Palworld 1.0 reviewed by Travis Northup on PC, also available on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
Palworld cleverly blends an amusing creature collecting adventure with a standard survival game to create something that’s bizarre, disturbing, and incredibly bingeable. Forcing Pals to work in your growing empire of industrialization as you conquer a hostile world seeking greater power is one among those endlessly satisfying loops you possibly can lose some serious time to, especially when accompanied by friends. The story isn’t value following, some regions can feel pretty barren, and the base-building mechanics could have used more time in Early Access– but those shortcomings are little greater than a footnote when measured against the consistently enjoyable adventure around them. Palworld had me meticulously hunting every Pal in my Palpedia, excitedly grinding for higher gear to tackle the subsequent difficult region or boss, and self-reflecting on whether or not I used to be a foul person as I turned innocent animals into beasts of burden, adding them to my army of unpaid interns. The reply might be yes, but that doesn’t mean I would like to stop any time soon.