Two heads are better than one.
We’re nearing next month’s release of Mario vs. Donkey Kong on the Switch and Nintendo has started to share more footage of the game on its social media channels. The latest clip showcases the game’s “new” co-op mode.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Dungeonborne is an upcoming first person PvPvE dungeon crawler developed in Unreal Engine 5 that thrusts players into a dark fantasy world, where you get to feel every sword swing as you slay monsters with might and magics. Dungeonborne combines dungeon crawling with the realms of extraction and battle royale gameplay to spice things up and create a unique spin on the genre.
Starting February 2nd, you can try Dungeonborne during the game’s open alpha as part of the upcoming Steam Next Fest!
Here are four main reasons why you won’t want to miss it if you’re looking for a fresh dungeon crawler experience.
While Dungeonborne may seem like a traditional dungeon crawler at first, there is more to it than meets the eye. As you venture into the gothic depths solo or in a party with two friends, lethal traps and dark shadows await at every turn. Trust nothing, but seek to utilize everything to your advantage. Look for high ground and ambush your foes, lure them into traps, or even take on the form of a treasure chest and lie in wait for your enemies’ greed to betray them.
Sharp tactical wit, team composition, and terrain understanding are all necessary to secure your treasure as you navigate this treacherous realm. You’ll need to make some hard decisions as you play: Do you escape early and secure your loot, or will you choose to stay behind and seek greater power at the risk of losing it all?
It’s the on-the-go decision making introduced by the extraction mechanic that spices things up in Dungeonborne, combined with the ever-shrinking safe zone that will force you to make tough calls, often in the middle of a fight. But winning isn’t all about being the last one standing. Your main objective is to make it out in one piece with some epic loot you can use later on.
Dungeonborne draws heavily on its RPG inspiration, and there will be plenty of classes for players to master. While there are familiar fantasy archetypes like Fighter, Priest or Rogue, you will also be able to pursue more specialized classes.
Encase your foes in ice as a Cryomancer or rain hellfire on all who oppose when you don the Pyromancer mantle. If you are a fan of necromancy or the occult, Dungeonborne has you covered. tep into the boots of a Death Knight, grasp foes with spectral chains, and drain their very life force.
Dungeonborne’s brutal combat rewards precision. Practice and perfect the core block and parry combat, carefully manage your class abilities, and utilize the flask and potion system to give you the edge in a fight. But beware: he further you venture, the tougher enemies get.
Team composition makes a big difference in Dungeonborne, so choose carefully when you decide whom to adventure with. While Dungeonborne’s open alpha will only feature the human and undead races, more options will arrive as the game nears its launch.
After you’ve snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, it’s time to consolidate your loot and gear up before you head back into the fray. Once players make it back home, they can sell their loot at the in-game auction house or further enhance it. Every piece of loot matters and has its place in the game, deepening buildcrafting and giving you more options.
The gloomy gothic backdrop of Dungeonborne is brought to life in detail thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 5. Immerse yourself in the stereoscopic capital audio that lets you hear every clash of blades, and every creak of a door that betrays your enemy’s position.
Dungeonborne’s open alpha will be playable from February 2nd, and will be part of Steam Next Fest which kicks off on February 5th and ends on February 12th, giving you over a week to try it out for free. Developer Mithril Interactive will take all the player feedback from the open alpha and use it to improve the game in ways that support the community.
For more on Dungeonborne, be sure to check out the official website and the game’s Steam page where you can wishlist the game and jump in as soon as possible. To join the community, visit the official Discord channel or X (Twitter) page.
It’s “absolutely” launching in 2024.
The farm and lifestyle simulation Stardew Valley is getting a sizable update soon, and if you’ve been wondering about the status of its progress, Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has now shared a new update.
In a brief message on social media, the developer mentioned how he was finally done with adding “major new content” and was focused on bug-fixing and polishing until it was ready to go. He also can’t wait for everyone to try it out when it does arrive.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Bahnsen Knights is the third Pixel Pulp released by LCB Game Studio. A Pixel Pulp is our own way of understanding interactive fiction, trying to bring together two distant elements such as the genre narratives of the early twentieth century— the so-called ‘Pulps’—and the computer games of the 80s, with their limited palettes and with a whole history of possibilities ahead as a medium.
But what we term “Pixel Pulps” is not mere nostalgia; it’s a glimpse into a past that might have been.
