Sometimes, playing Palworld is like listening to Stars on 45. Every few minutes, you'll spot another influence from another game and as soon as you recognise it, you notice something else. The most obvious influence is Pokemon, which is so obvious that Pocketpair are still locked into a patent dispute with Nintendo, but play it for more than a few minutes and you'll be amazed at what else you see.
When I booted up Palworld 1.0 for its first foray out of early access, I was struck by so many of these little bolts of recognition. The starting area, with a ruined church and giant monster that bears a more than passing resemblance to the Tree Sentinel's steed, for instance. If it weren't for the cute little monsters wandering around, you'd be forgiven for assuming you'd booted up Elden Ring (not to mention the game's World Tree that looms over the sizeable map). The menus, the gliding and climbing are all pure The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
