With the Palworld lawsuit rumbling on in the background, the Nintendo Switch welcomes "Palland" – a survival game that looks a whole lot like Pocketpair's creature collector

As The Pokemon Company continues its legal battle with Palworld, a new survival game that amusingly looks a whole lot like Pocketpair's creature collector has quietly come to light: Palland.

Nearly a year ago now, the Nintendo-owned Pokemon Company filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair for patent infringement. Although it's ongoing currently, the lawsuit has resulted in various changes on Pocketpair's behalf in Palworld, from alterations to the Pal Sphere mechanics so that they no longer resemble Pokeballs as closely to "yet another compromise" with tweaks for the in-game gliding system.

It seems that, despite accusations of copying Nintendo's Pokemon games, Palworld is no stranger to clones or rip-offs itself. Enter Palland, a brand-new game for the Nintendo Switch that looks an awful lot like Pocketpair's survival-style creature collector – down to its title, apparently. Although it's confusingly tagged on the Nintendo Store as a "Party, Simulation, Strategy, Arcade" game, its description and trailer say otherwise.

The trailer shows a title that plays much like Palworld – albeit arguably in a far clunkier way – with base-building, crafting, gathering, and of course, Pals. As for the game's official description, it dubs Palland "a captivating survival, building, and exploration game where everything starts with a humble base." It's also said to harbor "wild creatures that can be both threats and valuable sources of power." So, in other words, Pals.

Not much else can be found on the mysterious game. Pocketpair has yet to publicly share its developers' own thoughts on the new Switch release, but the similarities are inescapable. From its name to its character and creature design, Palland channels big Palworld energy – and its awkward attempt at emulating the same survival-style gameplay can't go unnoticed, either.

There's no telling what the future holds for Palland, or Palworld for that matter, but I won't be surprised if the former disappears from the Nintendo Store at some point.

Palworld dev and Pocketpair publishing manager says "big things" have happened that he can't talk about for "at least a year or 2," and keeping the secret is "gonna kill me."