Palworld 1.0 review

“Fight, farm, build and work alongside mysterious creatures called “Pals” in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!” – Steam Description

Starting Out

In this game, you can use your “Pals” to fight other creatures and npc’s. Your pals are basically friendly creatures who you can ride on or just help you fight or do other various tasks around your base or in the open world.

When you first start the game you enter a nice area with some low level pals who are easy to tame. You will learn the basics early on as you make your way through the main quest and base objectives. There is a very helpful tutorial quest line in the top right of your screen that I recommend. It will get you set up to explore beyond the starting point. The further you go away from the starting point the more high level pals you will come across and the tougher the challenges you’ll need to be ready for.

World & Exploration

The world is very big, if you like to discover new regions and just wander around (like me) it is a very good option. The variety of landscape of early game could be more. So far I am 10 hours in and only seen the beach and grasslands with trees. The addition of these new Observation Towers in the 1.0 update can really help you get a feel for how big the game really is.

What is new in 1.0?

Palworld left early access and released a massive 1.0 version. This update contains brand new areas/regions, new Pals, and other improvements. I played the 1.0 patch for around 8 hours when writing this review and I noticed a few new pals in the early game. This just shows how many new Pals and content I haven’t explored. The number of new Pals with each their own skills means there’s a lot left to discover, even for returning players who thought they had seen it all. According to the developers, they added 72 new Pals to the update. There are 47 new species and 25 new variants. The player level cap has been increased from 65 to 80 which gives you more points to spend on all the new technology added. Overall, the 1.0 update doesn’t just expand, it makes it better!

Graphics– The art is good and the pals look very beautiful.
Gameplay– Didn’t notice any obvious bugs. Gameplay with everything included offers so much variety. There is enough to do and never boring.
Sound– Sounds are nice, though I sometimes think it could be way more unique.
Controls– Controls are easy to understand and also displayed on screen.
Story– Story wise it is okay. There is a story but I mostly skip it thus meaning that it isn’t worth my time and rather spend my time taming pals which is addictive.

Final Thoughts

Pros:

I like how Pals have their own personality, or anyway it seems like they do

Massive 1.0 update

A lot of Pals

Exploring in this game is very fun

Multiple ways to transport yourself by walking and riding different pals

Cons:

Can feel grindy at times

There are some areas on the map that feel empty.

Story is lacking, even with the new quests from NPCs

I do recommend Palworld. Overall, I’ve had this game for over a year, started playing when I bought it but lost interest after a while in Early Access. The 1.0 update definitely brought me back in. I love the exploration, there is no time element so I can just take it slow and have fun with the game. As someone who is not very good in fighting, it is a major advantages to see that you can fight with your pals. There is so much to do in the game that it feels like it never ends.