Pokémon is one of the best-known licenses in the world. The Pokémon Company and Nintendo's franchise continues to reap success with each new release, making it one of the most profitable franchises in the video game industry. Therefore, over the years, many titles have attempted to replicate its formula in order to achieve glory, although only a few have managed to break through.

Palworld is the latest to hit the market after months of making a name for itself in the gaming community. The game's approach, which has a certain Game Freak-esque feel to it, managed to capture the attention of gamers, who began calling it the "Pokémon with guns ". However, with its official early access release on Xbox and PC consoles, fans have discovered that it has an essence of its own and improves on its main inspiration in certain aspects, combining a very attractive and addictive gameplay dynamic for the more than 19 million players who’ve tried it.

Mixing genres for success

One of the most impressive things about the world of Palworld is its ability to mix genres. Unlike Pokémon, Pocket Pair's gameplay isn’t just about creature catching and battling but goes far beyond that. Catching the so-called Pals is a fundamental part of its concept, but it's not the only one, as building, resource gathering, and survival also play an important role in the game's development. It's like mixing the best elements of Pokémon, Minecraft, and even Fortnite when it comes to weapon combat.

There's no doubt that the Pals design is one of Palworld's most controversial creative lines, as many of them are inspired by Pokémon and the end result generates very suspicious similarities. However, the use of them is what gives the title the personality it needs to escape the clutches of plagiarism. The Pals can work for the player, performing different tasks such as extraction of raw materials or construction. They’re a protagonist that’s also set Palworld apart from The Pokémon Company and Nintendo's saga.

This is because while the protagonist of the well-known license is a simple tool for moving around the map, in terms of action, the Pokémons are the most important thing. In Palworld, the main character can also level up and improve their attributes such as energy, attack, and health. And, here, the main character also takes an active part in the battles, using tools or fire weapons, another of the big differences that define the game and make it totally unique from what has been seen before in the genre.

There are many other aspects to take into account that distance Palworld from Pokémon, such as controlling hunger levels, resistance to adverse weather conditions such as cold and ice, and resource management, which are closer to other proposals such as Rust, DayZ, or the aforementioned Minecraft. Palworld generates a very complete world which is constantly changing and in which there are always things to do.

An open world in which to survive alone or with a partner

The very open-world concept is one of the most prominent aspects of Palworld's gameplay. Its survival premise makes it a title where exploration is a necessity in order to gather new materials, expand horizons, and build new locations to serve as a base to store resources and deal with the various bosses that populate the world. In addition, although it can be played alone, Pocket Pair is also committed to multiplayer.

From the game's own menus, you can access different servers to cooperate with other players and make the Palworld experience more fun. This allows you to collaborate to share resources, create bases together, or battle with the help of new allies to take on the most powerful enemies. This is a dynamic that Pokémon has recently opened the door to, but which isn’t as polished as in this case.

Moreover, Palworld has already officially announced that its formula will be refined further and further. The Pocket Pair team is working on introducing Player vs. Player (PvP) mode, while new Pals will continue to expand the list of available creatures and new bosses will be added to battle. It’s worth remembering that this is an early-access game, so it’ll continue to complete its formula with new additions to become a game that’ll be supported for years to come.

Its main objective is to compete with other franchises such as Minecraft or Fortnite, moving further and further away from the proposal with which it has been compared since the beginning. While it’s true that there are certain similarities, there are also many other differences that have even allowed Palworld to surpass everything that Pokémon has managed to do in almost three decades of existence, becoming one of the biggest phenomena of 2024 in the video game sector.