Palworld was released during the wee hours today, and within eight hours, it was purchased over one million times.
The game went live on Steam this morning at 3am ET, and players jumped in immediately. As of press time, there are 344,662 concurrent players, with the high today (so far) reaching 370,128. With so many folks hopping online to play the Early Access game, it’s no wonder the servers smoked a bit.
According to the game’s developer, Pocketpair, due to the large number of concurrent players, the servers became unstable, causing some players to experience connection issues. Hopefully, these issues were sorted, but it’s something to keep in mind should more people log in once the workday ends.
If you are unfamiliar with Palworld, the game has you living alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals. There are over 100 unique Pals you can catch, each equipped with a set of skills to enhance your adventure. There are strong boss Pals to encounter in the world, which can also be captured.
In the game, you can peacefully coexist with Pals and use them to fight, work on farms or in factories, and you can even sell or eat them (poor critters). The environment is rather harsh, and food is scarce. Vicious poachers also roam the countryside, and other dangers wait around every corner. To survive, you must be careful and make difficult choices – even if that means eating your Pals.
To get around the world, you can use some Pals as mounts to traverse the land, sea, and sky. If you want to build, form a construction crew filled with Pals. Your critter friends can also make fire, produce electricity, and work in mines. Some are even proficient in farming, with certain Pals best at planting and others at watering or harvesting. Pals will keep working for you – as long as you keep feeding them (or until they’re dead).
There’s a breeding program, sanctuaries where you can catch rare Pals, and more ways to acquire the critters.
Palworld features multiplayer, allowing you to adventure with or battle other players, and you can trade Pals, too. In online co-op, up to four players can play together, and a dedicated server can host up to 32 players.
PvP will be implemented in a future update, and the maximum number of players playable on the same server will increase in a future update.
If you are considering grabbing the game for yourself, be sure to check out Kelsey’s Palworld Early Access review beforehand. Already playing and need a bit of help? We have you covered with quite a few guides to get you started. Here’s a Palworld-type chart that lists strengths and weaknesses, this guide teaches you how to ride Pals, and you can find even more guides through our Palworld hub.