Palworld has taken off since its early access release on January 19, setting new sales records. The survival shooter allows you to catch Pokémon-like creatures, equip them with firearms, and even use them for food. Meanwhile, there are also statements from the well-known animal rights organization PETA.
Why is there a statement about Palworld from an animal rights organization? Palworld is a survival shooter in which you apparently start a new life on an island after being shipwrecked. The creatures living there, known as Pals, can be caught and made to fight for you.
In Palworld, however, you can also make your Pals work for you in your camp, give the cute creatures firearms, and process them into food.
The animal rights organization PETA has been criticizing Nintendo and the Pokémon games since 2012 for practices such as catching and making the pocket monsters fight. Accordingly, a statement from them regarding a similar game like Palworld is expected.
What does PETA say about Palworld? The animal rights organization PETA commented via X.com (formerly Twitter) with a statement and a video about Palworld. In it, they write: We have always seen ourselves as experts in Pokémon parodies, but Palworld has taken the genre to new lows. Palworld makes Team Rocket look like the good guys.
You can view the original post and the video here:
The colleagues from Dot Esports also requested a statement from the organization. It seems that the firearms aspect of Palworld was not even mentioned.
Instead, PETA Vice President Elisa Allen talked about how she had heard from many fans who did not want to eat their Pals. They were very interested in a guide on how to play the game vegan: After all, it’s Veganuary.
What is Veganuary?
Veganuary
is made up of the two words vegan
and January
, which refers to an annual event where people voluntarily switch their diet completely to vegan, meaning free from animal products of all kinds. The period for this is the month of January.
Is it possible to choose a pacifist or even vegan route in Palworld? Choosing a vegan or pacifist route in Palworld is partly possible but difficult: Consuming or using Pal products is an essential part of the game mechanics.
It is possible to fully nourish your character with berries and bread. Accordingly, you can do without meat or even eggs from Pals. However, Pals also drop resources like wool, which are fundamentally important for crafting certain items like armor.
It is still unclear whether it is generally possible to get through the game without killing. There are also human opponents who confront you with firearms. This could be avoided by trapping living but weakened enemies in Palspheres. Whether this tactic works is questionable.
In general: If you want to catch wild Pals, for example, and not kill them, make sure not to have a already tamed Pal wandering around with you: Pals that belong to you will automatically jump into attack mode when you start fighting another Pal. This could cause the target Pal to die before you can trap it in a Palsphere.
If you’re currently exploring Palworld, there is a bug you should definitely watch out for: The developers of Palworld warn of a bug from which there is “No Return” – Avoid an item