In Bahnsen Knights, players assume the role of Boulder, investigating the disappearance of a fellow Agency member by infiltrating the Bahnsen Knights—a cult led by Toni, a former used car salesman. Toni believes that hell is above us, and tornadoes are the devil’s doing. With his Bahnsen Knights, Toni drives his Sierra to conduct ‘road exorcisms’, as a way to fight F5 tornadoes.
As with all Pixel Pulps, Bahnsen Knights aims to craft a gripping narrative experience reminiscent of stories published in pulp magazines from the first half of the 20th Century—stories that refuse to release their grip on readers.
The starting point was the color palette of the ZX Spectrum console, limited to six colors plus black and white with two levels of brightness. Although the palette can be strident when used in its entirety, this is part of its charm and nostalgia.
To create distinct identities for each game, we reduced the palette to a couple of colors for each Pixel Pulp. Drawing parallels with magazine printing techniques—mixing small dots of two colors to create the illusion of a third color—we aimed to achieve this effect.
In Bahnsen Knights, centered around an undercover cop, saturating everything in red felt appropriate, creating a continuous sense of alertness. Combining it with magenta gives the visuals a vibrant neon 80s quality that complements the story perfectly.
Our Pixel Pulps use a choice-based input system, extending beyond choose-your-own-adventure decisions to control mini-games. In Bahnsen Knights, this is no different. This system not only aligns with certain game genres we love but also allows us to experiment with game design elements such as time, muscle memory, and reflexes. And like our other Pixel Pulps, Bahnsen Knights includes a variant of a solitaire we designed… Cross Solitaire!
Time is a crucial element that enhances the gripping nature of the story. As an infiltrated agent, Boulder is always on the verge of discovery, leaving no room for rest.
Experimenting with quick-time events, counters, and other game design resources, we aim to break the passivity of reading an interactive fiction, where time is usually on the player’s side—one of the achievements of the game has to do with this, specifically with the reading time… can you unlock it?
Our Pixel Pulps – rooted in pulp-like narratives, pixel aesthetics reminiscent of a 1980s that might have been, and a control system that allows itself to experiment as if the video game industry hadn’t already calcified some design practices – are not products of a past we yearn for, but of a past yet to come. We hope you enjoy discovering this little universe of ours!
Chorus Worldwide Games
Who are the Bahnsen Knights?
The Bahnsen Knights are the fastest cult in the land. Powered by religious fanaticism and supercharged Sierras they follow their charismatic leader Toni as they unleash hell upon earth. What are their aims? Why are they performing ‘route exorcisms’ and babbling about ‘miracles on the road’? And adding to the enigma: Why are they holding paranormal investigator Lou Hill captive in a trunk?
An enigmatic leader
The Bahnsen Knights’ highest authority, Toni, is an ex-car salesman preaching that Hell is not below but above us all. He was being investigated by agent Cupra, one of your oldest friends in the Agency. But now Cupra’s gone. Does Toni have something to do with his disappearance?
An undercover agent
You thought you had seen everything in all your years working for the Agency, but this assignment is something else, something personal, something darker… and it scares you. Will you be able to keep it together for long enough to uncover what happened to Cupra and take down Toni and the Bahnsen Knights once and for all? Danger lies around every corner and every conversation. You just need to stay alive!
Features
– Immerse yourself in the story with its rich, branching narratives and evocative illustrations
– Decide the fate of characters in ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style gameplay
– Earn the trust of the Bahnsen Knights to survive the investigation
– Piece together more of the interconnected world of Pixel Pulps
– Accessible, brain-tickling puzzles throughout the story… including the return of solitaire!
A Pixel Pulps adventure
Bahnsen Knights is a standalone experience and the third in the Pixel Pulps series of interactive adventures. Created by novelist Nico Saraintaris and artist Fernando Martinez Ruppel, Pixel Pulps fuse exceptional writing and stunning illustration, inspired by mid-20th century pulp fiction and 80s home computer graphics. The first volume comprises three games: Mothmen 1966, Varney Lake, and Bahnsen Knights.
Bahnsen Knights, like all the Pixel Pulps, is made to be played by anyone who enjoys fine storytelling.
The post Creating the Bahnsen Knights Universe – A Love Letter to Old-School Games and Pulps appeared first on Xbox Wire.
The creator of the game formerly known as Bloodborne Kart has announced she plans to delay the game’s release and “scrub the branding off” after being contacted by Sony about the kart racer’s use of, well, Bloodborne.
