And certainly in terms of the controversy and conversation around it at launch.
If you’re yet to hop on board and wondering about what you’re missing, you could relax.
Palworld is big and controversial; it is also absolute rubbish.
I want to make it less serious, or rather, more easy-going.
Palworld is wildly popular, not just in terms of sales but actual player satisfaction.
Cynicism coupled with success is already enough to leave you feeling sour.
But more than that, and more importantly, the feeling of playing Palworld is sour.
Hello Minecraft, Ark, Rust,Valheimet al.
When Pals break loose of a thrown Sphere, a “cheeky bastard!”
tooltip pops up in the corner.
When they’re killed, they roll off, ragdoll-like.
Among other things, it’s a compulsion loop.
It’s also assembled in an admirably intuitive package.
I’m still trying to reverse-engineer this one, so let’s pull back a tiny bit further.
The real problem with Palworld is less the derivative approach itself, than it is it’s total shamelessness.
You won’t feel admiration or wonder.
You won’t feel any real sense of achievement.
You won’t feel like any artist has been involved, or that anything meaningful might come to mind.
You will feel like a mark.
And you’ll be right.
