Pokemon With Guns Is Real And It Releases Very Soon
A game that is essentially “What if Pokemon, but with guns?” is launching soon in early access. A new trailer for Palworld—what, was Firearm Friends taken?—was just released, promising a January 19 debut for the bullet-toting buddies.
Palworld released its first trailer in 2021 and immediately caught the attention of gamers everywhere for its interesting premise. Adorable Pokemon-like critters called Pals roam around packing real-world heat, just waiting to be exploited by the player. Palworld offers the same gameplay as Pokemon—enslave the Pals and make them fight for your own amusement—plus much more.
The creators of Palworld announced that their version of Pikachu with pistols will also be coming to Xbox’s Game Pass the same day.
Players will be able to hunt, battle, cook, eat, and even exploit the kawaii Pals for cheap labor. One sentence from the game’s Steam page literally says, “Build a factory, place a Pal in it, and they’ll keep working as long as they’re fed—until they’re dead, that is.” Maybe they should have called the game Capitalism Simulator 2024?
Whether or not Palworld will turn out to be a smart satire of Pokemon or just an edge lord power fantasy remains to be seen. Along with the creature catching, the game features survival and crafting elements as well. In fact, the need to survive is one of the elements that can lead a player to turn their Pal into dinner.
The trailer, released January 9, confirms that the early access version of Palworld will be available for PC via Steam when it launches January 19. In addition, the creators of Palworld announced that their version of Pikachu with pistols will also be coming to Xbox’s Game Pass the same day.
Palworld offers the same gameplay as Pokemon—enslave the Pals and make them fight for your own amusement—plus much more.
As the trailer suggests, the Pals are every bit as cute and cuddly as Pokemon, making the fact that you can blow their brains out a little unnerving. The juxtaposition of cute and violent is nothing new, of course. One need only hop on Etsy to observe countless stickers and charms depicting cute characters like Kirby holding guns or knives.
That goes for several of the more cuddly Pokemon as well.
While the ability to arm Squishmallows with rocket launchers will no doubt be Palworld‘s biggest draw, it’s hardly all the game has going for it. The game will feature base building, resource management, crafting, dungeons, enemy factions, Pals you can ride, and even humongous Pal bosses to fight. And, of course, because it’s 2024, the game will also have a multiplayer element.
“Build a factory, place a Pal in it, and they’ll keep working as long as they’re fed—until they’re dead, that is.”
Palworld will support 32 players at the start with plans to add PvP options at a later date. PocketPair, the studio behind Palworld, has also vowed to add more Pals to the game at some point after the initial launch. Rest assured, the game will still have plenty of creature variety coming out of the gate.
According to the developers, Palworld will launch with over 100 creatures, 350 different items, and more than 70 kinds of buildings—all spread out across a vast open world. Even during early access, there will be plenty to do in Palworld.
Palworld launches on January 19 for PC and Xbox.
