Now we've seen so many other game franchises like Yo-Kai Watch and many others being positioned as the "Pokemon Killer", and while I wouldn't go as far as saying that, it is undeniable that Palworld might be one of the most successful in terms of metrics like Steam sales and whatnot. It really is less of a "Pokemon with GUNS" and more of a "Horizon/Ark with Pokemon". But it is a shrewd marketing tactic regardless. There's a lot of bad blood from both supporters and detractors of this game about just how original the designs are, and how much of it is parody versus plagiarism versus some kind of AI-generated variation or something?
The game itself isn't really my cup of tea, but we're not here to review the game, or to debate the similarities or differences with Pokemon, but just talk about monster design!
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#001: Lamball
- Big Floof
- Type: Neutral
We start off with the quasi-mascot of the game, Lamball. He's a lamb, who is also a ball! I think you could easily shrug and say that this is a 'Wooloo ripoff', which is... not the most fair? Pokemon doesn't exactly have a monopoly on round sheep monsters. And there will be some others that are undoubtedly more direct heavily-inspired, but you could just as well as make an argument that Lamball came from one of many other J-RPG games.
Anyway, as with Pokemon, a lot of the early game monsters are pretty simple enemies. Lamball's whole deal is that he's a round lamb, and, quoting the game's version of a Pokedex, the Paldeck, "this pal has tumbled down to the very bottom of the food chain itself." Pretty cute, pretty simple... which is why I'm going to use Lamball here to explain a bit more about the Pals.
Pals all have types, which are kind of aggregated from most of Pokemon's types. 'Neutral' stands in for Pokemon's 'Normal'. Pals don't evolve, which I guess is one step to far in the plagiarism thing. The humans in this setting are basically shooter-game protagonists, so they can attack the Pals with guns and spears and swords and whatnot, and Pals can be butchered and killed or harvested... which the game milks for black comedy for all it's worth. And in addition to typical Pokemon-style 'moves', each Pal has a passive ability. Some of them just allows Pals to help out in harvesting or planting or mining (because this game has that as a major mechanic)... but some Pals become equipment. Like Lamball here, who the player can sling over his or her back as a literal sheep-shield as it cries and absorbs bullets. Yep, it's that kind of game.
#002: Cattiva
- The Cat's Pajamas
- Type: Neutral
Ehhhh. This one doesn't really appeal to me, and without the name, I don't think I could tell you that this is supposed to be a cat monster instead of just a generic mammal monster. You could've told me that Cattiva is supposed to reference some character from Digimon or Yokai Watch or something and I'd shrug. Cattiva here is another early-game Pal, ad the whole joke is that Cattiva is cocky-looking but is in fact weak and cowardly, and 'being toyed with by a Cattiva is the greatest of disgraces'. I mean, sure.
#003: Chikipi
- Plump & Juicy
- Type: Neutral
Another very simple design, Chikipi is essentially a Cuccoo from the older Zelda games. It's a chicken! Chikipi is literally here as a very easy source for food. And, yes, you kill and eat Pals in this game, though it's not actually mandatory. The game is parody and not mockery, and I'm actually pleasantly surprised that there's still a way to play the game as a straight-up regular Pokemon game (just with guns and farming) and not engage in the more brutal aspects of the game... but, well, where's the fun in that?
Chikipi is noted that it's considered one of the weakest Pals. The Paldeck actually lampshades the fact that 'no matter how many are hunted, they just keep appearing'. Video game mob spawning! Even its 'title' (which all Pals have) in the Paldeck isn't a description about its behaviour, but rather just straight up goes 'plump & juicy'.
#004: Lifmunk
- Coward of the Steppe
- Type: Grass
Our first non-Neutral Pal is Lifmunk, which is a leaf chipmunk. It's got a giant gemstone on its forehead and a bunch of extra red accessories. This guy feels like it'd be a generic pet in a game like Ragnarok Online or something, or like a cute mascot in a toyline-driven anime. I don't dislike it, but it's one that you could say that it's a Pachirisu ripoff and I'd slowly nod.
