Palworld, the open-world survival crafting creature-collection game with a twist, has announced its early access release date, with the welcome news that it will also launch on Xbox Game Pass at the same time.
Despite its many resemblances to Pokemon, Palworld has a slightly more grownup twist with the presence of modern, real-world guns. Palworld’s Steam page suggests players can either live peacefully with their Pals come what may, or they can fight back against a syndicate of poachers. “Pals can be used to fight, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them!” proclaims the description.
The developers behind Palworld are Pocketpair, most famous for their game Craftopia, which is also still in early access and has been for three years.
When will Palworld be released in early access?
Palworld is due to launch in early access on January 19 on Xbox and PC, including Xbox GamePass. The developers expect the early access period to last at least a year.
The screenshots and videos released so far, along with some pre-release content created by selected creators, show off the colorful world well. Exploration seems to be a key focus and what we’ve seen certainly makes Palworld look like somewhere enjoyable to look around. There are multiple biomes, each with a unique look and with Pals living in them exclusively.
The design of the Pals is very visually appealing, but there’s no getting away from just how much like Pokemon some of them look. There are lots of Pokemon-alikes out there, notably TemTem, and it seems that for now, Nintendo is content to live and let live. It remains to be seen whether the more adult nature of Palworld, with its guns and dark undertone, will provoke Nintendo into action.
Palworld is set to join a host of other exciting new games on GamePass and on PC and Xbox for its early access launch on January 19th, 2024.
Featured image: Pocketpair
