No Pokémon is born good or bad! It all depends on your trainer and how you are raised and cared for. This is what Game Freak and Nintendo have been teaching us for well over twenty years, but fantastic creatures don’t always exploit their powers. There are others who even adore them weapons, and they use them mercilessly, as the development team teaches us this time Pocketpair, small Japanese reality already grappling with Craftopia, an open-world survival-craft game that largely resembles the world of The Legend of Zelda. To the Summer Game Fest 2023 on June 8th however the team has revealed itself with another game that seems to be a cast of the famous Pokémon franchise (of which we have reviewed the recent Scarlet chapter here), entitled Palworld, and open-world monster-collection ready to be released in Early Access su Steam a gennaio 2024. We discover all the content that we could see in a very short video revealed during the event, introducing us to a wide variety of Pals, new fight scenes and new and interesting details.
Palworld: the nemesis of Nintendo’s pocket monsters
As anticipated, Palworld immediately caught our attention due to the style of the creatures of various nature and size presented on our screens, all too similar to Pokémon, but only in features. Yes because we are faced with a open-world e creature-collectoras well as above all third person shooter, the latter a genre that promises many clashes and adrenaline. This new world that has unfolded in front of us is decidedly colorful and almost idyllic, if only the so-called Pals (literally “comrades”), these creatures are decidedly dangerous and vicious, as well as possessing the power of the elements. As suggested by the main genres in which the game dynamics reside, we will be called to interact in many different ways, starting from creation and construction of a house, of a resistant base and an even farm, supported and powered by the power of the Pals. And there are many other surprises, although there is still a lot to discover, especially on the origin of these monsters and their world, where, however, they are not alone. In fact, even this time there are no human beingswhose presence is essential to support the different factions into which these Pals seem to be subdivided. But we’ll find out later; for now, let’s just take a close look at the possibilities offered by the gameplaywhich seem to be many and delicious.
Pals allies or slaves, the choice is ours!
What can we do with the Pals? Just like a crafting game, we can catch them and take care of thembeyond fight with them or incite them to “forced labor” and then resell them, as well as enslave them to send them hunting for food. The options are therefore many, e.g it is up to us to decide which line of conduct (even ethics) to approach in Palworld. If we also talked about human beings a little while ago, in this new trailer at the Summer Game Fest 2023 we were also able to notice the presence of a mysterious girl, if we want also here very similar to the shady figures of Pokémon Team Rocket, who will perhaps try to hinder our plans, next to new Palsincluding some mammoth-like and a huge evil beast that can even shake and endanger the earth, as well as strange statues in the desert, representing a deity who appears to be very similar to the Egyptian god Anubis. So will there also be deities able to interact with us and determine variations in the course of history? What will their role be? So many elements that are added to a seemingly very large and complex worldrich in many dungeon different where many different clashes await us, to be faced thanks to the support of the special skills and abilities of wield several different weapons by the Pals. All accompanied by an engaging and intoxicating soundtrack, which makes us dream of immersing ourselves in this world of many challenges and fights, at a high pace supported by musical tracks that are also orchestral and consistent with the different moments of the game. In the end we will not be alone, if we want it; no, we don’t mean that we will be in the company of our creatures as mentioned, but we can also choose to embark on an adventure with our close acquaintances…or not.
From online multiplayer to extensive localization
That’s right, Plaworld features not only single player matches, but also in multiplayer with our friendsthus engaging up to a maximum of 8 players simultaneously. In this mode we can choose whether to cooperate with our friends or go on an adventure and defeat them, fighting against them, up to steal their Pals and possessed items. Not necessarily using brute force, we will be able to more simply and peacefully exchange our Pals with them in this mode. And if we really want to be in command of an army of unbeatable Pals, we just have to test their strength, skills and strategy against other trainers around the world thanks to the mode online battles, to really collide with anyone! What do we finally know about Palworld and its arrival on Steam? As mentioned, the game will be in early access as early as January 2024, and its is currently expected location in several languages, such as Japanese, English, Chinese (traditional and simplified), French, Italian, German, Spanish, even Portuguese, Russian and Korean, therefore no small attention for make the title more accessible to a wide audience and simplifying their understanding and approach. Plus the PC version it doesn’t even seem to take up too much space to download of the software, currently planned for a total weight of 15GB. All assumptions that make us dream even more and look forward to more details of Palworld, as well as wanting to test it soon!
Platform: PC
Developer: Pocketpair
Publisher: Pocketpair
Publication date: 2024
Palworld is assumed to be almost a copy of Pokémon in many respects. It really seems to pose itself as the nemesis of the pocket monsters that we have been used to knowing for decades, but with some differences, fortunately. One thing is certain: tracing the narrative and style of a truly famous and equally extensive franchise in its consumer media forms can be a good choice, especially if you hope to grind at least a large part of the same successful results. The turn that the story seems to take here is much more directed towards clashes, especially the use of weapons, giving us to understand that we will most likely also be able to enhance them, as well as our creatures, but everything is still rather shrouded in mystery. Luckily, Early Access is only seven months away in this new world, where the Pals and their ammo await.