Palworld was announced and has been in development since 2021, and thanks to a switch in development software early on, from Unity to Unreal Engine 4, the game has undergone huge changes since the release of the original announcement trailers and early additional trailers.
While acknowledging that UE4 would be a better choice for the development of Palworld, Pocketpair had no previous experience with the engine and had to scale back its plans in order to get the game released, albeit a little late from the original 2022 planned release date.
At the time of writing, Palworld is stated to be about 60% complete, so there are a lot of planned additions to come. From the mini-Roadmap released last month, we know that PvP is on the way, as well as new Pals, bosses, and raids. However, there are other things from early trainers that we have yet to receive, so let’s take a look at things that might be coming at some point in the (hopefully not too distant) future.
Original Palworld announcement trailer
1 Vastly different building mechanics
We’ve all gained vast experience of the building system currently implemented within Palworld, but none of those even come close to the one that was shown during the original announcement trailer.
With a Pengullet building system that appears to result in the above-pictured small cottage, I suddenly feel hard done by with my cuboid stone structures.
2 Farming mechanics
The original announcement trailer showed so many farming mechanics that appear to be entirely missing from the current iteration of Palworld.
From having to physically shear Lamball for their wool to herds of Mozzarina equipped with plows, and even the Plantations appear to have replaced much more attractive-looking allotments – there are a lot of farming changes that have happened since this original trailer was released in 2021.
3 Direhowl pulled cart
Although we’re not shown how this cart would work, we are shown that multiple Direhowls could be used to pull it along. There is potential for this to have been used as a transportation system, which could have allowed players to transport far more items than they currently can with the weight capacity limitations.
4 Breeding interface
Breeding is currently a hot topic within the Palworld community, with players going above and beyond to breed the perfect, most optimized Pals. Within the announcement trailer, we’re shown an interface that puts the current Breeding Farm to shame.
5 Fishing with Jolthog
I know I’m not alone in noticing that Palworld appears to be missing one thing that seems to be in almost every other game — fishing.
In the original release trailer, there is a clip of the player attaching Jolthog to a fishing line and flinging it into the water, where it casts electricity, and the result is multiple floating Water-type Pals.
6 Direhowl belly rubs
I know this is a small thing, but who doesn’t want to pet the doggy?
Currently, we can pet our Pals, but the interaction is the same for all Pals regardless of species or size, something that can get repetitive very quickly.
7 Sniper rifle with scope
We’ve all been there, adventuring in the wild, and in the distance, there’s a Pal that we either haven’t got, or we need to take down in order to get meat for cooking. The problem is, as soon as you get close enough to do any damage, the Pal runs off, and you’re then forced to chase after it before you can kill or capture it.
The original announcement trailer shows that hunting was originally aided by a sniper rifle, complete with scope, that would allow players to hunt from a distance.
Future Games Show 2022 trailer
8 Dragostrophe
Boasting the title of “Lord of the Darkness,” Dragostrophe is a Dragon and Dark dual-type Pal that we’ve not encountered as of yet, though it has been found within the game’s files. Weirdly, the Pal’s description is almost identical to that of Astegon:
“A silent beast born of the abyss. Thou shall not stand before the beast. Thou shall not heed the beast.”
The fact that this Pal is in the game files is promising as it means we’re likely to see its addition into the game at some point, although, of course, we don’t know when.
9 Story-based interaction with NPCs
I’m purely guessing that the interaction with NPCs shown in the third released trailer is story-based, however that’s how I interpret this moment.
If there’s one thing that is sorely lacking within Palworld at the moment, it’s some kind of solid storyline. Of course, we have the Tower Boss Duos and the Journal Entries to keep us entertained, but there seems to be no linear lore that has been confirmed. Hopefully this is something that comes with time and is hidden within the final 40% of the game that we’re still yet to see.