When Xbox landed Palworld as a timed exclusive a couple of years back, it was hard to envision what might come next.
Palworld absolutely blew up during its launch period, breaking records for Steam concurrency and showcasing ID@Xbox's capacity for picking up bangers. Palworld captured the imagination of millions of gamers who grew up playing Pokémon, and wanted to see the genre produce something different.
Palworld remains popular on PC, Xbox, and now PlayStation 5, despite attempts by Pokémon owner Nintendo to hinder its progress. Palworld's "Pals" are analogous to Pokémon, despite the actual game skirting more towards survival and base building gameplay than your standard RPG. It was hardly as if Nintendo invented cute battling animals, though.
In any case, Nintendo has asserted that it owns the rights to any game that features cute animals fighting each other in Japanese courts. Nintendo seemingly was unhappy with the comparisons, and the popular comparisons calling it "Pokemon with guns." Nintendo has since been fighting to litigate Palworld out of existence based on a variety of spurious claims.
Developer Pocketpair has been undeterred, though, and has today announced another new game that will probably also upset Nintendo.
Announced today during the Tokyo Game Show festivities, Palworld's new "Palfarm" is a cozy life sim, where you build up a homestead and farm crops within the Palworld universe. You can use Pals to tend to crops and other tasks on your farm, which includes defending it from AK47-wielding monkeys and other potential threats. It comes hot on the heels of Nintendo's own Pokémon life sim spin off, Pokopia, although Pocketpair says Palfarm has been in development for over a year with an all-new team.
Taking cues from the likes of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, you will be able to engage in daily conversations with Pals and island residents, complete with dating sim elements atop multiplayer gameplay.
Ladies and Gentlemen... Palfarm!" Pocketpair community lead Bucky said on X, "Palfarm is a Palworld spin-off about living a cosy life with your Pals! Actually, we've been working on this for over a year now and are SUPER excited to finally reveal it to you all! Please consider wishlisting on Steam!"
Indeed, unfortunately, Palfarm is only listed for a Steam release as of writing. However, there's no reason to think it won't eventually make its way to Xbox and PlayStation in the future.
"Shortly after the release of Palworld, we received so much feedback from our fans about Palworld and things they would like to see in future," the game's Steam listing says. "One thing that many players requested was a more relaxing and cosy adventure, and after thinking it over for a few months the idea of Palfarm was born!
Developed by a new team, Palfarm aims to show a more peaceful and cosy side of Palworld.
Move to an island where the Pals live, work together to till the fields, cook, craft, and build the farm of your dreams."
Some have criticized Pocketpair for releasing yet another game in early access, while Palworld and previous game Craftopia remain in the program. Craftopia in particular languishes on "mixed" reviews on Steam, as hopeful fans lament the game's apparent side-lining following Palworld's success. Palworld is aiming to hit 1.0 in 2026, however, despite having to rework aspects of the game to avoid Nintendo's wrath.
It's a shame that Xbox didn't manage to land this one at launch, as it looks rather charming. Pocketpair isn't exactly a huge mega publisher, but you have to wonder if it's biting off more than it can chew across multiple projects. Hopefully when Palfarm is done, we can see it join Palworld in Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming too when the time comes.
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