WHELP. IT HAPPENED
Sony contacted me 🫣
Long story short I need to scrub the branding off of what was previously known as Bloodborne Kart, which we will do. But that requires a short delay.
Don’t worry, the game is still coming out! It’ll just look slightly different 💙
— 🪄💫 PSX Bunlith🐰🏳️⚧️ BLM ACAB 🇵🇸 (@b0tster) January 26, 2024
Today, Lilith Walker, or PSX Bunlith (@b0tster) on X/Twitter posted a thread explaining that Sony had reached out, with the end result being that she needed to update the in-progress kart racer to get rid of anything that was too close to copyright infringement.
Walker seems to be taking the change in stride. Her thread continued, saying that “we were all expecting this to happen so we could be pleasantly surprised if it didn’t,” and that she’d have to push the release date as a result, but that she was excited about the transition from a fan game to an original game that the team would have “full creative control over.”
Composer Evelyn Lark chimed in as well, expressing excitement to get to work on “an original (albeit familiar) soundtrack”.
It’s tough news, but we’re all really excited to adjust this into a project we have more direct control over. Plus, this opens up the opportunity for an original (albeit familiar) soundtrack! https://t.co/1AY6PO7ryb
— Evelyn Lark (@TheNobleDemon) January 26, 2024
Bloodborne Kart, or I suppose just ‘Kart’ now that it can’t be about Bloodborne anymore, was originally planned for a release on January 31, 2024. Originally revealed back in 2022, Bloodborne Kart was originally a fan community meme taken to its logical confusion: a PS1-style kart racer with characters, karts, and environments directly derived from Bloodborne. It is expected to include 12 racers, 16 maps, boss fights, a campaign, a battle mode, and split-screen multiplayer.
No word yet on when we’ll be able to play Not-Bloodborne Kart, but you can currently play Bloodborne PSX, which is a PS1-style Bloodborne de-make from the same team working on Not-Bloodborne Kart.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
I thought it’d just be a simple sidequest. The owner of an apothecary enlisted my help to find his lost grandson, who had been taken by wolves. As I followed the trail, I heard a screeching noise from up above. All of a sudden I’m in a battle for my life against a Griffin. It’s a monster that’s far too strong for my party to handle, but we fight and claw and hold our ground until we finally get it to retreat. I breathe a sigh of relief, then set up at the nearby camp and sleep till nightfall. That sleep is interrupted by the same Griffin, back for revenge. That fight somehow boils over into another battle with a Wight, who proceeds to beat me within an inch of my life before I finally take him out, just as the sun rises, after an epic 20-minute battle.
None of this was part of the actual quest involving saving the boy. It was just a series of events that cascaded into one of the most unforgettable encounters I’ve had in an open-world action-RPG. And it was just one of the incredible encounters that I experienced during the 10 hours that I spent adventuring through Dragon’s Dogma 2’s fantastic open world.
While I didn’t get to start from the very beginning, I did get to begin with the creation of my own Pawn. Pawns, for those unfamiliar with the first Dragon’s Dogma, are AI-controlled companions that gain gear, skills, and experience from your game, and take all of that with them online where they can be hired by other players to be companions in their own games. I’m not going to spend too much time on either Pawns or character creation – especially because we already have a Dragon’s Dogma 2 Character Creator Deep Dive and a look at How Pawns Have Evolved in Dragon’s Dogma 2 – but what I will say is that Pawns are integral to one of my big takeaways, which is that exploration and discovery in Dragon’s Dogma 2 feels much more natural than before.
First and foremost, there are no more quest boards, there are no markers that appear above people’s heads letting you know who’s got a quest, and any sort of symbols placed on your map to let you know of points of interest are kept to a minimum. As such, you’ll rely on your Pawns and NPCs to guide you through Dragon’s Dogma 2’s world. NPCs will, more often than not, be the ones to approach you with opportunities for side quests, as opposed to it being the other way around. Pawns will also point out objects of interest, like peculiar statues, boulders that can be destroyed to find a path that leads to treasure, or if they already have knowledge of a quest from their owner’s game, they will straight up lead you to them if you give them the go-ahead.
All of this leads to a style of exploration and adventuring that feels organic and appropriately rewarding – very much in the same way that Elden Ring and the two most recent Zelda games do. As alluded to in the intro to this preview, you also never really know what to expect once you set out to pursue a quest lead. The very act of exploring beyond the safety of a city’s walls is unpredictable, dangerous, and enticing, which is why it’s so exciting.
