10 beginner’s tips to know before starting Palworld

Palworld is now playable in early access, and despite all of the chatter about it being “Pokémon with guns,” it’s much more than that.

The game is quite similar to Craftopia, the game that Pocketpair made before Palworld. There’s a lot of base-building and automation to set up, but once the ball gets rolling, it becomes more approachable. Palworld’s tutorial is pretty good at setting you up with an idea of what the game is like, but there are still some bits that remain unexplained.

Below, we list a few tips and tricks to get you started in Palworld.

Catch a lot of everything

You’ll keep getting boatloads of experience for each Pal you catch, until you catch 10 of the same species. To be clear, catching your first 10 Foxparks, for instance, will net you lots of experience, but after those initial 10, you won’t get as much anymore.

Even without the bonus experience, each Pal you catch will have different traits, making them valuable for different reasons. One Foxparks you get might have a trait that boosts your attack in battle, whereas another might have one that’s better for helping you around your base.

If you’re worried about flooding your storage with 10 of the same Pal, don’t worry, you can butcher them later on to make room for more.

Don’t stress too much about your base location

If you’re worried about resources, like wood and stone, don’t fret too much, as you’ll eventually get to place stone quarries and logging areas in your base and will pretty much have a limitless amount of the early game resources. You can also move your base, so it’s not a full commitment.

Type advantages are a thing in Palworld, too

Yes, just like other RPGs, you’ll need to make use of type advantages to dish out serious damage. Make sure to pay attention to what type of moves your Pals know and what type that your opposing Pals are. Consult our Palworld type chart to know more about elemental strengths and weaknesses.

Taking down things above your level is very doable, if you plan accordingly

You can totally take down and even catch Pals that are 10 levels above you, with the right planning.

If you see two high-level Pals next to each other, reconsider aggroing them, since two high-level Pals will be much harder to take down than one. Use type advantages. Kite the enemies and juggle aggro between your Pal and yourself. Just go in with a plan first. You’ll especially want to plan for boss fights like Zoe and Grizzbolt.

Pay attention to your Pals’ base skills

Different species of Pals have different specialties. Your water-type Pal may be good at watering crops, but it might also be an expert on transporting goods or logging. You want a wide variety of skills at your base so that they can keep production going while you’re out exploring, so make sure to check the little icons on your Pals’ information screens.

Image: Pocketpair via Polygon

Redeploy your Pals both while exploring and in your base

This isn’t a tip as much as it is a bug fix, but there were plenty of times our Pals got stuck. They would just suddenly become starving while working (despite food being out for them) or vanish from our surroundings. When this happens, withdraw your Pal and redeploy them, whether from their ball or the PC. This will fix and unstick your Pal from whenever they were. Weird.

Different Pals show up during the day and night

It may be tempting to just sleep through your nights, since it’s dark and hard to see, but you should spend a few nights exploring, since different Pals will show up at night. Craft some torches and place them around to nab some of these elusive critters.

Make sure to pick up anything that glows or sparkles

If you see a green glow or a little sparkle on the ground, go get it. The green glowing figures on top of pedestals (Lifmunk Effigies) will increase your Pal catch rate. Sparkling items on the ground can be useful objects, like skill fruit that you can use to teach your Pals specific moves (like Pokémon TMs).

Keep your eyes out for eggs

You may find different types of eggs as you explore around. Pick ‘em up and shove them into an incubator to hatch some more Pals. We were able to get Pals we hadn’t seen in the immediate area quickly thanks to this and variety is always good.

Image: Pocketpair via Polygon

Read the dang survival guide

The tutorial tells you to, but I just know you opened it and then closed it to finish the task. Take a second to skim through it, because there’s stuff in there that doesn’t get explained until you either experience or read it in the guide. For example, did you know that if you hit a friendly NPC you’ll become wanted and chased by cops Grand Theft Auto style? I didn’t, but I would have if I just read that ding dang guide!