Cursed Palworld dating sim "is real" and just got another trailer as Pocketpair publishing boss says it's our fault for asking for it: "You will carry this burden for the rest of your days"

It's real, it's coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop it – Pocketpair has given us our yearly reminder about Palworld's official dating simulator spin-off, More Than Just Pals, which it threatens is actually "in development" and on its way to a PC near you.

Back in 2024, Palworld ~ More Than Just Pals first emerged as what seemed like an April Fool's joke, throwing pal tamers into a high school setting full of the survival hit's fan-favorite creatures and asking, "Will you remain friends or fall in love? Or dismantle and eat them…"

Flash forward a year, and suddenly, things were seeming more… tangible, as the spin-off was given a Steam page along with a new trailer. Well, as we approach April Fool's Day once more, Pocketpair is back with an update, and this time, publishing head and Palworld designer John 'Bucky' Buckley wants to shake off any doubt you may have ever had about the romance-filled spin-off being an actual, upcoming game.

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"It is real," Bucky tweets, menacingly. "We are not joking. You wanted us to make it, so we are making it. You will carry this burden for the rest of your days."

He shares yet another new video for the game (shared shortly after he wrote, "I apologize in advance for what you are about to witness"), this time leading with a sketch of him 'debating' with Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe about actually making the game. I say 'debating,' because Mizobe is actually just sitting there, silently playing Slay the Spire 2, which he's apparently doing a lot these days.

"For starters, the entire dev team is working on 1.0, so we can't even reassign devs," trailer star Bucky reasons. "Moving devs around is really difficult right now. …Hire new ones? Yeah, I guess we could?"

Regardless of the how, the why is that fans asked for it, and now, it's on its way. The latest trailer ends with the assurance that it's "In Development," adding "soon… we promise!"

New gameplay also hints at some surprisingly dark undertones to the dating sim, with the footage 'glitching' out and cutting to unsettling shots including what looks like an injured Lovander sprawled on the floor, and the player themselves being shot at, before waking up from a bad dream. What's more, the video description on YouTube teases: "Horror, Mystery and Timeloops… and an Unexpected Surprise!"

It sounds like More Than Just Pals might be planning some Doki Doki Literature Club-style subversion of expectations, but regardless, Pocketpair is clearly putting in the effort to turn what was a joke into something genuinely worthwhile.

If you're not into, well, whatever More Than Just Pals is shaping up to be, Bucky adds that more information about Palworld 1.0 is "coming soon, promise promise," which makes sense since it's set to release at some point this year. All in all, as he puts it, "BIG YEAR FOR THE PALWORLD GAMERS!"

Palworld devs are "still bad at spending money and we're still bad at saving money" according to Pocketpair publishing head, as the studio "can take risks others can't."