Survival crafting games have been coming in in droves over the past few years, feeding on the timeless success of games likeMinecraft, but none have had such an explosive start asPalworld. Although it seems to borrow a lot of its elements from theARK: Survivalgames, this monster catcher with a Saturday morning cartoon color palette has drawn countless comparisons to Pokemon, and for good reason.
I mean, just look at the little monsters (called Pals in this particular game) that you can catch among the various islands in the game’s world. They’re adorable! I can easily see why the world has fallen in love withDark-type pee-wee Depresso, because who doesn’t relate to that “so done with this” expression laid over a tireless, can-do attitude. Even the fearsome beasts like the black dragon-like Vanwyrm have some cutesy appeal to them, thanks in large part to the minimalist design that doesn’t attempt to overload you with aesthetic nooks and crannies.
But for all the great design choices strewn across the list of 138 pals available in the Paldeck, actually going out to battle and catch them isn’t as fun an experience as sitting at home with the ones I’ve already collected.
Palworld: 10 Best Early Game Pals, Ranked
Pals can make or break you in Palworld, so it’s important to get some strong Pals early on. Here are the best Pals for the early game!
My Own Little Community Of Monsters
See, the thing I really love most about Palworld isn’t the collection of Pals or the base building aspects individually. Rather, it’s the way the game manages to combine the two into a functional society that I, the human in the camp, get to manage. While some players out there have managed tobuild some really impressive stuff, I’m taking it nice and casual, and even though most of my structures are still made of locally-sourced wood, I’m having a blast watching my unpaid laborers running the place with gusto.
Starting out in the game, I had to chop wood, mine rocks and ore, and collect Paldium all on my lonesome, using the flimsy stone tools I’d crafted. That’s all pretty standard stuff for a survival crafting game, so I was used to it. What I wasn’t used to was my little monster friends actually wanting to lend a hand around camp, and the thing that really hooked me about Palworld was seeing how each species is skilled at different sorts of tasks.
Suddenly, I wasn’t just some Tom Hanks castaway with a useless volleyball companion; I was the proud leader of a brave new society, building a logging camp for my Eikthyrdeer to hew apart with its majestic purple antlers while my wooly little Lamball and “skipped leg day” Hangyu hauled it up the hill to the chest by my workbenches. When we needed a sustainable source of food, my verdant little monkey Tanzee stepped up to seed the fields while grumpy blue duckling Fuack saw to keeping them watered. As my technology tree advanced and I needed better resources to keep building the place up, my mighty ram Arsox (hatched that lucky find from an egg, I did) spewed flame into the forge to help me make nails while Lamball took to pasture to produce wool for my clothing. Teamwork makes the dream work, and I was so proud of the team I’d assembled.
Palworld: 10 Rarest Pals, Ranked
It’s no surprise that some of the rarest Pals are also the most appealing in Palworld. Here are the rarest Pals in the game!
No Man Is An Island, As They Say
As comfy and self-sufficient as my Pals had made my little slice of heaven, that technology tree just kept a-growin', and if I wanted to make better use of it, I knew I was going to have to venture out into the world to find better resources, and with luck, some new friends to help me run the joint.
When I say that monster catching in the game isn’t as fun for me as base-building, what I really mean is that it’s not as fun for me in the traditional monster-catching way. You know, the one that Pokemon and other games of its ilk have conditioned me to follow since the late ’90s. I’m not hunting these guys just to fill out my roster list or to use them in battle — in fact, I’ve beenforgetting about deploying them to fightat all most of the time.
Instead, in Palworld, the first thing I look up when catching a new Pal isn’t its typing or its base stats, but the kinds of work it can do. Sure, I need strong fighters who can whip out an SMG to help me take down some baddies and a wingy beast to help me get to those hard-to-reach places, but for me, there’s no greater joy than opening up the Paldeck and seeing a bunch of work-related skills on my new friends, dreaming of how we can build a better society together.
Is Palworld Moving Too Fast With Its Merch Push?
A little tease at a future that feels far too early.
Am I Actually Starting To Care About These Runts?
Of course, totalitarian rule over a bunch of adorable monsters can’t be all stick and no carrot. I already mentioned the berry fields that my Grass and Water types handle so well, but it’s also nice to kick back and watch them take a break from work to chow down at the communal food basket. Even better is bath time, as the hot springs have been my favorite feature I’ve unlocked so far. There’s just something so cathartic about standing in my rooftop bar and watching my monsters drift away in bliss among the steamy water, almost like a vicarious warm bath for myself.
Andbuilding all these symbiotic relationshipsin which we all work and relax together triggered something in me that most monster-catching games miss out on: I was actually starting to care about the little buggers, not just what they could do for me.
At one point, I came back from an ore-gathering excursion, and the news crawl at the right of the screen told me Tanzee had sprained its ankle, and it looked painful. It still seemed to be plugging away at its duties (what a brave little trooper), but you know, I just couldn’t help but drop what I was doing to whip up some medicine for it. Because this game made me genuinely concerned that a fictitious green monkey had an ouchie. That’s a level of emotional immersion I haven’t felt in a long time outside of story heavy RPGs, and it stirs up such a parental sense of responsibility in me that I can’t help but fall in love with my Pals more and more as I keep playing with them.
Now if I could just get the little halfwits to stop getting stuck in the trees.
