hybrid, Palworld offers a variety of difficulty settings catering to all types of players, from those seeking a challenge to many who are simply looking to explore in relative peace.
While the difficulty is distilled into an easy-to-understand setting ranging from casual to hard, players desiring a more customisable experience can delve into the detailed custom difficulty, tweaking each parameter to their heart’s content.
From the experience points gained to the damage dealt and received by players, each gameplay mechanic and its associated difficulty can be freely adjusted in the main menu, irrespective of the game’s progression.
This neatly brings us to the overall gameplay loop of Palworld. While drawing inspiration from Pokemon for monster-taming, Palworld extends beyond this as it incorporates ideas from other popular titles within its genre such as Minecraft, Rust and Satisfactory.
As such, players may find the initial gameplay to be somewhat mundane early on as they gather the necessary resources to build basic facilities for crafting equipment like bows, arrows, and crafting benches. These items aid players in combat, allowing them to earn more experience points for levelling up, unlocking higher-tier facilities and equipment as the cycle repeats.
Once these facilities are properly set up, the focus shifts to taming monsters in the form of pals. This is where the majority of comparisons arise, with many likening it to the spinoff title Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
However, Palworld goes beyond mere taming, incorporating building and crafting mechanics into its core gameplay loop.
TAMING THRILLS
Unlike Pokemon Legends: Arceus, as well as the mainline Pokemon titles, combat in Palworld unfolds in real-time.
This may pose a challenge for those seeking more tactical turn-based gameplay but can be gratifying for those desiring action and direct involvement during battles, especially as players can actively participate alongside their pals.
However, real-time combat in Palworld comes with a trade-off, limiting players’ control over their pals amid the fast-paced nature of combat.
While simple commands like stop attacking, focus attack, and aggressive attacking are available, some may find them lacking, particularly those aiming to optimise their pal’s moveset coordination at the right time.
Though the option of riding using a crafted saddle is available and opens up the opportunity to utilise the pal’s moveset, it is limited to select pals and comes with movement restrictions.
Players cannot perform dodge commands, which are useful for avoiding certain attacks but also provide unique traversal methods, such as flying for compatible pals.
Despite these considerations, the overall combat and taming mechanic, involving tossing pal spheres with a percentage chance of taming, akin to Pokemon’s Pokeball, proves enjoyable and forms a core gameplay loop in Palworld.
After assembling a team of pals tamed from the open world, players have various options to explore. They can choose to level up and continue their adventure by seeking higher-level pals or engaging in battles with area bosses. The latter provides additional points to unlock more of the aforementioned higher-tier facilities and equipment.
Alternatively, players may opt to perfect the crafting experience by assigning pals to assist in certain stations, automating the process of generating more materials for crafting facilities and equipment or defending the player’s base.
As a result, players have the freedom to decide how they want to navigate the world, ranging from casually exploring and appreciating the handcrafted open world to constructing elaborate bases for taming all the pals in the game.
RESOURCE REALITIES
Regardless of the choice, each implemented gameplay mechanic ensures that players can engage in activities they find entertaining.
However, this can taper off as resource gathering and crafting take centre stage in the mid to late game, as facilities and resources require a vast amount of refined and higher-tier materials to create.
This challenge can be alleviated with the multiplayer aspect of the game, as Palworld can support games of up to four players on locally hosted worlds and a total of 32 players on dedicated servers. This feature also brings the added benefits of friendly shenanigans and hijinks when played with the right friends.
Being an early-access game, Palworld has shown immense promise with a release generally favoured positively by those who played it.
If Pocket Pair plans to follow its future roadmap, which includes promises of addressing critical issues, improvements to quality of life settings, as well as game updates such as player versus player, new landmass and pals; Palworld has the potential to be one of the shining examples of what an indie developer can achieve with a simple mishmash of ideas, turning it into an addicting and enjoyable gameplay experience. – Daniel Lim
