The Palworld 1.0 patch notes are here and, as promised, the changelog is monstrously huge. Developer Pocketpair has pushed its hit survival game out of early access with 72 new Pals, a level cap increase, and massive overhauls to practically every corner of the monster-tamer.
In the lead up to Palworld's full launch, the studio teased that its 1.0 update would be absolutely huge – in reality, the patch notes are big enough to take on a kaiju, and the developer writes that it includes "large-scale overhauls across many aspects of the game." That it does. "The journey that began in Early Access reaches its climax, and from here, a new Palworld begins."
Top of the list, new Pals! 47 of them are entirely fresh and 25 are variants of existing Pals, upping the game's total to a hefty 287. You can find the newbies across the world, with many of them chilling in the game's new areas.
Speaking of, Palworld's world is expanding with a floating archipelago of islands called Sunreach. "Kept aloft by the power of Paldium, this land holds an environment unlike the surface, with a unique civilization that has taken root over long years," the game's patch notes read. "Sunreach introduces a wide range of new content, including new Pals, tower bosses, and ores that can only be mined using specialized equipment."
Then there's the World Tree, which everything seemingly leads up to: "Why do the factions of the Palpagos Islands keep fighting over ownership of the towers? The mystery hidden on this island is finally revealed. The key to the story of Palworld is the World Tree, towering over Palpagos, and it is here that players will face their greatest challenge yet."
To connect all the dots, old and new, Pocketpair has also reworked the entire game's narrative. Exploring the world and conquering tower bosses now supposedly connects to the World Tree on a deeper level, while new NPCs and "story-driven, continuous sub-missions" provide more context for the world in general.
There's so much more to delve into elsewhere in Palworld 1.0. An 'Awakening' mechanic that sounds vaguely like Pokemon's Mega Evolutions, improvements to combat and balance, a new level cap of 85, new passive and active skills, overhauls to tower bosses, fresh base-building and multiplayer features, over 100 new Pal animations to give them all a little more personality... you get the gist.
If you're planning on jumping in for the first time or the 100th, I'd recommend at least taking a quick glance over the list of changes. Just make sure you remove all your mods before loading up.
