Everyone around the world is either talking about or playing Palworld. The video game was released to much fanfare — and controversy — last Friday, quickly selling 5 mn copies within three days. Not Nintendo numbers, but almost unbelievable for a previously unknown developer. For comparison, Playstation’s fastest-selling exclusive was The Last of Us Part Two, which sold 4 mn copies in three days.

It’s basically Pokémon with guns.The difference is that Palworld (watch trailer, runtime 3:11) has a survival element. You can battle human enemies or the Pokémon-like creatures called pals. You have to weaken the pals before capturing them, and you can do that by battling it like you would in Pokémon, or you can literally beat it up or damage it with weapons.

Once they’re captured, you can put them to work crafting supplies or building bases. And of course, there are the AK-47s. You can get your pals to make those for you too. Shockingly, you can also capture NPC humans and sell them on the black market.

Another controversial element is that the smash hit has almost obnoxiously ripped offGame Freak’s iconic Pokémon designs, alongside some Nintendo characters and mechanisms as well. Pengullet looks remarkably like Mario 64’s penguin, Lamball looks like Pokémon’s Wooloo, and Anubis looks exactly like Lucario. So don’t expect to see it on the Nintendo eshop anytime soon.

The gameplay is pretty straightforward. The game does a good job of explaining how to play during the tutorial, but some of the mechanics are still finicky. If you’re off by even one pixel when throwing the pokéball — sorry, pal sphere — you’ll miss capturing the pal.

⌛ Hours of gameplay: 30-50 hours

? Platforms: Steam for PC, Xbox

? Price: Palworld is currently down from USD 14.99 to USD 13.49 on Steam, and is going for USD 29.99 on Xbox.

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