Finally Palworld lets me catch them all

Catch Pokémon can be tiring these days. At the time of publication, there are over 1,000 different types of fictional monsters. Pokémon Scarlet And purple don’t contain the full National Pokédex, but the base game contains 400 Pokémon and hundreds more if you count the extra monsters added in the DLC. Even if you’re trying to complete the scaled-down Pokédex, collecting creatures can be a chore. Play now Palworld, I can breathe a sigh of relief. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I can finally catch them all, with less than 150 friends in the game.

Palworld is a hit game from Japanese indie studio Pocketpair. Before it came out, many described it as “Pokémon with guns.” Now that the developer has released it in early access, it’s clear that the game goes far beyond just Pokémon influences. It is reminiscent of climbing and exploring The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and mechanics common to survival games. One way it resembles Pokémon, however, is the integration of creatures called Pals. As you explore the world, you can capture the cartoonish monsters and register them in a digital encyclopedia called Paldeck, similar to the Pokédex.

My Paldeck contains 111 Pals (although there are alternate forms and possibly more). From a numerical point of view alone, that’s much less than Pokémon. There’s no need to robotically go through hundreds of battles to fill the Pokédex like in a modern Pokémon game. Moreover, there are no “version exclusives”. Palworld. Every copy of the game contains every Pal, so it’s actually possible to find and capture every single monster without needing another player or making any transactions outside of the game.

If you have friends who play along, that will also help the collecting process. Although Pokémon has multiplayer functionality, online co-op is in Palworld Better supports playing the whole game with friends from start to finish. Features like guilds allow you to collaborate with friends and easily share friends in your settlement. These Pals will not be recorded as ‘captured’ in your Paldeck, but you will be able to see more Pals and get an idea of ​​which Pals to capture.

Catch all the Pokémon It’s clearly not impossible – a lot of people do it – and I understand why it appeals to certain players. The repetitive nature of catching Pokémon after Pokémon can be almost relaxing, but it is a huge time commitment. You must fight and catch them all, and some require unique rituals to develop them. For others, you may have to trade to get version exclusives and train Pokémon in preparation for challenging battles to capture stronger monsters. In the recent Scarlet And purple DLC, you even have to collect in-game points to unlock the appearances of certain Pokémon in the wild.

Do not get me wrong – Palworld still contains a fair share of monster catching gravel. Depending on how common each creature is, you can capture up to 10 copies of each creature, just to gain the necessary experience points to unlock items. You probably won’t just rush through collecting the Paldeck in a few sessions. Barriers to exploration, such as your level or the types of Pal spheres you use, will shape your overall journey. But so far I’ve enjoyed the slow, meandering process of gradually exploring and discovering the Pals one by one to fill my Paldeck in its entirety. At this rate I might catch them all.