Palworld, also known as ‘Pokemon with guns.’ It’s on your X timeline, your Facebook, your TikTok – it’s absolutely everywhere. As player numbers continue to soar exponentially, comparisons to Nintendo’s pocket monster epic are rife – but Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe thinks they’re misplaced.
Palworld is the 2024 smash hit that no one saw coming. Part creature collecting sim, part survival game, Pocketpair’s bizarre mashup of fantastical creatures and, well, AK47s, has skyrocketed up the Steam charts, beating Cyberpunk 2077’s Steam record, and leaving Starfield in its wake just six hours post-launch.
As that player count continues to swell, more and more comparisons are being made to Nintendo’s iconic Pokemon. Many of the Palworld Pals bear similarities to various different pocket monsters, with the ever-popular Lamball consistently being compared to Wooloo.
However, in an interview with Japanese gaming site Automaton Media, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe claims that Palworld is “completely different” to Pokemon, instead mirroring the likes of Ark, Sons of the Forest, and other survival icons.
The quotes below are machine translated from the original Japanese article, as the English version doesn’t include direct quotations.
“I believe that Pokemon is by far the leader in the genre of monster collecting/monster breeding games,” Mizobe says. “Personally, I think Pokemon is so great that I’m afraid to compare it to Palworld.
“Palworld started with the idea of ’Can we add the element of collecting and breeding monsters to the genre of open world survival crafting game?’ Although we refer to Pokemon as a great predecessor, if you play Palworld, you will see that its image is completely different from Pokemon. In fact, I think the mechanics are closer to Ark: Survival Evolved.”
Mizobe goes on to state “My understanding is that open world survival craft games are a genre originally derived from Minecraft,” noting that Mojang’s quintessential sandbox game, and other “larger games such as Terraria, The Forest, Sons of the Forest, Conan Exiles, and Ark: Survival evolved” all inspired Palworld.
“I’ve also played Valheim, which is a popular game in recent years, as well as the indie game Raft, and although it’s a PvP game, I’ve also played Rust, of course.”
As someone who has poured more hours than she’d like to admit into Palworld, it really doesn’t play like Pokemon at all – perhaps Legends Arceus at a push, but aesthetically and gameplay-wise there are some fundamental differences. On the surface I’d agree, it’s certainly giving Pokemon vibes, but it really isn’t anything like it when you dive in.
And I really suggest you do. We’ve got loads of guides to help you get started, including a list of all the best Palworld guns, and a rundown of how to ride Palworld mounts – trust me when I say that one’s an essential.
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