Over the course of my ten hours, I got to play with a total of five Vocations: Fighter, Mage, Warrior, Sorcerer, and Trickster (Which you can read about in our Trickster Breakdown article). Unlike the first game, which had you unlocking advanced Vocations simply by leveling up the base ones, the two advanced Vocations were actually unlocked via a quest. After visiting the Vocation guild, I was given a quest to retrieve a Greatsword and an Archstaff, and after doing so, I unlocked both the Warrior and Sorcerer Vocations. I don’t know if all of them will be unlocked this way, and I didn’t get a chance to unlock any of the hybrid ones like Mystic Spearhand or Magick Archer, but I definitely liked the idea of not having to grind Vocations in order to unlock others.
My personal favorite of the Vocations I got to try was by far the Warrior, who maintains the fantasy of being the greatsword wielding badass that brings giant beasts to their knees with just one charged strike, but also adds a few more tricks to their repertoire. Director Hideaki Itsuno heard feedback that the Warrior didn’t feel like a super viable vocation in the first game, and thus worked hard to give them some new elements to help bring out their strengths.
“For starters, we’ve jacked up Warrior’s offense and destructive power,” Itsuno-san told us. “To the point where it’s unfair. In exchange, its abilities take a little longer to execute. This makes the Vocation somewhat difficult to use, but that’s where the tackle comes into play. If you’re attacked, you can use the tackle to cause an enemy to be stunned instead of being stunned yourself, making it easier to get into the Vocation.”
The tackle he’s referring to is a new ability called Barge that allows the Warrior to execute a quick shoulder bash, even while they’re charging an attack, to interrupt and potentially stun any enemy that’s trying to stuff their attack. The Vocation, after all, is built around being able to charge up massively powerful attacks that deal humongous damage, so this small change goes a long way in making it a little easier to get those big shots off.
My favorite new addition for the Warrior, though, is a passive skill that allows you to swing regular attacks much more quickly if you’re able to precisely time your next button press with when the attack actually lands. This gives a nice rhythm to the Warrior’s combat and allows a skilled player to compensate for the typical weakness of having very slow attack, while still making those slow and powerful attacks still feel like they have their own place in the Warrior’s skillset. Also, if you’re like me and enjoy the feeling of leaping off cliffs and slamming your weapon down on a monster’s head, this is the Vocation for you.
I unfortunately didn’t get deep enough into the Sorcerer Vocation to see any of the really big, crazy spells that they’re so beloved for, but what I really enjoyed about the Sorcerer was the addition of a unique skill called Galvanize. This allows you to go into a stance that recovers your stamina extremely quickly, which is especially useful for the Sorcerer, due to the fact that their spells take so long to cast. To shorten those spells, you’ll need to use a skill called quickspell, which allows you to spend stamina to reduce a spell’s cast time. All of this leads to a careful balance of preparing to cast a powerful spell, using quickspell to shorten its cast time, and then making note of whether you have enough stamina to cast another spell, or whether you have to break away and use galvanize to get your stamina back up. It’s a fun dance that made Sorcerer feel a lot more active than in the past.
Dragon’s Dogma 2’s open world is enormous, reported to be roughly four times the size of the already huge map in the first game, and I don’t doubt that claim in my experience of checking the map and wandering through just a small portion of it. It’s big, but it’s also dense with exciting encounters both on and off the beaten path that were paced nicely so I wasn’t constantly slowed down by back-to-back battles, but I also never went too long without having something to engage with.
One thing that was important to Itsuno-san and the team at Capcom was making sure that players really felt the distance they were traveling as they explored. To that end, fast travel is very limited like in the first game. You can only fast travel between discovered Port Crystals, and every time you do, you must expend a Ferrystone, which are highly valuable items that don’t come cheap and aren’t easily found. Another option you have for getting around is using an Ox Cart, which is relatively cheap, but they are limited in that you can’t choose where to travel. The main one I found only went from the capital city of Vernworth to the Checkpoint Town, which was far to the west. You also have to consider that Ox Carts are not a completely safe way to travel, as they often will be ambushed by all manners of beasts.
Of course, you can just hoof it on foot, which is where you’ll truly feel the weight of that distance, especially due to the new health restoration mechanic. In the first game, you’d be able to heal your entire life bar by using health restorative items, and recoverable gray health with spells. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, however, every hit diminishes a portion of your max health; and the only ways to restore it are by either finding a campfire to rest at, or returning to an Inn and resting for the night. Fortunately, if you rest at a campfire, you can also cook some meat to get some much needed buffs, in addition to restoring all of your life, but there’s a risk involved with resting at a campfire as well. The flames may attract monsters to your campsite, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this preview, you could actually wake up to an angry Griffin coming back to finish what it started.