Lifmunk here, by the way, is one of the Pals that you can straight-up equip firearms to, with the Lifmunk's favourite, preferred weapon being a submachine gun. The Paldeck notes that there has been 'more than a few cases where they've killed their master after learning to use weapons'. The wording doesn't imply accidental, so the Lifmunk might've just rebelled and shot their masters dead in cold blood for daring to enslave them. Lifmunks are noted to be as intelligent as a 5-7 year old child, which might sound horrifying but you can straight-up capture human NPCs in this game and enslave them, so this isn't the most fucked-up thing in this game.
#005: Foxparks
- Revealer of Paths
- Type: Fire
It sure is a fox on fire. A Firefox! It's like Vulpix if Vulpix was given a more realistic-to-a-real-fox appearance, and... yeah, I can actually see why Pokemon went for a more stylized look with them. Foxparks (god, that name's a bit hard to say) has flames wreathing its legs and tail, and apparently are unskilled at controlling fire when it's born.
It sure is a fire fox! 'Animal on fire' is always one of the least creative way to make a fire monster, and I think that's why Pokemon has actually scaled down on it after the first couple of generations. Foxparks here can actually be wielded by the player as a flamethrower.
#006: Fuack
- Rowdy Wave Ripper
- Type: Water
I think there was a Fakemon that this is referencing? The one that became Platypet in Temtem, based on a widely-spread leak for Sword and Shield's starters or something? I am convinced that Fuack here is just so that the game developers could make jokes with its name. Yes, yes, it's a pun on 'quack', but tell me you see 'Fuack' and you don't mentally remove one of the vowels.
Anyway, Fuack here is our first Water-type Pal, and apparently body surfs around. I don't really like the look of this one. I think it's the ears, which feels like they belong to a proper mammal instead of the platypus-based Fuack.
#007: Sparkit
- Livewire Tabby
- Type: Electric
And this is our first Electric-type Pal, which I guess is the game's interpretation of a Pikachu clone. Other than the colours and the Raichu tail, though, I guess the designers are smart enough to try not to copy Pikachu at all, and just took 'electric mammal' and tried to make something somewhat distinct. This is more cat-like (it's a 'tabby') and angry-looking than Pikachu, and... I don't really care for this one? Again, it's the ears which looks like weird bumblebee abdomen that are stuck onto his head.
#008: Tanzee
- Dexterous Primate
- Type: Grass
Oh, hey! It's Grookey! I mean, Pansage! I mean, Tanzee. It's just a green monkey with some leaf parts, and honestly kind of boring... until you realize that Tanzees are another type of Pal that can wield firearms, namely assault rifle. Love the Paldeck description, too. "Long ago, this Pal used long objects like tree branches as weapons. After coming into contact with humans, however, it found something much more effective: guns."
#009: Rooby
- Chief of the Herd
- Type: Fire
So soon after Foxparks? Rooby here is more of an ungulate than a canine, though that tail is rather fox-like. I don't particularly like the look of this one -- I'm not sure if it's the colours, the giant tail, the eyes, or the random bowtie it has. It's lore talks about how Rooby can't get sick, and a diet of eating a piece of charcoal every single day is the secret to its health. And... I kind of wish the design emphasized this a bit. Either the charcoal part or the 'eternal health' part.
#010: Pengullet
- Ate Too Much
- Type: Water/Ice
Hee hee, I like him. This fat penguin is cute enough and distinct enough from the likes of Piplup, I think. I do like the little blurb about him, too. It's a bird Pal that has evolved so much that its feathers have disappeared, but it still really wants to fly. And... the way it does this? Pengullet's "-ullet" isn't referring to gullet, but BULLET. When your character equips a motherfucking rocket launcher, Pengullets will jump in and voluntarily act as living missiles.
