Palworld’s life-like gun behavior is all thanks to one passionate developer’s ”secret” efforts 

The nickname “Pokémon with guns” has stuck to Palworld since before the game even released, used predominantly to refer to similarities with the Pokémon series. However, the “gun” aspect of Palworld has been receiving a lot of attention recently too, especially in terms of how realistic and detailed the game’s gun-related motions look. In response to the praise, PocketPair’s CEO has disclosed that the game’s high quality gun action is all owed to one passionate team member’s “labor of love.” 

It all started with one Japanese player posting a video highlighting Palworld’s life-like Handgun animations. The video shows slowed down close ups of firing, reload, ejection and other motions, highlighting an unexpected attention to detail. 

The post gathered a lot of attention, and other users noted how the game also realistically recreates the characteristics of short recoil barrels, praised the design of Grizzbolt’s Minigun, as well as the realistic gunfire sound effects used in the game. 

On the other hand, PocketPair is known for proactive use of existing assets, which can especially be seen in their past open-world title Craftopia. Because of this, many assumed that the gun motions that appear in Palworld are likely existing assets as well.  

Interestingly enough, Takuro Mizobe, the CEO of PocketPair, responded to the abovementioned post. It seems he too was not too sure to what extentd assets were used for the gun motions, so he decided to check with his staff and let people know.  

In a screenshot of his communication with the Palworld team, Mizobe asks a member, “Did you implement these things? Or did the animations come with the purchased assets?” To this, the team member replies that, while the models themselves are existing assets, he had reskinned them and added animations to make things as realistic as possible. He adds that he did this “of his own accord.”

In a subsequent post, Mizobe shared another clip praising the reload motion for the Musket in Palworld, adding, “I’m so glad I crossed paths with him” – likely referring to the developer in charge of Palworld’s guns. 

This is where people made a connection with an episode described in PocketPair’s Note.com entry about Palworld’s development. One section describes how the CEO, out of other options, personally scouted a key team member through Twitter, after stumbling upon numerous realistic gun animation clips that they had uploaded.  

At the time, the person was a 20-year-old middle school graduate with no industry experience, working at a convenience store on Japan’s northernmost main island. Despite these circumstances, Mizobe decided to hire him and fly him out to Tokyo – and this seems to have been the right choice, as he went on to become the team’s “young ace developer” (Related article). 

Furthermore, it seems the mysterious gun expert put in a lot of work behind the scenes, unbeknownst even to other team members – which is now contributing to Palworld’s positive reception and playing experience. 

Palworld is available for the PC (Steam), Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.