Palworld: A New Perspective on Factory Management Games

Inspired by the comparison to “Pokemons with guns,” Palworld offers a fresh take on the genre of factory management games. While the mechanics of collecting creatures and the visually stunning graphics may be reminiscent of Pokemon, Palworld introduces a unique concept that goes beyond its violent facade.

My journey in Palworld began with battling local creatures such as cats, sheep, and chickens. Once captured, I assigned them tasks related to crafting and resource gathering. They helped me build homes and beds for all of us, and I made sure their hunger meters were as satisfied as mine. I also engaged in combat with wild creatures using a stick, which, in my opinion, is no worse than sending a rat to fight a wild pigeon, as Pokemon players have been doing for years.

However, my progress was soon hindered by the need to construct a berry plantation. I obediently created beds and started planting and watering the collected berry seeds. It was an incredibly time-consuming process, with the entire agricultural cycle taking over a minute, which is unusually long for any crafting game. Growing bored, I decided to venture out and focus on resource gathering instead.

When you begin your adventure in Palworld, you have a limited number of friends called Pals who can perform basic craft-related tasks and gather resources. However, as you explore further, you have the opportunity to encounter Pals of different types, which can be captured and assigned specific tasks according to your needs.

Upon returning from my exploration and realizing that my hunger meter was dropping and food reserves were low, I went back to work on the berry field. However, to my surprise, my animals were already taking care of it – the elephant and penguin were regularly watering the field. I hadn’t even had a chance to plant the seeds yet, and two Pals were already completing another time-consuming step in the farming process.

Moved and bewildered, I watched the field for several minutes. As the fruits grew, other Pals appeared to harvest and transfer them to the storage. When the field became empty, two nature-themed creatures appeared to plant new seeds. After finishing their work, the watering Pals returned. Thanks to them, I had a fully self-sustaining berry field.

I continued observing my creatures and realized that when they were not working on the field, they would engage in other tasks. For instance, I created an area for tree-cutting, and several nature-themed creatures would regularly visit it. It turned out they had the ability to chop down trees – a task they automatically took on when they had no other important duties. I also noticed that sheep-like creatures, resembling Lamballs, would enter the enclosure, shear the wool, and store it for other Pals.

Looking around, I finally understood what Palworld truly is. Behind the facade of “ultraviolent Pokemon” lies a factory simulator. By unlocking new technologies, we gain access to new Pals who will work with new machinery, allowing us to automate further stages of production. The berry field is just one example of this system in action – if we hire the right number of suitable Pals, they will take care of everything, generating an endless supply of food. As our products become more complex, the transportation system becomes more advanced, and our role becomes more supervisory than labor-intensive.

This type of system is characteristic of factory management games. Simulators like Factorio or Satisfactory start with manual labor and gradually introduce automation to larger areas of the game. Similar ideas can be found in survival games like Scrap Mechanic, which combines an open world with machine construction – gradually shifting the responsibility for work onto creatures, just like Palworld. Although Palworld replaces machines with creatures, the concept remains the same, and this realization only came to me after two hours when the facade of the inhumane game Palworld subsided.

It cannot be denied that Palworld may not appeal to PETA supporters, but the same can be said for Pokemon. Although the creators of Palworld openly admit to using dark humor, Palworld is not as focused on animal cruelty as it may appear. It is a factory simulator in which creatures replace gears. The creatures occasionally need snacks, but they serve the same purpose and lead to the same goal as games that use automation of factory processes as their main attraction.

Palworld has undeniably sparked a new trend in the world of Pokemon.

The source of the article is from the blog kunsthuisoaleer.nl