Palworld might be getting sued by Nintendo, but Pocketpair won't let that ruin Christmas – the developer just issued a gigantic update that largely tears the monster-hunter survival game away from Pokemon.
The Feybreak update acts like a mini earthquake for Palworld, shaking up and rearranging many of the early access game's most key features. Along with introducing the new island Feybreak, the update alters how Pal Spheres work, which Pocketpair began differentiating from Pokeballs earlier this month, by adding "modules" that alter a Sphere's trajectory and, in turn, its capture success rate.
Among a host of other changes to weapons, skins, bug fixes, and more, the Feybreak update also notably adds Vicious Predator Pals that roam Palworld offering the opportunity for extreme battles, a Random Pal Mode for randomized spawns, and a Hardcore Mode that enables permadeath.
- Palworld devs tried, but the "certain franchise plus guns" brand in the West "has stuck with us to this very day despite our best efforts to shake that off"
- Palworld devs faced "so many challenges" in the survival game's first year as pre-launch attention "brought its own difficulties" and post-launch "accusations" were "a lot to handle"
Generally, fans are reacting like they're all seeing snow for the first time.
"This lawsuit hasn't stopped you, I see," one popular comment on the Feybreak update's YouTube trailer says. "Lesser studios would have crumpled in fear by now. You show bravery in the face of oppression, and I respect you for that."
"I speak for everyone here when I say we are proud of you for making this the best game of its genre," concurs a comment on Steam. "Palworld is everything Pokemon should be, but unfortunately the franchise is in the hands of greedy [...] people. I really hope Nintendo loses! I want justice for Palworld."
Nintendo is notoriously litigious. As just once example Switch hacker Gary Bowser ended up having to serve 14 months in prison and pay $14.5 million in damages. The developer is currently worth over $70 billion, while Bowser is still in the process of returning to some sense of normalcy with the help of a GoFundMe page.
