One of the things I genuinely like about Palworld is how it's created a weird intersection between classic Pokémon-style mechanics and harebrained survival game nonsense—as is the case with this recent kill by the Video Gamers Podcast on Twitter.
Spotted by GamesRadar, this kill of Mammorest—a huge boss-level pal that stomps around the game's starting area—taps into something primal. There was a time where, to get a good meal, you had to gather a few of your mates with some spears and hunt something big and woolly. That's exactly what's happened here.
Some requested Palworld gameplay. This boss was WAY higher level then us, we were only doing 1 dmg per hit. He was vulnerable to fire though, so we had a thought.... what if we had 20 campfires around when we fought him?This is the result of that crazy idea. pic.twitter.com/HumXnK1FvJJanuary 22, 2024
The Video Gamers Podcast's campfire trap works for two reasons—firstly, campfires are super cheap to make. Secondly, Mammorest is a grass-element pal which gives it a weakness to fire. Not just fire-element pals, but all fire. Typically, the game wants you to craft fire bows and fire arrows to get this same effect—but both of those things are expensive. A campfire, though? Cheap as chips.
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That makes this strategy genuinely viable, especially since status effects appear to deal damage based on a percent of a bosses' health. Palworld's official Twitter account even retweeted the video, writing: "You guys came up with a genius way to fight Mammorest!" Which hopefully signals that this isn't some unintended exploit that'll get patched out—rather, it's the kind of 4D chess Pocketpair is trying to encourage.
I don't think Palworld will set the world on fire forever, but this is a neat proof-of-concept for its main thrust. As I understand it, a Pokémon's typing only really ever comes up in battle. It's a rock-paper-scissors mechanic, and little else—but if you expand that idea to a survival game, well, it's pretty easy to set some logs ablaze. It's a nice alternative to running in circles in some tall grass to get your Pokémon all maxed out.
It's also just satisfying to watch in a caveman-brained way. One of the reasons we have any technology at all in the first place is because we started getting crafty about our food—felling megafauna with pack tactics and sharp objects in large groups. We've come full circle. The power of humanity's mastery over fire reigns eternal.
