At a time where Game Freak repeatedly showed me that I have no reason to expect them to make good games again - a time that made me question why I ever liked Pokemon - Palworld came along and relit the fire I used to feel when playing Pokemon. Despite being the funny "Pokemon with guns" game, it has so many things I always wanted Pokemon to have for the longest time. More ways to interact with them, a life outside of battle and minigames, having them be an actual part of daily life. It's so much fun.
The fact that this early access game did all that and Game Freak still can't be assed is honestly embarrassing. But then again, I guess GF doesn't have to try.
Do wish there were more actual cities/towns, but that can still come.

After sincerely giving Palworld several honest and very fair attempts to impress me with something, I just have to finally drop the game and admit that it's not my kind of game. I've grown so tired of the monotony of these survival crafting games, and every single one of them has exactly the same game loop ad nauseum. I've played this game approximately seven times previously, but this is just the first one that has Walmart brand Pokemon in it. I want to also go on record and say that the cartoonish elements of the Pals and humans really feel jarring when placed into the semi-realistic environments that the game world provides, to the extent where the entire time I personally suffer from a severe disconnect preventing me from becoming immersed. It would be much more appealing to see a more stylized and interesting environment, but the area is just generic forests and hills, very very uninspired.