...that's actually quite creative, and honestly not the most expected out of Pengullet's design. It's a very weird but creative direction to take the 'this animal really wants to fly' gimmick that you'd associate with a penguin.
#011: Penking
- Pioneer of the Frozen Sea
- Type: Water/Ice
It's a penguin with a bicorn hat and an admiral's coat. And a big puffy neck-thing. Are those part of his biology, or did Penking salvage these somewhere? Pokemon evolution does not exist in this game, and despite being next to each other in the deck, and both being dual Water/Ice types, Penking is explicitly noted to be unrelated to Pengullet. Okay, then!
#012: Jolthog
- Don't Touch | Watch Your Feet
- Type: Electric (Regular) | Ice (Cryst)
This is a more non-stylized version of Togedemaru, taking an 'electric hedgehog' prompt and making the simplest version you could think of. Jolthog is sure a hedgehog with electric spikes! There's really not much to say beyond that, other than the fact that Jolthog is one of those Pals that can be weaponized, this time acting as a lightning grenade.
Jolthog does have a 'variant', basically Palworld's take on the 'Regional Variants' thing that newer Pokemon games have. Jolthog Cryst is Ice-type instead of Electric-type, and has replaced its yellow-coloured spikes with more impressive ice (or, well, crystal) ones. It's basically the same thing, only instead of a shock grenade, Jolthog Cryst is an ice bomb. I think it's kind of neat, a nice way to incorporate alternate weaponry and a quick extra Pal variant without needing to rig a whole new model.
#013: Gumoss
- Suddenly Transformed
- Type: Grass/Ground
I kind of like this one! Gumoss could just be waved as a 'plant Ditto' or a 'mud Ditto', but I do like the themes going on here. Slime monsters are a bit common in these RPGs, but Gumoss is more specifically a tree sap creature with some wood and leaves growing up on top of its body. Like the dot eyes and the tongue in the mouth, too, which makes for an adorable look. Gumoss is also dual-type, being Grass/Ground, so it's probably not entirely sap-based, and has some mud mixed into its anatomy?
Gumoss is noted to interestingly 'lose strength' and eventually 'rot away' if it has nothing to cover its body with, so the plant is a very crucial part of its biology. That's kinda neat. The title, 'suddenly transformed', also leads one to think what a Gumoss used to be before it was transformed. Was it the plant? The mud? Some other Pal? I think he's the first one in this entire list that I actually find creative!
#014: Vixy
- Star of the Step
- Type: Neutral
Vixy is a vixen, or a fox. Again, Pokemon doesn't have a monopoly on 'cute baby fox mascot', but... yeah, this is kind of an Eevee clone, yeah? I really don't have much to say here, it sure is a cute fox -- but there's not a whole ton to say about it other than some little joke that the Vixy are so popular that you'll make an enemy of the entire world if you bully a Vixy.
#015: Hoocrates
- Purveyor of Wisdom
- Type: Dark
Hoocrates! I like the pun. I also like that this guy looks distinct enough to feel like it's its own thing instead of a straight-up reference to a Pokemon. Hoocrates does remind me of like a Disney character or something, but I can't put my finger as to which one. Hoocrates apparently thinks so much that sometimes he forgets to sleep. He's also our first Dark-type, which is basically an amalgamation of Pokemon's Ghost, Psychic and Dark type.
#016: Teafant
- Adorable Watering Can
- Type: Neutral
A little teapot shaped like an elephant. Or rather, an elephant that behaves like a teapot. I do really like the design of this, where it does look like a novelty porcelain teapot and I appreciate the fun idea of having a small elephant monster. I think this is the second one I find somewhat creative? I like the little description on the Paldeck that debates on whether it shoots water or snot out of its nose. That's funny.
