WTF

Pokémon with guns?! Wild new trailer reveals the truth about Palworld

Let’s take a closer look...

by Robin Bea
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Pocketpair

Pokémon Legends: Arceus lets players roam an open world filled with Pokémon for the first time. But what if you could do more?

Nintendo

Pocketpair

Wouldn’t it be great if you could run a farm with your monster pals or explore the world together?

On second thought...
Pocketpair

Pocketpair

If this is the first time you’re seeing it, welcome to Palworld. The Pokémon-inspired open-world game was introduced in 2021 with an inscrutable trailer that certainly left an impression.

Now it’s back with a new gameplay trailer that, if nothing else, proves the first one wasn’t just a fever dream.

Pocketpair

Pocketpair

Palworld wastes no time here. In the very first scene, our hero is threatening a sheep with an assault rifle.

A bow fits Palworld’s aesthetic better than a gun, but the way this deer ragdolls into the distance probably isn’t meant to be this funny. Or is it? I honestly can’t tell.

Pocketpair

Pelting these cuddly dinos with a shotgun is undeniably strange, but the deer Pal’s laser blast somehow seems even more violent.

Pocketpair

The new trailer ends with a boss battle against not-Lucario, with the protagonist riding a Pal like a mech, which of course has its own machine gun.

Pocketpair

The trailer isn’t all bizarre gunplay, though. There’s also a quick glimpse at how you’ll be able to manage your Pals and even get them to craft.

And as strange as that boss fight is, it still looks pretty fun — especially being able to deploy your Pals mid-battle for backup.

Pocketpair

Pocketpair

Maybe coolest of all — and certainly most in the spirit of Pokémon — is the ability to actually fly around the world with the help of your Pals.

Pocketpair

Of course, a previous trailer also showed Pals being experimented on and forced to build guns, so it won’t be quite the same carefree adventure as Pokémon.

Developer Pocketpair says Palworld is due out in 2022 on PC.

What it will actually be like to play is still anyone’s guess.

Pocketpair