Palworld developer Pocketpair has released its first live-action Q&A session regarding the upcoming Pokemon-with-guns oddity.
In the video, developer Hawkward and CEO Takuro Mizobe answer questions that the team received at the end of May. According to the two Pocketpair staffers, the studio received "more than one thousand questions" in total.
The first question the pair field is what the most challenging aspect of developing Palworld has been, with Mizobe-san pointing to the game's mixture of realistic and "toon" visual styles as his answer.
Palworld has been compared to Pokemon with added weaponry, but Mizobe-san says that the game's chief inspiration is actually colony sim RimWorld.
He says this is how the team arrived at Palworld's unique combination of third-person shooting, colony sim gameplay, and exploration.
Mizobe-san also says that Palworld will get post-release content, including new ways to catch Pals, new biomes, and more.
The topic of Palworld's economy is brought up too, and Mizobe-san says you'll be able to buy and sell items, but perhaps more uniquely, you can also buy and sell Pals.
However, trading Pals is sometimes "prohibited", so you'll have to do it on the sly if you want to make some cash.
If you love Pokemon, you might find the very concept of Palworld fundamentally unholy, but Hawkward and Mizobe-san say this is baked into the game design.
It's intended to reflect real life; some people are kind, and others are not, so the team wanted Palworld to reflect that. Mizobe-san is coy regarding whether there's any benefit to befriending Pals rather than enslaving them, though.
According to Mizobe-san, Palworld's map will be around 16 kilometers squared, so although it won't be as big as Tears of the Kingdom's, it'll be roughly on par with "other open world games that [were] recently released".
The team wants to support mods, too, Mizobe-san says, but they don't know if this feature will be in place in time for launch.
Palworld will feature at least 100 Pals at initial release, and during Early Access, a further 40 or so will be added.
It doesn't sound like there will be too much of a story focus in Palworld, either, so catching those Pals is probably going to be your main focus. Mizobe-san says that the main goal in Palworld is simply "to survive".
In addition, if you're looking to play Palworld outside of PC or Xbox, then you'd better hope sales of the game are good, since that's what will drive the team's decision to port it elsewhere.
Palworld is due to launch in Early Access in January 2024. Stay tuned for more.