#017: Depresso
- Several Sleepless Nights Later
- Type: Dark
Depresso is one of the 'meme' Pals that I became aware of pretty shortly after the game's release, after the chipmunk-with-a-gun. It's basically an anime cat-person, not too dissimilar to Pokemon's Espurr, but it's just... depressed. Or rather, grouchy. It's got a rather neat emo colour scheme, and of course despite being an emo jerk it's actually kindhearted but will only help people if no one sees it. That alone wouldn't have made Depresso here memorable, but its name is a pun on 'espresso depresso' or whatever it is, and Depresso's special skill is to do 'Caffine Inoculation', where it gorges itself on energy drinks and gains super-speed.
#018: Cremis
- Darling Furball
- Type: Neutral
Another cutie Pokemon, Cremis here is basically an Eevee head glued onto a sheep's body. Based on its description comparing it to Lamball, Cremis is meant to be more sheep than, uh... whatever ambiguous mammal Eevee is? Eh.
#019: Daedream
- Dream Eater
- Type: Dark
Ah, now we're getting somewhere! Daedream has a sick, punny name -- 'daydream' and 'daemon'? Pretty cool! It takes the same basic monster prompt as Drowzee or Munna, being a dream-eating monster, but its design is that of a smirking little sheep-imp with a flowing hair that glitters with stars. It's a pretty fun design overall, and I do find that Daedream's description is pretty cool -- it starts off wholesome, noting that Daedream will put those it likes into sleep, and show them an endless stream of happy dreams. Cute, right? Except those that Daedream afflicts will never wake until they die. At least they die happy, but holy shit!
#020: Rushoar
- Woodland Ruffian
- Type: Ground
Rushoar is a boar that rushes. Not the best pun. It's... it's a boar all right. I don't have much to say. It's Ground-type, and it charges people without thinking. You can ride it. I mean, sure. It sure is a boar.
#021: Nox
- Dusken Aristrocrat
- Type: Neutral
Another Eevee-adjacent creature, though Nox here at least fits the role of something more akin to Umbreon or Absol in being the cool, regal, dark-creature-of-the-night kind of fantasy? Nox's got a magician's cape, too. That thing doesn't look organic. The description is chilling, noting that people are afraid of Nox hair in one's bedding, since that's a 'one-way-ticket to a never ending night'. What does that mean? Is it a metaphor for death? Will Nox curse you like Daedream does? Is it just eternal darkness, but you can walk around and mind your business just fine?
#022: Fuddler
- Underground Explorer
- Type: Ground
Another Ground-type monster, this one is based on a mole. A rather weird-looking mole rabbit, and... I confess the proportions of this one isn't the most interesting to me. Apparently, Fuddler here spends most of its time sharpening its claws that sometimes it spends the entire day doing that. That's nothing special, people get lost in doing a single thing and nothing else all the time.
#023: Killamari
- Emotionless
- Type: Dark
My favourite one out of... well, basically the entire Paldeck, is Killamari. The name itself is already pretty cool, but it's also an adorable squid monster! Look at it. It's like a squid hat, with the two longer capture tentacles looking like those little bands on the side of a hat that you can use to adjust the diameter of the opening. And Killamari's even got a little 'hat' of its own, with the anatomy of a squid's regular body being squashed into that adorable little structure. Those Espurr eyes are just adorable, and the general vibe of this thing is just top-notch cute monster design.
And, of course, the cherry on the top is its gloriously disturbing description. It flies around like a fucking D&D Mind Flayer or Vargouille, wrapping itself around an enemy's head to suck out their insides, leaving being Pal mummies in the world.
#024: Mau
- Noble Glimmer | Serene Glimmer
- Type: Dark (Regular) | Ice (Cryst)
You can almost say that this is an Umbreon ripoff, but you're wrong. Mau here actually rips off a rejected beta Pokemon design, Berurun, as a black cat with a bell on its tail. Except that Mau has a more Egyptian-styled colouration and design to it, I think, and I actually do like the little reinvention. Mau also has with it a somewhat tragic backstory, because it's been overhunted by humans who chop off the poor Mau's tails, which are believed to be symbols of good luck. Poor cats!
