The concept is SUPER cool but falls so flat. As a story, it's pretty alright and I'm sure it gets fleshed out much more in the book. As a game? Kinda sucked. The shooting in this game sucked really bad, despite you moving forward in time through newer "fps" style games, the handling of the guns doesn't improve with the games of that time. I thought everyone else was being harsh towards the game when reading up on it but playing it feels like a waste of time in hindsight now that I've finished it. If you want to know the story, just read the book it's based off of.

There's a lot to like and a lot to dislike about this. I feel like it's not a strict upgrade of Legends: Arceus like people are saying. It feels more like a side step. Arceus was meant to feel empty, this game isn't supposed to yet it feels just as vapid. You can take on anything in any order, yet there's definitely an order since there's no level scaling. So many good ideas that fall somewhat flat. That being said I love the new mons, the new Pokedex, and the rivals. They're all characters I enjoyed interacting with throughout the playthrough. The ending is also EXTREMELY strong. Crazy ending, crazy final boss. Unfortunately I can't let that detract from all the short comings I experienced throughout the bulk of my time with this game. Frame drops, terrible graphics, un-inspired non-linearity, lack of personality. Wish the strength this game showed me in the last hour was present through all of it. If I could give halves it would be a 6.5/10 but since I can't, I just can't see it as a 7. Too many issues, but I still had my fun with it.

I'm giving this a 6/10 based on me being a Pokemon and Digimon fan that is saddened by the lack of meaningful progression that GameFreak/Nintendo and Bandai Namco have given to the IP's this game pulls directly from. There is CLEARLY a market that both companies are failing to tap in to. I'm glad that Palworld exists to bring that into the spotlight.
(This is not a statement piece. I'm having a TON of legitimate fun with this game despite the glaring shortcomings. I'm also surprised that this is much more polished than what I was expecting.)

Great sequel! The dialogue is much cringier than the 1st but it locks-in just about halfway through. The mini-games in this one are MUCH worse. They take much longer to complete than the original ones, meaning you're taken away from the story for that much longer. Also, not a big fan of the 2D map, though I understand it was due to hardware limitations. Despite all that it takes such a great step towards the larger story, and some of the character arcs are so potent, that I'd say this entry is just as good as the first.