All Of Our Best Palworld Tips, In One Handy Place

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Image for article titled All Of Our Best Palworld Tips, In One Handy Place — Graphic: Images: Pocketpair / Kotaku, Pocketpair, Pocketpair / Claire Jackson / Kotaku, Andrei Shumskiy / Pocketpair / Kotaku

We’re just six weeks in to 2024, and we’ve already seen the release of some absolulte bangers, including Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload. But the year’s biggest surprise so far has been a game most observers wrote off as a Pokémon-knockoff—until millions of people realized there was a lot more depth to this survival adventure. By the end of January, Palworld had already racked up an astonishing 19 million players across PC and Xbox. So if you’re looking to get in on the fun and see what all the fuss is about, this collection of guides will give you a solid footing when it comes to base building, breeding, and combat.

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The Best Early Pals In Palworld—And What To Do First

Pals stare down at the player. — Screenshot: Pocketpair / Kotaku

Open-world survival game Palworld lets you explore the world and craft away at your own pace, tending to your survival needs and your crafting goals as you like. But of course, there are always some best practices. And when it comes to the game’s early moments, you’ll want to find the right Pals for the job and gather the right resources. — Claire Jackson

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Palworld Breeding Basics And Helpful Tools

Several cat-like Pals transport raw materials to be processed. — Image: Pocketpair

Capturing and putting your Pokémon-like Pals to work isn’t the only thing you can do in the outrageously successful new survival game Palworld. By breeding them, you’ll unlock new skills, discover new Pals, or simply grow your unregulated labor force, creating more paws and claws to do your bidding. — Claire Jackson

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Where To Find Palworld’s Helpful Black Marketeers

A Black Marketeer wears a hood, smokes a pipe, and smiles at the camera — Screenshot: Pocketpair / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

A big part of Palworld is, of course, collecting the Pokémon-like Pals themselves, but sometimes, finding or catching a particular Pal can feel like a real chore. Should you happen to be tired of scouring the world to try and capture a specific Pal, the Black Marketeer might just have what you’re looking for. Mysterious merchants, these NPCs will sell you a variety of uncommon Pals, which is perfect when you just want to skip the hunt and get straight to owning a more powerful beast buddy. — Claire Jackson

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Should You Butcher Your Pals In Palworld?

A butcher knife is held up to a Cattiva. — Image: Andrei Shumskiy / Pocketpair / Kotaku (Shutterstock)

Palworld, the animal-catching survival game available on PC and Xbox (it’s free on Game Pass), tasks you with fighting and catching creatures called Pals. That’s on top of basic survival tasks like resource farming, and maintaining bodily needs like hunger. While you can issue a variety of tasks to your Pals once caught, you can also choose to butcher surplus Pals to free up space or to source new materials. Yes, you read that right. — Claire Jackson

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The Best Pals To Snag For Fighting And Work In Palworld

A trailer rides a dragon tupe Pal. — Image: Pocketpair

With its large open world and vast assortment of Pals to acquire, new survival game sensation Palworld can be intimidating, and securing the best Pals can feel like a fulltime job. Not to worry, this guide will help you locate the best Pals for both combat and work-related tasks. — Claire Jackson

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How To Catch And Breed Anubis in Palworld

Anubis attacks with its arm extended forward. — Image: Pocketpair

The Egyptian-themed Anubis, Pal number 100, is a popular catch in Palworld. Anubis has pretty incredible base attack stats, and can utilize powerful techniques like Sand and Stone Blast. With higher-level attacks like Ground Smash and Rock Lance, Anubis makes for a formidable threat—both for and against you. It’s also a handy Pal to have around your base with its Handiwork stat of level 4. — Claire Jackson

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Here’s Why Palworld Limits Multiplayer Numbers On Xbox

Palworld characters sit around a fire. — Image: Pocketpair

Palworld, Pocketpair’s “Pokémon With Guns” survival game, is popping off after entering Early Access today, January 19. Shortly after launch, it boasted 300,000 concurrent players on Steam, but for those playing the game through Xbox Game Pass on PC or console, there are some limitations to its multiplayer features. That’s because the studio has confirmed that the game supports less players if you’re playing anywhere other than Steam due to a lack of dedicated servers on other platforms. — Kenneth Shepard

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PSA: It’s Now Safe To Use Memory Wiping Medicine In Palworld

A female Pal trainer looks at the camera. — Image: Pocketpair

Developer Pocketpair sure has been quick to issue bug fixes to its hugely popular survival and animal catching game, Palworld. According to the patch notes for v0.1.4.0, you can now safely craft and use Memory Wiping Medicine, as the bug has been fixed: — Claire Jackson

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PSA: Effigies Seem To Decrease Your Capture Rate In Palworld [Update]

Two trainers and a bunch of Pals sit around by a fire. — Image: Pocketpair

Those looking to up their catch rate in Palworld can now reliably seek out Lifmunk Effigies once more. Patch v0.1.4.1 includes a number of fixes for the smash hit survival/animal-catching game, including a bug that prevented catch rates from increasing. The patch is now live on both Steam and Xbox. — Claire Jackson

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Palworld’s Latest Patch Fixes Effigies, Grenades, And Save Corruption

Anubis races forward. — Screenshot: Pocketpair / Kotaku

As smash hit survival and animal-catching game Palworld is still in Early Access, bugs and hiccups are to be expected. The game’s developer, Pocketpair, has been quick to address many of the game’s more frustrating bugs, including issues with its respec item which were plaguing players. The latest patch continues the trend, bringing a bunch of new, welcome fixes to the game on both Xbox and Steam. — Claire Jackson

All Of Our Best Palworld Tips, In One Handy Place

There’s a lot more to 2024’s biggest surprise hit than “Pokémon with guns”