How Palworld's Pal Elements Compare to Pokemon Types

Pocketpair's Palworld may be shrouded in controversy as of late, but the effect it has had on the nostalgia of longtime Pokemon fans is undeniable. While the gaming community at large expected Palworld to be nothing short of a meme, it has surprisingly garnered a significant amount of positive interest in its ability to take a beloved decades-old franchise and put a creative and challenging twist on it that modern fans of other genres can enjoy. However, the similarities between Palworld and Pokemon are nonetheless there and can be seen even in the various elemental affinities that the game's creature companion "Pals" possess.

Just as with Pokemon's Pokemon types, each of Palworld's Pals possesses an elemental affinity that ultimately determines its strengths and weaknesses on the battlefield. While Palworld features fewer elemental variations than the Pokemon franchise, their nuanced similarities remain unmistakably clear, meaning veteran Pokemon fans should feel right at home with Palworld's Pal elements. Still, even those unfamiliar with Pokemon's elemental mechanics should find Palworld's fairly easy to navigate.

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How Each Element in Palworld Compares to Their Pokemon Counterparts

There Are Nine Elemental Affinities in Palworld to Pokemon's Eighteen

Each of Palworld's elemental affinities compares to Pokemon's in two ways: name and mechanics. While many of them are similar in both ways, there are some that differ in terms of their strengths and weaknesses in combat. Unlike Pokemon, which boasts eighteen elemental types (nineteen including Stellar), there are only nine elemental affinities in Palworld.

• Dark
• Dragon
• Ground
• Electric
• Fire
• Ice
• Grass
• Neutral
• Water

Eight of Palworld's nine elements are identical to eight of Pokemon's types in name, with Neutral being the other. However, Palworld's Neutral element could be most closely associated with Pokemon's Normal type. Furthermore, many of Palworld's elements abide by similar rules as their Pokemon counterparts, with the exception of a few outliers.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Every Palworld Element and Their Pokemon Counterparts

As most of Palworld's elements are similar to some of Pokemon's types in name, many of them are alike in effect as well. Specifically, most of Palworld's most basic elements — Ground, Electric, Fire, Ice, Grass, and Water — all have the same strengths and weaknesses as their Pokemon counterparts. However, Palworld's remaining elemental affinities — Dark, Dragon, and Neutral — all differ from Pokemon's similarly named types.

The most significant difference between Palworld's elements and Pokemon's types is that most of Pokemon's types are strong and weak against multiple elements, whereas all but one of Palworld's elemental affinities are strong against a single element and weak against a single element. The only one of Palword's elemental affinities that can be used effectively against more than one element is Fire, which is strong against Pals of Grass and Ice affinities.

Palworld is obviously strikingly similar to Pokemon in terms of its elemental affinities, but it still manages to break away from its spiritual predecessor by including a few differences here and there. At the very least, longtime fans of the Pokemon franchise can get a leg up in Palworld thanks to the valuable knowledge they've gained during their time playing Pokemon games, and the added bonus of nostalgia makes it all the better.

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Palworld

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Top Critic Avg: 71 /100 Critics Rec: 58%

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Released

January 19, 2024

ESRB

T For Teen Due To Violence

Developer(s)

Pocket Pair, Inc.

Publisher(s)

Pocket Pair, Inc.

Engine

Unreal Engine 5

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

Xbox Series X|S, pc

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In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them.
Survival: In a harsh environment where food is scarce and vicious poachers roam, danger waits around every corner. To survive, you must tread carefully and make difficult choices...even if that means eating your own Pals when the time comes.
Mounts & Exploration: Pals can be mounted to traverse the land, sea and sky—allowing you to traverse all kinds of environment as you explore the world.
Collect all kinds of exciting Pals to fight, farm, build, and work for you in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!

Platform(s)

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X

Genre(s)

Open-World, Shooter, Survival

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