Palworld’s breeding system is the new obsession of my friend group

A player can find numerous cute or capable friends during a tour Palworld‘s Palpagos Islands, but to fill out their Paldeck, they will have to engage in breeding. Breeding is a surprisingly deep part of it Palworldand it has quickly become a rabbit hole – or a Caprity hole, if you will – for my group on our shared server.

Once I got past the original hook of “What if a survival game, but Pokémon?” in Palworld, I was surprised to find out that I was still engaged. I’m on a server with my friends and we all play different roles. I pump up my carry weight and bring along friends to help lug it, and I’m constantly loading up on tons of ore to smelt into valuable ingots. My friends Jake and Matt are also participating; Jake is a forward scout, while Matt runs what we politely call “Pal Resources.”

Pal Resources is the name for our breeding camp. Now that we have the ability to build farms and bake delicious cakes, Matt is off to the races. It is entirely possible to just casually engage in breeding, but we are now completely absorbed in the process. There are three main reasons for breeding. The first is that by combining two seemingly unrelated friends, a third friend can be born. If you want to fill out your Paldeck and be a true collector, breeding is basically mandatory.

But while creating new Friends was a neat trick, perfecting our existing roster really disappointed us. For example, the Relaxaurus is a cute dinosaur, but with the power of Pal Resources we have managed to create an electric variant that keeps our infrastructure running. Breeding can create new elemental types of existing friends.

Sometimes this is useful. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a little variety in my life. Why roll around with a bouncy, cuddly Kingpaca like an absolute fool when I can have that two Kingpacas, one of which is an Ice-type?

Matt also discovered that you can breed two of the same friends together, and their traits will be passed on to their offspring. This is the third and perhaps the most powerful reason to start breeding. Sometimes the process doesn’t work; no one needs a pyromaniac friend running around endangering the entire base. But if you have a diet-loving, heavy-duty workaholic, you don’t even have to do that. need to arrive on the platform and cruelly order your friends to get to work.

Our bases are now staffed by a bunch of friends, all several generations deep in breeding, who tend to our every need. Do you have a large work order to complete? Don’t even bother; Anubis will run over and finish that for you in a few seconds. Hungry? Why don’t you go into the refrigerator, cooled by a little hedgehog, and grab 500 omelettes? Such a premium is not for us.

Breeding with friends reminds me of Chao Gardens Sonic adventure 2, which served as a place to bring and hatch eggs, and then raise the resulting Chao. What was meant to be a side hustle has now become a complete game in itself, as we dutifully bake cakes and ferry enormous eggs back and forth, all in the service of building our empire on the Palpagos Islands. As for the friends who don’t make it, don’t worry about it. We found a big, open field where they can run and play, and Certainly don’t let yourself be put in the Goodbye Tube and turned into a meatloaf to strengthen our A-team. That simply doesn’t happen! It is well.