By now, you most likely know about PalWorld, the Pokémon-like game that allows players to catch and befriend powerful creatures, as well as use assault rifles.
Players looking forward to PalWorld got an update on Saturday, when a new trailer featuring gameplay appeared during the Future Games Show at Summer Game Fest. Some of the game’s previous Pals and themes were shown off, but so were fights that looked like boss battles, and other combat that involved loading Pals into a rocket launcher and firing them at enemies. Again, this is a real game.
Despite the seemingly ridiculous premise of “Pokémon with guns,” PalWorld looks like it is very intent on carving out a niche for itself beyond that label. The game promises survival elements and boss battles that appear just as influenced by the Noble Pokémon events in Pokémon Legends: Arceus as they are by combat in more cartoon-ish shooters, like Borderlands or Risk of Rain 2.
The trailer also continued to show off the game’s darker, more mature themes. If players ever felt like Team Rocket or its offshoots weren’t threatening enough for them, they might like Palworld, which promises enemies in ninja costumes holding guns to your character’s head.
The gameplay and story elements look bizarre, outlandish, and most importantly, pretty fun. The combat and survival elements of the game seem like they will provide a greater variety of activities than the standard Pokémon game, and there’s a self-awareness embedded within the trailer that lets players know that the developers are as in on the joke as everyone else. That lets them set as weird of a tone as possible, and might just be a formula for POCKET PAIR to surprise people with a legitimately fun game.
There’s still no official release date for PalWorld, although the game should release sometime in 2022, according to GameSpot. Until then, players will just have to dissect the trailer as much as they can. Just make sure to steer clear of any sheep Pals wielding light machine guns.
