The game development industry is running at an all time high, as huge releases continue to roll out month and month as every year seems to push the boundaries and what may be considered as the next huge trend for gaming. These games are just limited to the huge AAA studios either, mobile developers have been finding enormous success with smaller puzzle games and different niches like European casinos and betting sites, indie studios have been pushing the boundaries with exciting new releases rivalling even the biggest names, and solo developers showing how much passion can push a project forward.
It’s one of these smaller indie studios which have taken January by storm, releasing on January 19th of this year, Palworld was able to surpass seven million sales on Steam in just five days, breaking all sorts of records along the way as the game boasted over a million active players during its first weekend and bringing a level of excitement back to gaming. Combining a few different genres with a great twist on its core as a survival type game, and building on the studios previous title of Craftopia, it has managed to pull off something most AAA studios are envious of.
Having been put together in just three years with an extremely modest budget by a team that haven’t worked on a game before much less on the engine the game uses, it displays what passion can do to game development. Not looking to push the envelope with all the bells and whistles, it does the simple things very well and just allows players to have fun. No microtransactions in sight, no battle pass, no optional extras, just a survival game with extra mechanics that allow for creativity and a sandbox experience to boot, and all available at quite a modest price point.
The game certainly isn’t flawless, there are bugs that pop-up here and there and some fixes that need to be made, but with the game technically still in early access that’s all to be expected. Despite these small issues, what the game is able to deliver on for its fundamentals is very impressive all the same.
Some of the articles around the game certainly helped too, pegged as Pokémon with guns, and a huge number of players suggesting it’s the Pokémon game they’ve wanted since the 90’s has certainly helped too by bringing more eyes to the game than what may have been expected, but the game speaks for itself more than anything.
What the game has shown, however, for many fans is just how lazy the huge AAA studios have become, by underdelivering and over promising many of the larger games in the past few years are released in a much worse state than these indie titles whilst at the same time heavily pushing microtransactions and additional purchases. Part of the game’s success will certainly come from a refreshing take on gaming in general where things are a bit simpler.
It’s a big trend with other indie games too, particularly in the survival genre, with other names like Valheim coming a few years prior, solo efforts like Stardew Valley consistently being ranked among the top, and even games that have been around from a smaller team for a while like Terraria constantly delivering on more whilst asking for less. Palworld shows a trend in gaming that many would love to see return, fun for funs sake.
