Palworld's Sakurajima Update Could Be a Good Sign for an…

Summary

The Sakurajima Update adds new content and reworks factions in Palworld.
Possible faction improvements should include dialogue, leader participation in raids, and scaling difficulty.
Reworking factions to enhance Palworld's engagement, combat, and adding a story mode/new game modes could help its Early Access period.

Palworld is undergoing many big changes with the new Sakurajima Update. Many players are excited about the new content that is available in this update, which should help revitalize the game in its Early Access period. While there are a lot of new additions in this update, such as the oil rig stronghold and a new island, there could also be a modification to a currently underdeveloped established feature.

The Sakurajima Update for Palworld aims to elevate the game to new heights. Additions such as a PvP arena, more structures, new Pals, and so on will help the monster-capturing title stand out even more when compared to the competition. One of the noticeable inclusions in the update is a new faction that has been added to the world. Although there is no guarantee, this could be a sign that the developers are reworking how the factions operate within Palworld.

What the Addition of a New Faction Could Mean for Palworld

As it stands, Palworld's enemy factions need to go back into the oven due to how underutilized they are. Although they give more life to the world and the faction leaders act as an extra form of challenge, they seem to serve no other purpose. However, the game's major update may be looking to change all that. The new faction and faction leader added with the Sakurajima Update show that the developers are likely aware of the situation and are willing to improve the feature. There are already a few possible ways that they could go about improving factions, including:

Giving the faction goons and leaders dialogue before and after battle so that their personalities are made clearer
Allowing the faction leaders to venture out of their towers to participate in raids against the player's camp
Letting more than one syndicate participate in raids, making it a free-for-all
Having the level of each faction leader scale with the player to ensure that they're always a threat

Although these changes could benefit the game, they run the risk of introducing game-breaking issues. Much like when the Palworld developer fixed a previous tower boss bug, such problems could lead to unintended exploits or troubles and must be resolved quickly before they hamper the player's experience. Regardless of the potential drawbacks, the opportunity of reworking the faction leaders is worth taking as it can greatly improve the game's overall world engagement and combat.

How Changing the Faction Leaders Now Could Benefit Palworld in the Future

Palworld's declining player count shows that the game is in serious need of improvement in certain areas. A rework of the faction leaders, combined with the new content in the Sakurajima Update may be able to bring people back into playing. Such an important change to one of Palworld's features could also pave the way for other possible updates. For example, the future could see the addition of a story mode involving every faction and how their purposes could coincide or contradict one another. A well-developed plot is something that the game is sorely lacking, and the developers have everything that they need to make one with the detailed backgrounds of the factions.

While the feature rework could lead to a proper storyline, it could also be responsible for the future development of new modes. For example, the game could utilize the faction leaders in a boss rush challenge similar to the Elite Four of Pokemon. Another would be a mode that involves the implementation of additional strongholds for each faction, letting players raid them in a series of battles for different rewards. There are many possibilities and Pocketpair should consider capitalizing on them.

All the tower bosses in Palworld and their respective factions have a chance of becoming more than what they currently are after the Sakurajima update. Although there is no telling if they will ever see changes or a rework, updating this aspect can only lead to improving the game.

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Palworld

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Released: January 19, 2024

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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!

ESRB: T For Teen Due To Violence
Developer(s): Pocket Pair, Inc.
Publisher(s): Pocket Pair, Inc.
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Number of Players: 1-4 (Co-Op); 32 Players Server Limit
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
Genre(s): Open-World, Shooter, Survival
How Long To Beat: 36 Hours
File Size Xbox Series: 6 GB (February 2024)