Let’s Talk About Palworld

You know what, let’s just take a moment to address this. As you all probably know, I am a Pokémon fan. I have had my ups and downs with the series over the years, but it remains one of the definitive reasons that I got into videogames as a whole. Now Palworld has come out and everyone is comparing it to the Pokémon series. Some videos even exist trying to point out all of their similarities. Now, I want to preface what I am about to say by saying that I do not own Palworld. Part of that is because I don’t know how my computer would feel about it, but just know that most of my knowledge comes from watching others play it online. With that in mind, I want to say that everyone is making a mountain out of a molehill. Are there parts of this game that take inspiration from Pokémon? Of course. Would I consider the game to be a Pokémon clone? Not entirely. If it was a total clone, this game probably wouldn’t have even gotten to this point due to copyright infringement laws. This game has its own identity, but people are closely associating it with Pokémon games because you can capture strange creatures and have them do your bidding. I don’t remember you packing heat in Pokémon games. However, that isn’t enough to say that this is a rip-off that no one should play. To highlight this, let’s talk about the most recent games in the Pokémon series which are Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.

Now Pokémon as a series has only recently started to do open worlds with their latest games and they allowed for more exploration than the previous titles. However, Palworld started with that from the get-go and had designed the use of Pals with that in mind. The problem with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet is that there is much to explore and the only reason to explore is to either find Pokémon or do some story quests. The world itself isn’t very interesting or memorable. It feels like the Pokémon are just kind of there, which is nice to see, but there isn’t a lot of interaction. Palworld has a lot more interaction with pals in a similar vein to how Pokémon Legends: Arceus works in that you directly interact with them. However, your reasons for doing so are different. You interact with Pokémon to collect data on them and collect them all. Pals are used to help further exploration and increase your chances of survival. In reality, that is the big thing here. Your goals are different. Pokémon games have never been about survival. Even when there were consequences for death, that didn’t change your overall goal. Palworld doesn’t even give you a goal at the moment. It just lets you do what you want. Sure there is the whole challenge of beating the tower masters, but it isn’t like you have to do it for progression.

Remember how I said earlier that part of the reason I didn’t play this game was my computer. Well, the other part is that survival games aren’t really my thing. However, I am glad that people are having fun with Palworld and enjoying it for what it is. Sure it might take some notes from Pokémon during a test, but it at least had the decency to not blatantly copy their work. Also, let’s face the fact that these developers put out a highly engaging product for half the price of the latest installments in the Pokémon series and somehow with fewer glitches and better graphics. This is Gamefreak reaping what they’ve sown over the last ten years or so and frankly, I have no reason to defend them when they have made so much money. When you have all the advantages in place and still deliver a product with poor quality, that isn’t because you didn’t know what you were doing. It was because you didn’t care that much. So hopefully, this serves as a wake-up call. This is not going to be the last time something like this happens. I’m sure of it. While crafting and building isn’t my style, I hope that fans of Palworld continue enjoying the game and that Pokémon fans get off of their backs. Just enjoy the game for what it is. That’s all I want to say. Have a good night and see you next week.