Collect and raise monsters in Palworld, a newly announced open world survival action RPG

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-06-05 19:40 (JST)
Translated by. Aki Oshima

Japanese games developer PocketPair, Inc has unveiled Palworld at “INDIE Live Expo 2021” on June 5, launching their Steam page with a promise that it will come to PC.

Palworld is an open world survival monster-taming and -raising role-playing game being developed by PocketPair, Inc. In a world inhabited by mysterious creatures called “Pals”, you encounter a diverse range of Pals: some resemble sheep and cows, others dragons, or wolves, all with varying appearances and traits. The people of this world live amongst these creatures, and use Pals’ labor for their own livelihoods through farming and construction.

But this coexistence doesn’t mean Pals are well-treated. Though prohibited by law, there are poachers who would hunt, sell, slaughter, and even eat Pals.

As the player, you can freely roam and explore this world inhabited by Pals. You can make your life more comfortable by starting a fire or generating electricity using Pals of corresponding abilities. You can go on an aerial adventure riding a Pal with flight capability or fight alongside them in dungeon battles. Or you may build massive structures, run farms and orchards, perhaps even construct a factory and put Pals to work by making use of their unique abilities to live a comfortable life in this world, or set off on a grand adventure with your Pals.

There will be times in the game when the player will encounter poachers and be drawn into a gunfight. In the trailer shown at the expo, we saw what appeared to be Pals being forced to work in a production line of very suspicious-looking items. Maybe this could be a hint to a rescue mission to save Pals from poachers? There is an area where hunting is prohibited, a reserve where endangered species of rare Pals live in hiding. Ironically, you too can join in with the poaching if you want to make a massive fortune in one fell swoop.

The game offers other gameplay elements, including collecting, raising, and selectively breeding or hybridizing Pals in order to pass on desirable characteristics from parents to offspring. You can also assign Pals with manual labor to automate your tasks. The game also has a multiplayer mode, where players can team up or battle against each other, as well as trade Pals. Whether you want to farm and explore the world with Pals, or maximize their capabilities to automate and construct huge structures, it looks like there is endless freedom in this world to shape your own adventurous experience.

Palworld is being developed by PocketPair, Inc, whose past titles include Craftopia, a multiplayer survival action game that ambitiously incorporated multifarious elements, and Overdungeon, a combination of rogue-like, tower defence, and card games.

Overdungeon is out on Steam, while Craftopia is available in Early Access with an upcoming major update, dubbed the ‘rainy season update’, planned for release on June 23. This update will apparently introduce the pet system and enable personal server construction.

Palworld’s Steam page is now live and ready for wishlists.