So I Tried... Palworld

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time, I tried the currently viral Pokémon-esque title, Palworld, to see what it’s all about.

What I thought it was

While I write this sentence, I'm yet to actually boot the game up for the first time; my wife thought it'd be better if I wrote my thoughts down before even setting foot in the game. I've seen images and GIFs from Palworld, and I'm going to be honest with you: at first, I was very put off by the guns and violence. Although I've turned a new leaf with my recent dive into Cyberpunk 2077 as someone who has been a bit snooty in the past (I've really, really hated violent games about drugs and sex), I still can't help but feel a bit of resistance. It seems cruel to shoot them and then enslave them to work, but considering the sheer number of people currently playing, I can't imagine it'll be that jarring. I also know that there are a lot of elements to the game — there's building, farming, and survival as main gameplay features and a lot of interactability with the pals, as you can even ride them! 

So, to summarise, going in, I'm very sceptical about it being something I can stomach as someone who has to hype herself up every time I have to hunt cute bunnies. I've slowly matured out of the taking-myself-too-seriously stage I've been stuck in since my teens, so I'm coming in with an open mind. I'm expecting something like a Pokémon meets Paleo Pines with guns.

What it actually is

Playing Palworld for 30 minutes doesn't even get close to enough time to figure out much about the game, as, for the most part, my wife and I spent it gathering materials and following the tutorial. That being said, when I finally hit a Pal, it wasn't that bad; in fact, we beat two of them until we depleted their health bars, and all they did was get dizzy eyes and fall back! From what I've gotten to experience, Palworld is actually a pretty good game, as I've had a lot of fun just running around collecting wood with my beloved Chikipi so that my wife can build us a home. Knowing that I'll meet some Pals that won't be so nice — as it seems some of them eat humans — shooting them until they drop might not be as jarring after all. 

Will I continue playing it?

I would be lying if I said I didn't go into the game expecting to be wrong and loving it... and that was exactly the case! What I got to experience already stifled my anxiety about the aggression towards the adorable Pals, and it seems to be a well-rounded survival craft title that offered us more to do than just build a house and get bored, as I cannot wait to explore the world, catch 'em all, and defeat the bosses. Truth be told, I'm grateful my maturity has hit a peak; being able to enjoy games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Palworld is something I wouldn't change for anything.