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The brand-new indie game Palworld has taken the gaming world by surprise, with an overwhelming reception from different sources, and in just 4 days since its release in early-access, the game has sold over 6 million copies.

Palworld has been in development since 2021 by Pocket Pair. The game focuses in a survival environment similar to that of ARK, with the option to play it co-op online, but with the twist of the game having creatures called "Pals" that the player can catch and battle, similar to that of Pokemon, and once caught they can even aid the player in all kinds of tasks. These Pals come in a variety of forms, with over 100 creatures, and the player can become involved in the fights between the creatures, as well as fight off other people, or one of several antagonist factions found in the game. The fights can be done with all kinds of weapons, ranging from melee weapons to even guns, and this can also be used against the creatures, or to aid the creatures in battle.

In the 4 days since the game's launch January 19th, 2024, the game's hasn't only sold surprisingly well with its 6 million copies, but it has also achieved the record of having the 2nd All-Time Peak concurrent players at the same time for a paid game with a number of 1,864,421 players being the all time peak registered as of today. PUBG still holds the #1 record on Steam (when it was still paid), which retains the record with around 3.2 million as the all time peak concurrent players online.

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Source
Steam's Most Played
Palworld on Steam

 

[chrisrlink]

i might jump on the bandwagon soon enough (next month) I hate to say it but if GF doesn't up their game I might leave pokemon in the dust now

 

[Xzi]

everyone will forgot this game in 2 weeks, like everything else

It's not a live-service game, so a continuously-high player count isn't all that important. There's about 30 hours of content before you even get to the "endgame" of breeding, enhancing and optimizing Pal passives. It's rather impressive by Early Access standards, just missing some polish and bug fixes.

I almost got this game.
I started the download
I looked at the main page for the game
I realized that I don't have nearly enough time to start an MMO
I stopped the download

Not an MMO either, despite whatever the tags may say. It has multiplayer servers with up to 32 players each, but it's just as easy to progress in single-player since the Pals automate a lot of tasks.

 

[AlexMCS]

If anything, it's an Ark clone, with Pokemon, rather than "Pokemon with guns".

This. Also you can tweak the "survival" parts as to be insignificant.
It's a fun game, worthy of the current hype.

The actual great controversy it's because it's clearly using AI to clone pokémon concept art for their Pals, and might even be straight out ripping pokémon 3D models as base.

 

[KingVamp]

I couldn't really tell from the video, but does that mean the boss trainers will be shooting your Pokemon Pals too? Also, are you buying guns for your Pals or do they come with it? Lol

 

[Xzi]

I couldn't really tell from the video, but does that mean the boss trainers will be shooting your Pokemon Pals too? Also, are you buying guns for your Pals or do they come with it? Lol

All the trainers so far ride on the back of their Pal and use them to attack. You have to research guns on the tech tree for each individual Pal that can use them, and then craft. Syndicate guys drop a lot of different ammo, but not their guns.

I like that guns are shown to be kind of useless in a world full of creatures that have superpowers.

 

[The Catboy]

My favorite part of this game succeeding has been the Twitter Freaks having a complete meltdown over it.

 

[HarveyHouston]

I bet every single one of them is a Pokemon idiot fanatic who said, at first, "Hey! A new Pokemon game!"

...without realizing that it's on Steam, there's guns, and all the creatures are tortured then eaten or brutally killed. Not Pokemon; just looks similar but then again it can fool quite a few people. In fact, I'm surprised Nintendo isn't investigating Pocket Pair for plagiarism.

 

[Xzi]

...without realizing that it's on Steam, there's guns, and all the creatures are tortured then eaten or brutally killed.

Not true. You can work your Pals to death by starving them or making them go insane, but that isn't at all optimal since some have passives which improve their work speed or combat effectiveness. It's super easy to take care of their needs and build up a massive operation in the process.

In fact, I'm surprised Nintendo isn't investigating Pocket Pair for plagiarism.

You don't have to change much about an existing design to make it legally distinct. Pokemon was inspired by monster designs that came before it as well.

 

[tabzer]

If anything, it's an Ark clone, with Pokemon, rather than "Pokemon with guns".

