The game that many describe as "Pokemon with guns," AKA Palworld, just announced that players will be able to jump into early access for the monster-catching shooter this coming January. Palworld, the new game from developer Pocket Pair, has been turning a lot of heads with its interesting premise.The death of many Pokemon clones is that they fail to do anything to the monster-catching formula to attract the dedicated Pokemon fanbase. Palworld may just be able to break the curse by combining this beloved idea with something equally as popular in the contemporary gaming space: shooting things. The game has attracted a lot of attention with its shocking and adorable visuals since its initial announcement, and now players will finally get their first chance to try it out soon.Palworld's early access release window was announced at Summer Game Fest 2023. The trailer showed off a lot of the gameplay that has brought attention to the title thus far and then announced that gamers will be able to play the game in early access on Steam in January 2024. There's still no confirmation of a full release date for the game, but early access will give players a chance to see what the game is all about. Simultaneously, it will allow Pocket Pair to tweak things based on user feedback and hopefully work towards a strong official launch. It's worth noting that this early access will only be on Steam. There will be an Xbox version of Palworld at some point, as was previously announced, but the Summer Games Fest announcement only concerns the game coming to Steam.
There's something so cute and simultaneously horrifying about seeing all of these innocent-looking creatures with rounded, fluffy designs suddenly either pull out large machine guns or have large machine guns pulled out on them. It's like sitting down to watch Winnie the Pooh only to discover it's a horror movie. It's the kind of shock value Pocket Pair is clearly hoping to capitalize on to expand the game's notoriety. The gameplay is described as being a mix of open-world, survival, and crafting, all combined with the ability to pair up with a diverse assortment of creatures.
Pocket Pair's tactics with marketing Palworld seem to be working. A lot of media outlets have given the game decent coverage due to its click-worthy premise, but Palworld certainly needs to be more than Pokemon with guns to succeed in the long term. Ultimately, the reaction of players to the game when it launches in early access will likely determine a lot about its future.
Palworld is launching its Early Access on Steam in January 2024. The date for the Xbox launch has yet to be announced.