Palworld lager en datingsimmer, mer enn bare venner, på ekte denne gangen

If you were around last April Fool's Day, you probably remember the wild moment when Palworld teased a dating sim expansion called “More Than Just Pals.” Naturally, we all thought it was a joke — a funny one, but a joke nonetheless. Fast forward a year, though, and guess what? It’s real, and they’re not messing around. In fact, More Than Just Pals is now officially in development, and you can even wishlist it on Steam as of now.

So, what’s going on here? Why would Palworld, the game that made waves with its bizarre mix of monster collection and guns, pivot to this new and admittedly weird dating sim concept? Well, it’s simple. The game’s creators, PocketPair, noticed that their community was really into the idea of making this a reality. And apparently, they decided to roll with it.

A Trailer Full of Shock and Confusion

A day before April Fool's this year, PocketPair dropped the More Than Just Pals trailer, and let's just say... it’s something. It features all the weirdness you’d expect from Palworld, including moments where you, the player, get to interact in bizarrely intimate ways with both human characters and the Pals from the game.

For example, there’s a scene where you’re casually staring at a nurse’s chest (yes, you read that right), patting a female Chillet on the head (adorable but a bit strange), and even a jealous Splatterina threatening to murder you if you get too close to her. It’s like the developers took all the quirky charm of the original game and cranked it up to 11.

As if that wasn’t enough, they’re also holding a special competition where you can win a Lovander body pillow. If you don’t know who Lovander is, well, she’s the Pal character who’s essentially been the poster child for this whole dating-sim idea. And yes, they’re leaning into that full force.

Palworld: What Is It, Exactly?

Now, for those of you who might have missed it or are just catching up, here’s a quick primer on Palworld itself because the dating sim isn’t the only weird thing about this game.

Palworld is an action-adventure survival game with a twist — it’s all about capturing and bonding with creatures called Pals. Think of them as a cross between Pokémon and the wildest parts of survival games. You catch these creatures, use them to help you build bases, fight enemies, gather resources, and even, uh, sometimes use them for food or labor. Yup, the game leans hard into its satirical premise.

The game’s world is an open-world paradise filled with all kinds of bizarre creatures, each of which you can capture and train for your own purposes. Some might be great for combat, others could assist with base-building, and some are just there for the odd moments of humor that the game is known for. You’ll need to manage hunger, craft tools, and fight bosses from different factions that have taken control of parts of the world.

The game’s tone is all over the place, but it works. It’s been dubbed “Pokémon with guns” due to the fact that you can equip your Pals with actual firearms. And while the gameplay offers typical survival mechanics (like building bases and managing resources), there’s also the unique twist of Pals being more than just pets. You’ll see them doing everything from scavenging to working in factories to actually fighting back against enemies.

How Big Is Palworld, Anyway?

Since its release in early access in 2024, Palworld has taken the gaming world by storm. It sold eight million copies in just its first six days on the market and racked up over two million concurrent players on Steam, making it one of the most-played games on the platform.

It’s not just popular for its gameplay, but for the way it blends humor, chaos, and dark satire into a weirdly enjoyable experience. The game’s mechanics are a bit of a love letter to survival games like Rust, with heavy inspiration from Ark: Survival Evolved, but the addition of capturing and using creatures as companions is a clear nod to Pokémon.

The Development Behind the Madness

Palworld is the second major project from PocketPair, the independent Japanese studio behind the game. It’s their follow-up to Craftopia, another open-world survival game that was met with mixed reviews. But with Palworld, PocketPair managed to step things up, creating a game with much more unique assets and a larger world.

While the game was originally planned for a 2022 release, it was delayed multiple times as the scope grew. The company switched from Unity to Unreal Engine 4 to handle the world-building, and the project became much larger than originally anticipated. But despite all the hiccups, the game has exceeded expectations, both in terms of player reception and sales numbers.

The Legal Drama and Pokémon Allegations

But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for PocketPair. Shortly after the game’s release, Palworld was hit with allegations of plagiarism, specifically regarding the designs of its Pals, which some players claimed looked too similar to Pokémon creatures. While these allegations were dismissed by PocketPair’s CEO (who noted that the designs were created by a team of illustrators), the situation escalated when The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against them, citing patent infringement.

As of early 2025, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are still embroiled in a legal battle with PocketPair, which has caused some public tension. Still, despite the legal troubles, Palworld continues to thrive, and PocketPair is clearly committed to seeing the game evolve.

So, Is More Than Just Pals Going to Be Weird or Wonderful?

With all this chaos in the background, it's hard to say exactly where More Than Just Pals will go. Will it be just another oddball addition to the Palworld universe, or could this dating sim concept actually push the boundaries of what we expect from games?

We’ll have to wait and see how far PocketPair takes this bizarre idea, but one thing’s for sure: It’s definitely going to be a wild ride. Who knows? Maybe this will be the next weird, beloved corner of gaming that we didn’t know we needed.

So, if you're curious about this strange new addition to the Palworld universe, you can head over to Steam and wish-list More Than Just Pals right now. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you about how weird it’s going to be.