The non-stop early access life of Palworld is showing no signs of slowing down, with a consistent stream of fresh content greatly expanding the core experience of the game. While the project is still quite far away from achieving its full content ambitions, it seems as if fans always have something to look forward to, and its most recent major update is perhaps one of its most important.
March 19 was one of the most momentous days in Palworld's history, seeing the release of the hotly anticipated 0.5.0 update, which saw some of the most highly demanded absent features finally be added to the title. The accessibility improvements and much wider avenues of gameplay of 0.5.0 are quite revolutionary for what Palworld now offers players, with the game finally looking close to the final product that players are expecting to see in 2025.
Palworld's Communications Director Comments on Switch 2 Port
The Palworld communications director comments on the possibility of a Nintendo Switch 2 port for the popular monster-taming game.
Palworld's 0.5.0 Update Has Some Very Exciting Implications For the Title
Palworld already stands as one of the most shocking success stories in the recent history of the gaming industry, with the title essentially receiving overnight success following its early access launch in January 2024. The presence of Palworld on the Xbox Game Pass service only boosted its immediate popularity, while reaching a staggering concurrent player count of over 2 million on Steam alone, the third-highest figure ever achieved on the platform.
Palworld reportedly sold over 12 million copies on Steam, with estimations suggesting that the game has a playerbase of around 30 million people in total.
The game's immense success has also come with a price, with Palworld's similarities to the Pokemon franchise even leading to a lawsuit being filed by Nintendo, although Pocketpair is still going strong with its post-launch content plans for the title. The March 19 launch of Palworld's 0.5.0 update is a great example of this, with the big change finally introducing global cross-play across all platforms to Palworld.
With how large Palworld's independent communities are on individual platforms, the introduction of complete cross-play is a huge moment for the release. This increased accessibility will likely have a major impact on the title's sense of community. Other than this, the 0.5.0 update to Palworld also introduced the Global Pal Box mechanic, allowing players to directly store the data of their Pals to freely transfer them between worlds. The locking of Pals to specific worlds was a big downside of Palworld's previous state, especially for players wanting to move between worlds when playing with friends; the 0.5.0 update has eliminated the most glaring issue that previously existed with this.
Customization Has Also Received a Huge Boost in Palworld 0.5.0
Pal Storage has received a wider overhaul with the introduction of Dimensional Pal Storage, a brand-new storage system that can hold up to 10 times more Pals than the pre-existing standard storage mechanic. This goes hand-in-hand with the new ability to transfer Pals between worlds, putting more freedom and variety in the player's hands than ever before. Personalization is another aspect of Palworld that has been overhauled with 0.5.0, with the game introducing its own "transmogrification" mechanic that allows players to choose the appearance of armor in the Antique Dresser while maintaining the stats of a completely different armor set.
As an added bonus, players finally have access to a comprehensive Photo Mode in Palworld, allowing fans to experience the game from brand-new angles to get the perfect shot of their most memorable moments. These milestone changes for Palworld have only been complimented by the wide range of UI improvements and bug fixes that were also introduced with the 0.5.0 update, with some major pieces of the project's early access puzzle coming together to paint a much brighter picture of what fans can expect to see when Pocketpair completes its full development ambitions for the game.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 71 /100 Critics Rec: 58%
- Released
- January 19, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Violence
- Developer(s)
- Pocket Pair, Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Pocket Pair, Inc.
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Xbox Series X|S, pc
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Shooter, Survival
