Palworld
This game hooks you in. More than I would've thought. There's a lot to dig into with this game for it being in early access, but I'll keep this review kinda brief.
It's a weird mixture of a survival game like Valheim and Pokemon with the "pal" capturing mechanic. The automation aspect of the pals is really cool if you get the right set up, and it has a decent balance of needing to care for your pals that help run your base. It takes a couple hours and a lot of trial and error unless you read some wikis that are out there, but the payout is a lot of raw materials, food, and pal spheres.
The game also encourages you to explore, even though your first "boss fight" with the Rayne Syndicate isn't too far from where you'll probably set up your first base. Lots of pals and dungeons to find the further and further you get from spawn, and the fast travel helps you get to areas you've discovered quickly.
Only giving it 3 stars for now for two reasons:
1. Some of the pals look a little too close to Pokemon for my liking. You can tell the concept of pals was heavily inspired by Pokemon, and they're not even trying to hide it. Also one of the many reasons this game is nicknamed "Pokemon with guns".
2. There's not many options for character customization (yet, which hopefully more will be added in future updates). The game already tells you they are planning on letting you edit your character eventually, so hopefully that comes with more options!
3. The menus feel a little clunky and unintuitive. Hopefully future updates will improve on them so they feel less overwhelming.
Will I keep playing this game? For sure, it's solid as it is, and I want to see how the "story" continues even though it's not that well described. I'm just hoping that future updates make Palworld stand out a bit more than just "Pokemon with guns," even though that moniker will probably stick around as long as the game does. There's a lot of great mechanics in this game other than just the pal capturing system, it's just that capturing pals is really what gets the game rolling the second you start it.