A Palworld screenshot of a player looking at Chillet on a grassy clearing.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

These PokéFusions just add more fuel to the Palworld plagiarism fire

See the resemblance?

The Pals of Palworld share many similarities to Pokémon in terms of design, and gamers have begun turning to the hilarious Pokémon Fusion Generator to show just how strong the similarities are. The results range from very accurate to just plain silly.

Recommended Videos

It’s no secret many Pals resemble the iconic Pokémon we know and love. Boltmane might be the biggest offender, greatly resembling a Shiny Luxray when it comes to design and as well as their shared Electric typing. Pocketpair has already been hit with criticism and allegations regarding plagiarism and the use of AI artwork.

But there are also some Pals that look like fusions of two different Pokémon, to the point where gamers say Palworld designers used the Pokémon Fusion Generator for inspiration. Whether they’re just joking around or not, it’s almost scary just how similar some of today’s new PokéFusions are to certain Pal designs.

One tweet used Verdash as an example. Its model resembles the Pokémon Sword and Shield Fire Starter, Cinderace, except Verdash is Grass-type and green. By fusing Cinderace with the green and leafy Leafeon, the newly fused ‘mon looks just like the Pal with near-identical color palettes. While this may or may not be a coincidence, it seems to be a recurring theme for multiple Pals in the game.

After seeing this, I decided to investigate with some PokéFusions of my own. Take a look for yourself.

After I saw Shadowbeak’s design, I thought of two Pokémon: Corviknight and Zekrom. Shadowbeak is a black bird just like Corviknight, but the glowing blue highlights on its backside equally reminded me of Zekrom’s tail, which can light up in a similar shade of blue. “Zekknight” is the most accurate PokéFusion I’ve made. In fact, Zekknight and Shadowbeak are exactly what you’d expect Zekrom to look like if it were a bird.

Fuack is one of the silliest Pals I’ve seen, so I decided to have fun with this PokéFusion. Out of the few duck Pokémon that exist, I felt Ducklett was the most fitting for Fuack, though Golduck likely would have worked just as well. To match Fuack’s tiny stature, ears, and collar, I went with Snubbull, who also happens to share that same angry expression. You could use male Meowstic instead, but Snubbull and Fuack just share that same angry, tiny energy. Perhaps Fuack is intended to be the duck version of Snubbull.

Speaking of Meowstic, its pre-evolution, Espurr shares a very similar body shape with the moody Pal known as Depresso. The biggest difference is their eye shapes, with Espurr’s eyes wide open and Depresso’s RBF (resting b*tch face). My first thought was to use baby Pokémon Toxel for that same grumpy look, but Toxel was locked in the generator so I opted for Misdreavus instead. It ended up working out since the Ghost Pokémon shares similar blue and purple colors as Depresso. The generator makes the fusion look a bit silly, but I imagine this is as close as we’re gonna get to an accurate Depresso PokéFusion.

Dinossom is basically a green Goodra wearing Lilligant’s flower hat. The Pokémon Fusion Generator, unfortunately, didn’t do this fused ‘mon justice, but Dinossom’s design is exactly what you’d expect from fusing Goodra and Lilligant together.

Here, in the final fusion, I looked at an Ice-type combo. Chillet is the same shape as the adorable Furret, which may be why their names also sound similar. Since Chillet is part Ice-type, I thought it would work well with the Ice fossil Pokémon, Amaura and Aurorus, who also share the same blue coloring. I didn’t care too much for those, so I tried a different approach—finding a fused name that sounded similar to Chillet. That’s how we ended up with Chewret, a fusion of Chewtle and Furret. At least it’s blue and the same shape.


Dot Esports is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article Palworld dev promises ‘exciting things’ in Summer Game Fest appearance
Palworld Summer update Cherry Blossom biome.
Read Article Palworld is now available on GeForce Now, so you can finally play on Mac
A promotional image for Palworld on GeForce Now.
Read Article Big changes for Alpha Pals, bosses, and looting in Palworld’s first Xbox-synced update
A player riding a Direhowl looking at a Dungeon Cave in Palworld.
Related Content
Read Article Palworld dev promises ‘exciting things’ in Summer Game Fest appearance
Palworld Summer update Cherry Blossom biome.
Read Article Palworld is now available on GeForce Now, so you can finally play on Mac
A promotional image for Palworld on GeForce Now.
Read Article Big changes for Alpha Pals, bosses, and looting in Palworld’s first Xbox-synced update
A player riding a Direhowl looking at a Dungeon Cave in Palworld.
Author
Karli Iwamasa
Karli is a freelance writer based in the Bay Area. She has written about your favorite video games on sites like Dot Esports and TheGamer. When she's not writing, she's playing VALORANT or the latest Pokémon game.