Palworld is an expansive survival and creature-collection game that challenges players to thrive in a vibrant yet dangerous wilderness. For those just beginning their journey, the initial experience can be complex as you balance resource gathering, base construction, and the management of creatures known as Pals. This guide provides a straightforward roadmap to help you navigate the early stages of the game, ensuring you have the tools and knowledge necessary to build a successful base and form a strong team of Pals.
Your First Steps in the Wilderness
When you first arrive in the world, your immediate priority is to gather basic resources to ensure your survival. The environment is filled with wood and stone, which are the fundamental building blocks for almost everything you will create. Start by picking up loose branches and stones from the ground. These materials allow you to craft your first set of tools at a Primitive Workbench, which should be the very first structure you build.
Once you have a workbench, focus on crafting a Stone Pickaxe and a Stone Axe. The pickaxe is essential for mining Paldium Fragments, which are the glowing blue minerals often found near water or embedded in larger rock formations. These fragments are a critical component for creating Pal Spheres, the devices used to capture Pals. The axe, on the other hand, makes wood collection much faster, allowing you to build structures and keep your campfire burning through the night.
Managing Hunger and Temperature
Survival in this world also requires careful attention to your physical needs. Your hunger meter will deplete over time, and if it reaches zero, your health will begin to decline. In the starting areas, you can find red berries growing on bushes. While these can be eaten raw for a small nutritional boost, they are far more effective when cooked. Building a Campfire early on is highly recommended, as it allows you to roast berries and cook meat obtained from wild creatures, providing more sustenance and keeping you warm during the cold night hours.
Establishing Your First Base
The core of your progress is the Pal Box. This structure serves as the heart of your base and defines the area where your Pals can live and work. When choosing a location for your Pal Box, look for a flat area with plenty of nearby resources like trees and ore deposits. A flat terrain makes it much easier to place buildings and ensures that your Pals can move around without getting stuck on obstacles.
The Pal Box also acts as a fast-travel point, allowing you to move quickly between your base and other discovered landmarks. As you level up your base by completing specific missions listed at the Pal Box, you will unlock the ability to assign more Pals to work at your location. This automation is the key to moving from manual labor to a fully functioning settlement.
The Art of Capturing Pals
Capturing Pals is the central mechanic of the game, and doing so effectively requires a bit of strategy. To capture a Pal, you must first weaken it by lowering its health. Once its health bar is low, you can throw a Pal Sphere at it. The lower the Pal’s health, the higher your chances of a successful capture. You can also increase your success rate by sneakily approaching a Pal from behind or by using higher-quality spheres as you progress through the technology tree.
Essential Early Game Pals
Not all Pals are created equal when it comes to starting your base. There are a few specific creatures you should look for immediately to help with your daily tasks:
- Cattiva: These small cat-like Pals are excellent for early mining and transporting goods. Perhaps most importantly, having a Cattiva in your party increases your personal carrying capacity, allowing you to lug more wood and stone back to your base.
- Lamball: These fluffy creatures provide wool, which is necessary for crafting cloth and armor. In the base, they are great for handiwork and transporting items.
- Chikipi: While not the strongest in combat, Chikipis are essential for food production. When assigned to a ranch, they will lay eggs, providing a consistent source of ingredients for cooking.
Understanding Work Suitability
Each Pal has a set of skills known as Work Suitability, which determines what tasks they can perform at your base. These skills are represented by icons in the Pal’s summary menu. Understanding these icons is vital for creating an efficient workflow. For example, a Pal with the Kindling skill can cook food and smelt ore, while a Pal with the Planting skill will automatically sow seeds in your berry plantations.
As you expand your base, you should aim to have a diverse group of Pals that cover all the necessary roles, including watering, harvesting, lumbering, and mining. This allows you to focus on exploration while your Pals handle the repetitive tasks of resource production and maintenance.
Maintaining Pal Health and Sanity
Your Pals have two main stats that you must monitor: Hunger and Sanity (SAN). A hungry Pal will stop working, and a Pal with low Sanity may become depressed, stressed, or refuse to follow orders. To keep your team happy and productive, you must provide the following:
- Feed Box: Always keep this stocked with food so your Pals can eat whenever they are hungry.
- Straw Pal Beds: Every Pal assigned to your base needs a place to sleep. Without a bed, their Sanity will drop rapidly.
- Hot Springs: Once you reach a high enough level, building a Hot Spring provides a place for your Pals to relax and recover their Sanity after a long day of work.
Character Development and Technology
As you gain experience through crafting and capturing, you will earn Stat Points and Technology Points. Stat Points should be used to improve your character’s physical abilities. For beginners, investing in Weight is highly recommended so you can carry more materials. Stamina is also important for climbing and sprinting, while Health helps you survive encounters with aggressive wild Pals.
Technology Points are used to unlock new crafting recipes. Prioritize essential gear like the Cloth Outfit for protection against the elements and the Pal Gear Workbench. The Pal Gear Workbench is particularly important because it allows you to craft special items like saddles, which enable you to ride certain Pals, or gloves that turn some Pals into functional tools like gliders or flamethrowers.
Conclusion
Success in this world depends on your ability to balance survival needs with the growth of your Pal collection. By establishing a well-organized base, understanding the unique work skills of your Pals, and maintaining their well-being, you can quickly turn a small campsite into a thriving hub of activity. As you become more comfortable with these basics, you can begin to explore further into the map to find rarer materials and more powerful companions. For more help with your journey, you might find it useful to explore articles on advanced crafting techniques or elemental combat strategies to further enhance your experience.