Mau also has a Mau Cryst ice variation. It looks neat.
#025: Celaray
- Soaring Skyfish
- Type: Water
Oh, I actually do really like this one. The name, Celeray, is the sort of kinda-forced pun that I really like. But I do like the look of this one, with a face that looks a bit more obviously 'cutesy anime animal' compared to the slightly-more-realistic one that Mantine has. And... yeah, both Celaray and Mantine are both technically flying manta monsters, but flying (or at least breaching) mantas are a perfectly legit monster design prompt. I also really like that Celaray has the impression of being super-fast, and behaves more like some kind of a migratory butterfly that flies around until it finds a mate.
Palworld doesn't really have a 'Flying' or 'Wind' type, and the latter, I feel, would've been so easy to implement and make into a type that helps to distinguish this game a bit more, typing-wise. Oh, Palworld also has 'gliders' similar to Breath of the Wild, and you can use Celeray as a hang-glider... something that Pokemon actually did with its Generation II manga, a Mantine, 20 Remoraids and a billiard stick. No, I'm not joking.
#026: Direhowl
- Hunter of the Steppe
- Type: Neutral
It sure is a black-and-white wolf. This looks like the kind of an 'obviously cool' pet that a RPG would give to you and every high school kid would totally vibe with this. It's not a bad thing! I like black wolves. It's just that 'Direhowl' here has a rather uninspired 'randomly generated D&D orc' name, and is basically a Lycanroc with balck hair dye and all the rocks sanded off. If it was a bit less obviously a Lycanroc clone, I feel like I wouldn't have minded it as much.
It's big enough for you to ride, because mounts are totally a thing in this game, which I actually heartily approve -- it's honestly something that I really wished Pokemon did a lot more. Miraidon's cool and all, but it's rather surprising that we haven't tried to make riding Pokemon something more widely-available with so many larger species out there.
#027: Tocotoco
- Boom or Bust
- Type: Neutral
This 'realistically proportioned' Xatu is... is also meant to be a toucan, I think? It's whole deal is that it lays explosive eggs, which is a perfectly fine gimmick for a monster to have. You can even equip a Tocotoco and use it as what's basically a grenade launcher. Which... really makes me confused why it's patterned after Xatu. I do like the concept, but perhaps not the visuals.
#028: Flopie
- Star of the Flower Beds
- Type: Grass
A cute 'grass fairy' of sorts, and while I'm not too taken about the design of this particular one, I think Pokemon could've done more of these that aren't just straight-up plant creatures. Flopies are floating bunny fairies that kind of float around and go and hang out near vegetation. The pink and green colours are appropriate, evem if they're not the most spectacular. But they're allergic to pollen! They suffer from hay fever! Oh no, poor bunny fairies!
#029: Mozzarina
- Grade-A Beef
- Type: Neutral
It's a fat round cow with anime fangs. I'm not sure why it's named after mozzarella cheese, it produces milk like regular cows. In a bit of a combination of black comedy and lampshade hanging, all Mozzarinas produce milk from udders, regardless of gender. "This mystery may better be left unsolved", says the Paldeck. In addition to probably being a fun little deconstruction, I guess this is so that all Mozzarinas you capture can produce milk and not have half of the species be useless, utility-wise.
#030: Bristla
- Thorny Rose
- Type: Grass
Bristla is the angry version of Bellossom, having exactly the same body layout as the Pokemon but replacing all the petals with thorny vines. She's an angry critter, but apparently are friends with the Cinnamoth species and will smile when Cinnamoth drinks its nectar. These sorts of anthro-plant monster designs have always been kinda m'eh to me even in Pokemon, so I don't really have too mich to say about this one.