What it comes down to is this: Virtually every action in Dragon’s Dogma 2 has some combination of a cost and risk tied to it. Ferrystones are risk-free travel, but they come at a steep price; Ox Carts are a low cost, but moderately risky method of travel; and traveling on foot is free, but extremely risky. Then you must also consider whether it’s worth it to press on in a quest line with low max health, or backtrack back to town to resupply; whether you should avoid fighting the giant, tanky ogre, or risk it all on trying to bring it down for both the experience and rare material reward; whether you should keep on the less dangerous beaten path, or take a detour into the unknown.
In the 10 hours I played, these were very compelling decisions to have to make, but the real test will be whether those decisions remain compelling or turn exhausting in hour 20 or 30 when the map has expanded dramatically, and you still have quests remaining to complete in a town you’re super far away from.
Hypotheticals aside, though, I loved just about every moment I spent playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 during this preview window. It doubles down on everything I loved about the first game, makes some smart improvements to the way quests are handled and how you explore its giant world, and the little taste I got of the Vocations is a tantalizing reminder of why Dragon’s Dogma is one of the best in the genre when it comes to delivering on the various power fantasies tied to the classic RPG archetypes. Even after all I played, I still feel like I just scratched the surface on what Capcom has in store for players when Dragon’s Dogma 2 releases on March 22.
Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit
“We just need a bit more time to sprinkle that extra love on it”.
Celeste, the challenging platformer focused on mental health and overcoming the odds to climb a mountain, celebrated its 6th anniversary yesterday, 25th January 2024. And it sounds like we’ve got something to look forward to.
The official Celeste Twitter teased a little something on social media yesterday, confirming that the team is “cooking up something small but COOL” for the anniversary. “We just need a bit more time to sprinkle that extra love on it.”
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Hey Xbox Insiders! We have a new Xbox Update Preview releasing to the Alpha ring today.
It’s important we note that some updates made in these preview OS builds include background improvements that ensure a quality and stable build for Xbox consoles. We will continue to post these release notes, even when the noticeable changes to the UI are minimal or behind the scenes, so you’re aware when updates are coming to your device.
Details can be found below!
We have exciting news! Alpha users can expect something new coming to their Xbox Update Preview.
Xbox Game Pass
When launching an Xbox Game Pass title that is leaving the catalog soon, a random subset of users will see we have re-enabled a new dialog which will help clarify exactly when it is leaving and offer an easy path to purchase the game to keep playing even after it has left.
Thanks to all the great feedback Xbox Insiders provide and the hard work of Xbox engineers, we are happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented with this build:
System
While known issues may have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes, they are not being ignored! However, it may take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. If you experience any of these issues, we ask that you please follow any guidance provided and file feedback with Report a Problem.
Audio
Game Card
Games
Networking
As always, be sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of any issues you encounter. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.
If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please visit the community subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help with your concerns.
When posting to the subreddit, please look through the most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to existing threads with the same issue before posting a new one. This helps us support you the best we can! Also, don’t forget to use “Report a Problem” before posting – the information shared in both places helps us understand your issue better.
Thank you to every Xbox Insider in the subreddit today and welcome to the community if you’re just joining us! We love that it has become such a friendly and community-driven hub of conversation and support.
For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox Update Preview ring!
The post Xbox Insider Release Notes – Alpha (2402.240124-2200) appeared first on Xbox Wire.
As a lifelong fan of Pokémon, I’m used to seeing other games in the “monster tamer” genre that are clearly inspired by it, from Temtem to Ni no Kuni, but nothing made me do a double take quite like Palworld, aka Pokémon With Guns. The first trailer of what looked like a heavily armed Pokemon Trainer using a terrified little pocket monster as a bullet shield was like a meme come to life. While the ridiculous concept is good for a laugh, what’s not so much of a laughing matter is how developer Pocketpair has seemingly copied elements of more than a few Pokémon designs when making its own creatures for Palworld, called Pals.
