I struggle to love these little beasts

Palworld is a monster catcher and survival game that feels mildly off. The cute, round and friendly designs of the Pals you encounter don't really fit with the more organic and natural environments. It's a jarring sensation that I could get past pretty easily, except for a dissonance more insidious than the original visual: Despite playing a monster-catching game, I found myself actively loathing my buddies. It's a bit of a problem that in a game called, well, Palworld, maintaining a group of Pals is the least interesting thing.

Even though Palworld's meme is "Pokémon with guns," and enslaving your friends for industrial-level manufacturing is a main mechanic, the game takes its time building up to that absurdity. Your character wakes up on a beach, surrounded by curious friends who scatter as you climb to your feet. This is a genuinely endearing moment – but the rest of the game discouraged me from forming any real emotional attachment.

It takes some time to start getting Pals; you have to engage in the time-honored survival game tradition of chopping down trees and picking up rocks until you can build a humble base. Only then can you engage in capturing Pals and forming a small battle team. And this is where the problems begin. Your first friends will be small animals, like the bouncy Lamball and the fiery Foxparks. They are cute, but not very interesting. In fact, with all the one-note noises they make, they can be downright annoying.