Palworld Review

Before Palworld’s Early Access debut in 2024, I remember eagerly wanting to review the completely unhinged-looking “Pokemon with guns” game, mostly as a joke. Hilariously, the joke was on me when it not only became one of the biggest games of the year, but also one of my all-time favorite survival games. Two years later, with more than 160 hours spent in its 1.0 update catching colorful Pals and battling massive endgame bosses, I’m happy to report that it’s improved in almost all of the ways I hoped it would. The worst of the technical rough edges have been smoothed over, progression has been smartly streamlined, and loads of missing bits and baubles have been added. There are still plenty of parts that feel like they never got the attention they deserved during Early Access – most areas are largely empty, settlements can feel downright lifeless, and base building is still fairly janky on its best day. But on the whole, Palworld is more compelling than it’s ever been, and something I’d highly recommend for those with a taste for both creature collectors and tree-punching survival games alike.

If you’ve never played Palworld before, there’s very little I can say