How to get an incubator in Palword and hatch eggs

Palworld Incubators
(Image credit: Pocket Pair, Inc)

Getting a Palworld incubator to hatch eggs isn't easy as you need to fight at least one boss for the right resources, but it's great to have if you want to build up your Pal army. Once you've constructed an incubator, you can slot in special eggs you find while exploring in Palworld to hatch whatever creature lies within, though this can take several hours in real time, and you've got to make sure the conditions are just right. If you've got some eggs lying about and want to hatch, here's what you need to know about unlocking egg incubators in Palworld and how to use them.

How to get an egg incubator in Palworld

Palworld Incubators unlock

(Image credit: Pocket Pair, Inc)

Palworld incubators are part of the Ancient Technology branch and unlocked at level 7. That means you'll have to take on at least one boss to get the Palworld Ancient Civilisation Parts and points needed to unlock it. You'll also need some cloth, stone and Paldium fragments, but those are much easier to source.

So, in total, to get a Palworld Incubator you'll need the following: 

  • To unlock
    • Reach Level 7
    • 1 Ancient Technology point
  • To craft
    • 10 Paldium Fragments
    • 5 cloth
    • 30 stone
    • 2 Ancient Civilisation Parts

Stone you can just pick up, or use a pickaxe to bash it out of boulders, wood you can harvest from trees, and cloth you can make from wool. That just leaves the Ancient Civilisation Point and Parts. To get those you'll need to take on and defeat a boss, and your best bet is the level 11 Chillet you can find here:  

Palworld Incubators boss for ancient parts and points

(Image credit: Pocket Pair, Inc)

Obviously you'll need to be a close enough level to take it down but it's probably one of the easier nearby options, and certainly a lot more achievable than the level 38 Mammorest wandering around in the opening area. 

Defeating that will get you the 1 Ancient Civilisation point needed to unlock the Incubator, and the 2 Ancient Civilisation Parts to craft it. And, you can farm it if needed later as Palworld bosses respawn eventually. 

How to use Palworld Incubators to hatch eggs

Palworld Incubator conditions

(Image credit: Pocket Pair, Inc)

You'll find eggs scattered around the world as you explore - the ones you can hatch are brightly coloured and painted to differentiate them from the more normal plain food eggs. To put a suitable egg in an Incubator, you just need to approach it and 'use' it. You can then choose the egg you want to hatch if you have more than one, and that will start a timer. 

This timer will vary on how suitable the surrounding environment is. If it's 'comfortable' then you'll see the egg time will proceed at 100%. However, if the egg is too warm or too cold, it will proceed at 50% speed. To rectify that you can move , create, or destroy fires as necessary to set things up as needed.

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Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.