Let's be honest, if Pokémon were real today, we'd have Pikachu power stations, Poliwraths flushing fatbergs from our sewers, Piplups cleaning crime scenes, and a rentable Chansey subscription service from healthcare providers. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but even the premise the games present—that we'd primarily just make them fight each other for sport—seems optimistic, a beautiful lie that we accept because we can't resist collecting things. Palworld is a take on Pokémon that truly accepts our brokenness, and its smash success has perhaps proved quite how steeped in sin we all really are.
Palworld has exploded across the internet like a self-destructing Electrode, and the shockwaves of its arrival are sparking a lot of debate. From shaky accusations about the use of generative AI and model copying, to heated arguments about its similarities to Pokémon overall, it's certainly getting people talking. One of the things the two series definitely have in common is that they both have, at their core, pretty disturbing premises—but at least Palworld doesn't pretend it doesn't.