I'm genuinely surprised by how many people are loving it--I expected the kind of strict survival elements to scare off a lot of people who expected it to just be shooting Pokemon with rocket launchers from the jump.

It's very very painfully early access--the online is horrific, there's a ton of glitches, a lot of things are massively jank.

And yet...I caught a giant Quagsire dinosaur and he's adorable and I love him and he shoots rockets at people 10/10

We need more honest game reviews like this.

 

[LightBeam]

It's probably even higher with Gamepass.
The game is so much fun, people are raging over it on Twitter for no reason.
It's just a fun game, get over it

I bet every single one of them is a Pokemon idiot fanatic who said, at first, "Hey! A new Pokemon game!"

...without realizing that it's on Steam, there's guns, and all the creatures are tortured then eaten or brutally killed. Not Pokemon; just looks similar but then again it can fool quite a few people. In fact, I'm surprised Nintendo isn't investigating Pocket Pair for plagiarism.

You're trippin
If Nintendo hasn't investigated, it's because they don't have a case. There's no plagiarism, there's literally nothing wrong with Palworld.

 

[The Catboy]

I'm surprised Nintendo isn't investigating Pocket Pair for plagiarism.

It’s not plagiarism. Pokémon wasn’t the first monster collecting game and has even taken inspiration from other media, like Dragon Quest. Pokémon just won Capitalism

 

[tabzer]

You guys are missing @HarveyHouston's joke. He's not honestly arguing that Nintendo has a case.

Though I'm pretty sure that Nintendo/Gamefreak/whoever is investigating Palworld--looking at it very closely for a potential legal case.

 

[impeeza]

No!, PalWord is NOT a Pokèmon copy, no, never.

Could be a "The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild" copy:

Or a copy of Age of Empires (or FarmVille)

Even Sim City with the slaves building

But never a Pokèmon cop...

Come on!!!!!! I was trying, but Pikachú is Pikachú!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tabzer]

Lines have been crossed.

 

[Noctosphere]

No!, PalWord is NOT a Pokèmon copy, no, never.

Could be a "The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild" copy:
View attachment 415836

Or a copy of Age of Empires (or FarmVille)
View attachment 415835

Even Sim City with the slaves building
View attachment 415834

But never a Pokèmon cop...
View attachment 415833
Come on!!!!!! I was trying, but Pikachú is Pikachú!!!!!!!!!!!

Last one looks like a mix between Raichu and Electivire

 

[impeeza]

I am more like these video meme about a snowflake winning about a guy "mocking" about the blue dyed hair people because he can not say any Pokèmon name so he described them and only know Pikachú name but EVERYONE KNOWS PIKACHÚ

 

[tabzer]

I am more like these video meme about a snowflake winning about a guy "mocking" about the blue dyed hair people because he can not say any Pokèmon name so he described them and only know Pikachú name but EVERYONE KNOWS PIKACHÚ

Speaking of snowflakes, when is nature going to sue game freaks?

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

 

[Izual Urashima]

Meanwhile, Pokemon fans are screeching left and right for a ban of "this plagiarism of Pokémon" when it's already proven it isn't, calling for death threats against the devs and for a purge of every copy of the game. Please don't do the same and keep this thread calm and civil. For your own sake and the others'. Thank you.

A simple reminder.

 

[tabzer]

A simple reminder.

Read the room.

Post automatically merged: Jan 24, 2024

Sorry, it seemed a bit pushy when nobody was screeching.

 

[KingVamp]

I'm pretty sure the Dex has said that humans eat Pokemon and vice versa, but they never made it so explicit as this game.

They probably did base their designs after Pokemon, but there is only so many ways you can do animals with different elemental powers.

All the trainers so far ride on the back of their Pal and use them to attack. You have to research guns on the tech tree for each individual Pal that can use them, and then craft. Syndicate guys drop a lot of different ammo, but not their guns.

I like that guns are shown to be kind of useless in a world full of creatures that have superpowers.

I know it isn't as purposely jarring, but if they instead (or also), had the humans use powers, it would feel more coherent.