Nexon's medieval fantasy brawler Warhaven is shutting down on April 5, 2024, just six months after it launched on Steam in Early Access.
18.01.2024 - 17:09 / ign.com
Nothing about what Palworld attempts to do seems like it should work in the slightest. A thinly veiled Pokémon clone where you and your collectible monsters shoot people in the face with literal guns? A base building survival game where you use your kidnapped creatures as laborers, and are then forced to cook and eat those unpaid employees when times get tough? An open-world co-op adventure where you and your friends thwack helpless sheep over the head with a baseball bat to harvest their wool? Defying the odds, this wholly irreverent, gun-toting take on the creature collection genre has proven unrelentingly fun for the 15 hours I’ve binged so far. Its survival mechanics are intuitive and deep, its action-packed combat is silly and satisfying, and exploring the world in search of new Pals to kick the snot out of hasn’t come close to getting old – all of which is even more impressive considering this is just its Early Access release. I am baffled to report, dear reader, that Palworld is very good.
Despite the clear, eyebrow-raising inspiration it takes from a certain creature collecting powerhouse, Palworld more closely resembles a formulaic survival game like Grounded, with a roster of lovable monsters to capture as a clever twist on that formula. You find yourself inexplicably dropped into the wilderness of a strange land filled with oversized, dangerous beasts called Pals. From there you’ll need to build a base, hilariously force the local fauna into your servitude, and upgrade your gear to wage war against the rotten members of the Syndicate who try to murder you with assault weapons every chance they get. You won’t find yourself hanging out in idyllic towns or challenging gym leaders to friendly contests – this isn’t that kind of adventure (unless it has a very stark change of tone later on). Instead, your goal is to survive the harsh land and face off against evil and/or psychotic Pal trainers who raze villages, attack your base, and command foreboding towers and dungeons filled with goons who shoot to kill.
And yeah, tonally, that’s an utterly unhinged combination. One moment I was taking in pastoral views as I explored for new Pals, gliding, climbing, crafting, and cooking like this was an off-brand Tears of the Kingdom. The next moment I was firing guns at armed thugs and considering the possibility of butchering a Pal who had been mentally broken by the poor working conditions of my sweatshop so I could consume his meat to avoid starvation. Rather than not addressing the questionable aspects of the creature collecting genre, Palworld amusingly leans into them and lets you do absurd things like pick up your fiery fox Pal and use it as a flamethrower to burn your enemies to a crisp, or equip
Nexon's medieval fantasy brawler Warhaven is shutting down on April 5, 2024, just six months after it launched on Steam in Early Access.
Open-world survival crafting adventure game Omega Crafter will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on March 28, developer Preferred Netwroks announced. A limited-time public demo will be available from today until February 13.
Note: This review is specifically for the version of Palworld available on Xbox and through the Microsoft Store on PC . If you haven’t seen our review of the Steam version , go check that out first! Nearly everything we said there still applies to this review, which will instead focus specifically on what’s different with this version.
It’s been a reasonably long time since a game latched onto my innermost sense of childlike wonder – that is, until I lost 30 hours of my week building a fortress town in Enshrouded’s meadows before I even started its main quest. This action-RPG survival sim draws a mish-mash of inspirations from games like Valheim, Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and all those ideas come together in a way that’s already engrossing at its Early Access launch. Its gob-smackingly gorgeous high-fantasy art style, vast open world, intelligent crafting systems, seemingly limitless base building, and satisfying character customization are impressive, but also marred by a few bugs – both literal and figurative – a lackluster story filled with decent-at-best puzzle design, and clunky action combat that’s off to a middling start. And yet, across 62 hours soaking in its rustic fantasy charm, it was easy to forgive those hitches and gleefully get lost in its depths with a friend.
Skateboarding roguelite action game Helskate will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on February 15, developer Phantom Coast announced.
Total sales for the Steam version of open-world survival crafting game Palworld have surpassed eight million units in less than six days after its Early Access launch, developer Pocket Pair announced.
For some time now, fans of survival games have had their eye on Enshrouded, the new game from the makers of Portal Knights that’s a little bit Zelda, and more than a little bit Valheim. Well, following a Steam Next Fest demo, Enshrouded has officially launched via Steam Early Access. You can check out an Early Access launch trailer, below.
Keen Games’ Enshrouded is out now on PC via Steam Early Access. The survival crafting title features base-building and action RPG mechanics as players explore the world of Embervale and attempt to push back against the terrifying Shroud. Check out the release trailer below.
Enshrouded is an interesting title that has been hovering on my radar since it was first announced. The action survival RPG from Keen Games, Enshrouded, aims to slot itself right in amongst others in the survival MMO genre, taking cues from games such as Minecraft, Valheim, and more. It offers enough, though, to shake up the formula and make Enshrouded feel wholly distinct and, at times, even better than some of its predecessors.
Pocketpair has revealed the early access content roadmap for Palworld,confirming what players can expect in future updates.
Total sales for open-world survival crafting game Palworld have surpassed seven million units in only five days after its Early Access launch, developer Pocket Pair announced. (Update 1:40 a.m.: According to Geoff Keighley, Pocket Pair has confirmed that these sales numbers are Steam only, and do not include Xbox, Microsoft Store for PC, or Game Pass numbers.)
Note: This review is specifically of the PC version of Palworld available through Steam. Because the Xbox version and the PC version available via the Microsoft Store (both on Game Pass) has significantly more issues and different features , which the developer says is due to the certification process, we will post a separate review of that version later this week.