Palworld's biggest patch yet, the Sakurajima update, shows off new gear, buildings, bosses, and Pals like the community-manifested "Grillet"

Palworld Sakurajima update screenshot showing a glowing crescent moon with a girl and her Pal atop it, a starry background behind them
(Image credit: Pocketpair)

During today's opening night of this year's Summer Game Fest, Pocketpair revealed survival game Palworld's stunning new Sakurajima update - along with its release date.

Palworld's first major content patch is on its way, and it looks downright massive. The Sakurajima update contains everything from a brand-new Japanese-inspired island to various never-before-seen Pals - which may include the fan-created fire Chillet counterpart dubbed Grillet. With lush cherry blossom forests and mushroom-ridden swamps, there are all sorts of bustling biomes to traverse in search of little monsters to tame.

For players looking to face another difficult challenge, Pocketpair's update brings its own faction and boss to take on - a stunning woman atop a galaxy-colored, crescent moon-shaped Pal. There's also a new dungeon, raid, and stronghold to try your hand at. Most importantly, though, you can channel your innermost Pokemon stan in PvP play against other Pal tamers in the Sakurajima update's arena battles.

To help balance everything out as new enemies and weapons arrive, Pocketpair is raising the level cap when Sakurajima drops - both for players and for Pals. Once you hit that max level and feel like you've done everything you possibly can do, you'll also be able to go back to older bosses and challenge their "Hard Mode" counterparts.

For players like myself who are more interested in creating and decorating than in combat, Pocketpair is adding new building types, eliminating pesky restrictions preventing us from freely constructing, and increasing the maximum number of bases we can have. We don't have to wait long to test it all, either - the Sakurajima update releases on June 27. That leaves just a few weeks between now and when Palworld's big patch arrives.

Years before Palworld became the biggest survival game in the world, its CEO loaned out part of the studio's office for poker chip storage

Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.