#031: Gobfin
- Sea Thug | Volcano Thug
- Type: Water (Regular) | Fire (Ignis)
Kind of a simple but charming design, Gobfin is a tiny, short shark goblin-imp. These guys look like they would be early-game humanoid enemies in an RPG, like Warcraft's Murlocs or Elder Scrolls Oblivion's Goblins. Pretty fun model with a big chunky fanged face, and stubby hands. Apparently, it used to be a powerful aquatic Pal, but years of evolution caused it to migrate on land and the evolution severely reduced its size.
The Gobfin Ignis variant is Fire-type, but there's a cheeky gag here. It gained the Fire typing because walking burns a lot of calories, causing it to awaken fire controlling powers. Okay! Also, I would like to note that while the English localizations just add a suffix to the name, the original Japanese version actually gives separate names to all variants -- "Sharkid" and "Sharkamander" for these two guys, for example.
#032: Hangyu
- Bringer of Luck | Glacial Harbinger
- Type: Ground (Regular) | Ice (Cryst)
Creepy! Definitely not something you can do in Pokemon, but I appreciate that the design for Hangyu looks cute enough until you realize the context. I feel I like this design choice much more, since its not just a 90's edgy monster design that looks out of place. I like my Bloodborne and Resident Evil monsters, but not when they get randomly plonked into a chibi anime game.
Hangyu, as its name implies, is a hangman's noose! The 'hair' is the rope that connects it to the wooden scaffolding, and the two giant long noodle arms aee the noose. Interestingly, Hangyu's arms are super powerful and can rip iron apart, and humans use Hangyu as a more brutal torture-execution method. To quote the game itself: "As a particularly cruel form of execution, serious criminals would be strung up in a public square, and a Hangyu would rip off the skin from their bones." Okay! And it'a Ground type, not Dark type, so it's not even spooky or ghostly. It's just very conveniently shaped.
Hangyu Cryst is an ice version of it, and while I find the design less interesting, the description does talk about how sinners would be tied and have their hair torn out by these Hangyu variants.
#033: Mossanda
- Guardian of the Forest | Inheritor of the Storm
- Type: Grass (Regular) | Electric (Lux)
Kind of Palworld's response to Bewear, no? Big, burly chibi bear with no visible mouth and a giant splotch of colour on the top half? Mossanda is a panda instead of a bear, and it's covered with moss... allegedly. It does admittedly look more like just some green jewels and a poncho. I get that they were going for a far cuter design than the Swamp-Thing-bearman I had in mind when I first saw the name. I actually find this design kinda cute! Not a whole ton to say other than me going over and over about the cuteness of its visual look, but I do like this one.
The Mossanda Lux variant is Electric type, with yellow highlights and a mohawk. I like this one much less than the regular Mossanda.
#034: Woolipop
- Giant Cotton Candy
- Type: Neutral
A candy cake... sheep? Poodle? Ram? An animal of some sort that's based on a dessert. Kinda neat. Apparently, its body is 18 thousand times sweeter than sugar. It uses this as a defense mechanism, causing carnivores that take a bite out of it to pass out from the overwhelming sugary sweetness. Kinda cute, even if we've admittedly had a whole ton of random mammals already, the food theme does kind of make this one stand out a bit.
#035: Caprity
- Walking Farm
- Type: Grass
I feel like he reminds me of Deramon from Digimon. A simple design, a fat goat with a whole-ass shrub on its back. Probably makes it hard for you to spot this one in the overworld. It produces berries naturally, but as a way to attract mates. Kinda neat that they incorporated some quasi-biological reasons for this creature to have evolved a whole shrub on its back.
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Caprity isn't the most exciting Pal to end off this review on, but it's gone on for fairly long enough. I do feel like there's enough variations going on here (as did Temtem and a bunch of other games), but I do think that for Palworld... there's a fair bit too much of actual parodying going on. I think it's all relatively good-natured and the game itself feels different enough... and I honestly do think that the creature collection and battling is hardly the largest part of this game. I do find it fun to talk about this game's bestiary from a lens of "is this parody or ripping off", though hopefully I didn't do too much of it in this review.
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