Palworld's Early Access Status Means It's Not Too Late to Rework One Major Mechanic (2024)

When playing Palworld, players must know the features and mechanics that will allow them to enjoy the beautiful yet dangerous islands and their monstrous inhabitants. While the game is similar to Pokemon in certain regards, especially since they're both monster-capturing titles, it has enough qualities that separate and make it unique. However, there is one particular thing it shares with its competition that it's falling behind in. It is a mechanic that Palworld can make right as rain by following Pokemon's lead, or at least improving it and taking it further with a different spin.

A monster-capturing game such as Palworld should have its creatures, known as Pals, have qualities that make them unique. Each one does have good-looking designs and abilities that match, but some would argue that their elemental typing is lacking in terms of how deeply it affects combat. Pals are only limited to having 9 different types, only half of Pokemon's 18, making some wonder why that is when the game has a variety of monsters to justify even more. There are other issues, but the main point is that the element mechanic of the game feels limited when it has the potential to be more. Perhaps Pocketpair could use Palworld's current early access status to give it the changes it needs to improve.

How Palworld Can Improve Its Elemental Typing Mechanic

When comparing Palworld's element types to Pokemon's, there are a lot of things it needs to work on so that it will have a bigger effect on combat. There are different ways in which the developers can give it more depth, and here are a few examples:

• Add more element types as it can change the game's current power dynamic as well as provide ideas for future Pals to be added
• Allow Pals to have dual typing like that of Pokemon, as it can give them more than one weakness and lets them learn even more abilities
• Provide moves that can ignore one's elemental typing, incentivizing players to learn what moves a Pal can have and be wary of such attacks during battle

The biggest advantage Palworld's element mechanic has over Pokemon's types is that it can experiment and try things that its competition has yet to or is unwilling to do. There is the potential for it to grow and become a key component in winning battles. But in its current state, it's more of a simple advantage that one can have rather than the game changer it was meant to be.

How Palworld Can Use Its Limited Elements to Its Advantage

Should Pocketpair decide not to add more elements to the game, then there is one thing the developer can do with the limited amount available. Palworld's short list of typings may let it cross one bridge that Pokemon never has: having one Pal with three different types. This can make combat much more engaging, as these monsters require different strategies and a lot of thinking for players to win against them. Although the change somewhat forces people to learn the elemental mechanic, it will at least make Palworld's combat interesting and memorable. If executed right, it may even lead to the developers adding more elements that synergize and balance well with triple-typed Pals, making the game unique among the many others in the monster-capturing scene.

Palworld can't rest on its early access laurels, as it still has a lot of things it needs to work on - its element system being one of them. Given the proper treatment, Pal typings can play a bigger role in how they affect combat, making it essential for players to grasp the mechanic. It could go beyond that of Pokemon's types in terms of combat depth, assuming Pocketpair realizes the game's untapped potential and capitalizes on it.

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See Also

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Palworld

In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them.
Survival: In a harsh environment where food is scarce and vicious poachers roam, danger waits around every corner. To survive, you must tread carefully and make difficult choices...even if that means eating your own Pals when the time comes.
Mounts & Exploration: Pals can be mounted to traverse the land, sea and sky—allowing you to traverse all kinds of environment as you explore the world.
Collect all kinds of exciting Pals to fight, farm, build, and work for you in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!

Open-World

Shooter

Survival

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:71/100 Critics Recommend:58%

Platform(s)

PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One

Released

January 19, 2024

Developer(s)

Pocket Pair, Inc.

Publisher(s)

Pocket Pair, Inc.

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Violence

How Long To Beat

36 Hours

Steam Deck Compatibility

yes

X|S Enhanced

Yes

File Size Xbox Series

6 GB (February 2024)

Number of Players

1-4 (Co-Op); 32 Players Server Limit

Cross Save

yes

Cross-Platform Play

Xbox Series X|S, pc

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