7 Ridiculous Reasons to Play Palworld Today

So, Palworld, eh? Have you jumped onto the hype train yet? With over 5 million copies sold in less than a week following its Early Access release, it's a pointedly ridiculous assessment to say that Palworld is a success. No, the game isn't just successful: it's patently ridiculous just how big it's grown practically out of the blue!

And look, the odds are good that you've already heard a whole lot about Palworld by now. We're not interested in rotely repeating what's already been stated over and over and over again, and surely you're not keen on reading that in the first place. Instead, today we'd like to offer an alternative take on this latest gaming craze: a list of weird and/or ridiculous reasons for you, too, to start playing Palworld while the zeitgeist is on.

READ MORE: Xbox Developer Direct - January 2024 Summary

7 Phenomenally Ridiculous Reasons to Start Playing Palworld (on GamePass)

The thing about Palworld is that it's not what it seems like at face value. And that'd be an easy thing to claim about an unproven game that's priced at $30ish by default, all the while having only just released in Early Access. That's not at all what we're getting at here, and to prove it, we'd like to highlight that the price of admission is way lower. Palworld, you see, is already available via the Xbox Game Pass subscription, and that'll only set you back a few bucks a pop.

What this means is that, even if you're not keen on Palworld in concept, you can give the bugger a shot quickly, easily, and on the cheap. And, really, we do recommend you do that. We'll underline this notion over the next couple of sections, and once you're done with them, be sure to circle back to the featured link to grab your Game Pass at a low price!

Play Palworld on Game Pass today!

#7: You can capture humans, too

Let's kick things off with something simple at face-value, but wonderfully ridiculous and slightly disturbing when you think about it. Palworld, you see, treats humans as if they're fully equivalent to Pals - something that Pokemon, to lean into all those comparisons, strives hard not to do. Whereas GameFreak and Nintendo try their absolute best to beat around the bush of their IP's more disturbing sides, Palworld embraces its trademark aughts edge with gusto.

So, yeah, not only can you capture human NPCs the same as you can with Pals, but you can also put them to work in what are, effectively, labour camps. Make of that what you will, but it perfectly illustrates Palworld's irreverent approach to gameplay.

#6: Its creature designs are unrepentantly Pokemon-esque

We're not going to go into the legality of Palworld's handling of its creature designs. We will, however, say right off the bat that it's plainly obvious where the developer's inspiration lies. Though there are so few similarities between the modern Pokemon games and Palworld proper, gameplay-wise, we believe it's worth checking the game out just to see how the designers have reinterpreted Nintendo and GameFreak's classic creature design language.

#5: You cannot tell if it's a parody or not

It's virtually impossible to assess whether Palworld is intentionally ridiculous or not. At least, not yet. For the most part, the game plays its weirdest features fully straight, without so much as a hint at it all being a tongue-in-cheek parable for something. Instead, what you see is what you get, and the thing you see is an ultra-fluffy sheep Fakemon behind the M2 Browning heavy machine gun. Make of that what you will but, in our book, the game is worth experiencing even for that feature alone.

#4: It might kick off a new era of Pokemon-alikes on PC

One of the most interesting aspects of Palworld is how the game redefines what a monster-catching experience ought or ought not to be. This is, in most ways, an experience that's extremely similar to games such as ARK: Survival Evolved. Far more so than it is similar to Pokemon, for example. Whereas the majority of older Pokemon-spoofing titles (Casette Beasts, Coromon, Monster Sanctuary, etc.) have attempted to redefine the niche in relatively safe ways, the example of Palworld might push developers further than ever before. Heck, even GameFreak might end up learning a thing or two...

#3: There's an enjoyable gameplay loop in there, actually

Palworld isn't a new quantity, in and of itself. The game was first announced quite a while back, and its edgy take on Pokemon-alikes left most people indifferent and/or outright cringing at the idea. Yet, most of us were genuinely surprised with the actual real-world competency of the project. This is, for the most part, a fairly solid open-world survival game. Gameplay-wise, it is closer to Factorio and ARK than it is to Pokemon, but its style makes the whole thing stand out that much more.

We will, of course, have to wait and see how the devs handle the project throughout its Early Access stint, but right now, it's looking quite fine even at this early stage.

#2: It's the weirdest survival game we've seen yet

The vast majority of open-world survival games on the market right now are fairly grounded and, if we stretch the definition, even realistic to some extent. Palworld does away with any pretence of groundedness, however. Here you are, catching wild animals by the dozens, only to turn them into tiny cogs inside your humongous manufactory - creating guns.

Again, we're not totally sure just yet whether Palworld is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek critique of the genre or not. As it stands, though, it's enjoyable in a zany, semi-serious way. Survival games simply haven't done that to a huge extent yet, and we're here for it.

#1: Palworld isn't the Pokemon game with guns we thought it'd be

Finally, there's the fact that Palworld goes far beyond what its trailers first highlighted. The edginess is relatively subdued in the actual game, and if you're not too keen on the "Pokemon with guns" aspect of Palworld, you can actually avoid it to a surprising extent. Even the more troubling aspects of the game - slave labour, horrific behaviour towards creatures, etc. - can be toned down if you're interested in doing that.

So, the game is bound to appeal to even more players than it otherwise would've appealed to. Its real-world performance is proof enough of it, if you ask us, and the experience that's already there is more than good enough to warrant attention from anyone and everyone in our book.

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