Memories broken
The truth goes unspoken
I’ve even forgotten my name

I don’t know the season
Or what is the reason
I'm standing here holding my blade

A desolate place (place)
Without any trace (trace)
It’s only the cold wind I feel

It’s me that I spite
As I stand up and fight
The only thing I know for real

There will be blood-shed
The man in the mirror nods his head
The only one left
Will ride upon the dragon’s back

Because the mountains don’t give back what they take
Oh, no, there will be blood-shed
It’s the only thing I’ve ever known

Losing my identity
Wondering: Have I gone insane?
To find the truth in front of me

I must climb this mountain range
Looking downward from this deadly height
And never realizing why I fight

Are we so gullible? Do we as an audience not demand anything from our art? There's no story, no new mechanics, no real characters, no interesting or enjoyable visuals, no compelling gameplay, no original ideas at all in fact. Is a faceless strawman to antagonise really enough to get millions of people to play an Unreal Engine asset flip made as artlessly as possible? Is no one else actively disturbed by how blatantly and gracelessly this rips mechanics from every popular game of the last 2 decades, without integrating any of them together whatsoever? Has art ever felt this cynical before?

Feel free to discount my opinion. I am a 'salty Pokemon fanboy' after all, and I only gave this game an hour or so of my not particularly highly valued time. I personally just prefer the art I engage with to care for the art form it sits within, even a little bit. Palworld hates video games. It sees nothing more within them than a collection of things to do and hopes that by shovelling a flaccid farcical version of as many of them as possible into your mouth it will somehow constitute a 'video game' when all is said and done. It doesn't. I'm deeply saddened that so many gamers think so lowly of our art form that they genuinely think this is acceptable.