Category: Indie Games

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say ‘that game is for kids, adults shouldn’t be playing it’ I’d probably be on a nice tropical beach right now, drinking something fruity and getting a sunburn. The most recent iteration of this sentiment came from the Steam forums for the new hit, Palworld. Their argument was that it’s ‘a Pegi 12 game with childish graphics and childish elements’ and then went on to ask why, followed by ‘but I absolutely don’t judge’.

I’m rolling my eyes now because I’m at least 80% sure that, yes, they were judging. I’m almost 100% certain that this was one of the many troll posts that have popped up since the game took off, raking in over 7 million copies sold in under a week. Impressive numbers for a very small development team with no prior game development skills!

All of that aside, why would adults play a game like Palworld? Well, the short answer is – because it’s fun, and adults don’t forget how to have fun just because they’re, well, adults.

The longer answer is that Palworld, while not offering anything groundbreaking, has taken what many people loved about different games and put them together to create an overall experience that’s fun and as relaxing or challenging as you want it to be.

The biggest component, of course, is the creature capturing in the game. Many people are comparing it to Pokemon, and I’ve even called them Pokemon more than once myself. You go out in the world, battle a Pal, get it down to low health and then throw a Pal sphere at it. If you’re successful, you’ll add the critter to your collection and can use it to help you battle the next one.

Or, you can put it to work on your base, which is the next component in the game – base building. While this is clearly still in the rudimentary stage, with a lot of room for improvement, it’s also decently done for early access. You gather materials, using wood and stone to craft foundations, walls, and roof. You set down a bed for yourself and beds for your incoming collection of Pals, because they need a place to sleep too! You can build the usual workbenchs to make, upgrade, and repair your gear. You can even create workstations for the Pals such as a stone pit or wood pit. Note, these stations require Pals with the right abilities to man them.

You’ll want to keep yourself and your Pals fed, which leads us to the next component – the survival aspect of the game. Or, survival lite. This game isn’t terribly strenuous in this regard. Food is easy to come by, the easiest being berries that you find everywhere and can be eaten raw or baked. They’ll provide fuel for you and your Pals. Eggs are also easy to get, and any time you fight certain Pals, whether you simply capture them or knock them out, you’re likely to get meat. The only downside to the food system is the incredibly constrictive decay timer. The abundance of food mitigates this considerably, as does the icebox you can craft pretty early on in the game, paired with an ice-type Pal to keep it cold.

Of course, to collect all of these Pals you’ll need to help keep your base running you’ll want to explore the world. In Palworld, the world is bright, colorful, and brimming with different Pals to capture. However, they never interact with you first; you always have to start the battle, so in this aspect, the world feels a little static. Despite this, it is fun to explore, find little lore fragments, materials, chests, and even little events such as poachers hunting Pals.

Poachers can be fought to stop them because, of course, there is fighting in the game, beyond the Pals themselves. The poachers are part of a group called the Syndicate, and you’ll want to find and beat their bosses. Beating them will earn ancient technology points used to unlock key items for your base, such as the egg incubator. You can also get these points from fighting boss Pals out in the open world.

Out of all the systems, I’d say fighting is the most fleshed out. You have a variety of ranged and melee weapons you can craft, the ability to dodge, and the Pals to help you. Again, it’s not perfect and could use some tweaks, but it works well.

While none of the systems are exceptional and could all use refining, overall, everything works well together. There are, of course, bugs. Some of them are silly, such as Pals that don’t always path correctly, Pals that will wander off after you’ve set them a task, or berry bushes continuing to grow in a spot through the floor of your base. There have also been reports of saves not working right. Many of these are being worked on by the developers, Pocketpair, according to their roadmap.

And yes, they even plan on adding some version of PvP to the game later. It should be interesting to see what form that takes!

I doubt the developers expected the game to reach the numbers it did and so fast. I don’t think anyone did, as many people considered it a ‘meme game’, something that would do modest numbers at most. Yet Palworld has created something that many people can find fun in. And, at the end of the day, that’s what games are supposed to do.

So, back to the short answer – why do adults play Palworld? Because it’s fun.

Perhaps it’s time for AAA companies to pay attention, stop cramming their games full of unwanted microtransactions and battlepasses, and once again create games centered around fun. Until then, gamers like me will direct our eyes, and our dollars, towards indie studios.

Have you played Palworld? What do you think of it so far? Leave a comment and let everyone know.

Until next time, bye for now!