Is Palworld actually any good? Of course not

You might have heard about it. Palworld is utterly gigantic, the first big mega-hit of 2024, and potentially the biggest game we'll get all year, at least in terms of sheer popularity and players. And certainly in terms of the controversy and conversation around it at launch.

If you're yet to hop on board and wondering about what you're missing, you can relax. Palworld is big and controversial; it is also absolute rubbish. It's primitive and derivative, a game that appears at first glance almost to be completely fake - the type of thing quickly mocked up for a three-second appearance on a teen's PC monitor in the background of a mid-budget TV drama. A game to be played one-handed with an N64 controller by Tony Soprano - although honestly I think even he'd deserve better.

It's difficult to know where to begin with games like this - how do you break this down into its constituent problems when they're eclipsed by its very nature as a cynical, precision reverse-engineered machine, designed to bottle your attention and refine it into concentrated cash?

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