Well I’ve got a bone to pick with you, pal, because making a game with creatures inspired by Pokémon is one thing, but ripping them off – which, as I’ll demonstrate, is the case in some examples – is too much. I’m not a game designer but the inspiration for Pokémon comes from all around us. See those keys on the counter? That was an actual idea for a new Pokémon. And that ice cream cone? New Pokémon. That literal pile of trash? You get the idea. The fact Palworld doesn’t have wholly original designs, for whatever reason, seems wild to me. What’s more, by not coming up with its own designs, it potentially opened itself up to legal action from The Pokémon Company and, even worse, criticism from rabid Pokémon fans like me.
The CEO of Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, has denied allegations of plagiarism. While Pikachu doesn’t appear in Palworld exactly, there’s no denying that many of the designs are strikingly similar, whether it’s elements of different Pokémon thrown together to make a Pal that’s a bit Frankenstien’s monster, to more wholesale similarities. It’s at least enough to get on The Pokémon Company’s radar. The company made a statement saying, quote, “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.” Well, lets do our own research and you can be the judge.
Before I get to the comparisons, it’s important to point out I have no issue with the fact Palworld has elements of Pokémon’s gameplay. Countless games do the same thing and anyone who has played the first 15 minutes of Palworld can plainly see that while it does have monster taming, its survival gameplay, crafting mechanics, and lack of glaring technical issues make it clear it’s otherwise nothing like a Pokémon game. For me, it’s all about the designs of the Pokémon themselves – the creatures I’ve spent years of my life getting to know and love, and to see some of many favorites presented in the way they are in Palworld genuinely breaks my heart. I’m really sentimental like that.
The following Pal/Pokémon comparisons are categorized by the nature of their resemblance. We’ll start with some examples of designs that are well within the bounds of good taste, then progress to designs that share more than a few commonalities.
This first group is full of designs where you can tell which Pokemon inspired each Pal, but the Pal is a wholly original design. There are many of these, so these are just a few to show as an example.
The Pal called Sparkit is obviously meant to evoke the Pokémon mascot Pikachu. It’s a small, yellow furry electric creature, but it’s still very much its own design.
This little fire fox Pal named Foxparks obviously evokes the little fire fox Pokémon Vulpix, and the flaming tail bears a striking similarity to Charmander’s. But while those similarities are easy to see, they’re nothing more than just that: similarities. This is a great example of a Pal that puts its own unique spin on a Pokémon concept.
The same goes for the blue penguin Pal Pengullet, which reminds me of the blue penguin Pokémon Piplup. The same idea with distinctly different execution.
Most of Palworld’s 100-plus monsters are original designs like the ones above, but others bear a much stronger resemblance to specific Pokémon designs, although you might need to look a little closer to spot the similarities.
These next Pals have faces that look just like those of certain Pokémon.
For instance, Mozzarina’s sleepy face is the exact same as Snorlax’s, except they reversed the direction of the teeth.
Grintale has the same facial features as Galarian Meowth, save for the pupils.
Dumud’s face is the same derpy one as Slowpoke’s, right down to the way the mouth hangs open. The only difference is Dumud has teeth on both the top and bottom, whereas Slowpoke only has one set.
These Pals are largely unique save for signature elements from certain Pokémon.
The crown on Kingpaca’s forehead looks a whole lot like Emploeon’s trident beak, plus they also share a tall, egg-like body shape when viewed from the front.
It’s easy to see that the Pokémon Zebstrika inspired the Pal called Univolt, but enough is different that you wouldn’t likely mistake one for the other.
This archer Pal called Robinquill has the same color scheme, cape, and bow and arrow weapon as the bird Pokémon Decidueye.
Similarly, Tocotoco is a weird bird with a green/yellow/black/red design, much like the Pokémon Xatu. It also has a similar beak to Toucannon.
The Pals in this group look like Pokémon doppelgangers, where the base model is similar but the design on top is different.
The humanoid body and pointy ears of the dog-warrior Pal known as Anubis looks almost the same as the Pokémon Lucario, although it’s dressed in Egyptian armor.
Grizzbolt has the same body shape, color, and design elements as Electabuzz.
The insect Pal named Elizabee has the same snatched waist, long arms with pointy bug-hands and dress-like abdomen as the bee Pokémon Vespiquen.
Astegon has a very similar build and shape as Mega Aggron.
Incineram looks like someone used a Fire Stone on a Zoroark.
Ever wonder what Garchomp would look like if it were an Electric/Bug Type? Palworld’s Orserk gives you a pretty good idea with its horns, wings, and new paint job.
This is where the Pals start to look a lot more like the Pokémon they’re based on.
The jet-dragon Pal named Jetragon is a dead ringer for the jet-dragon Pokémon Latios and Latias.
Sorry, giving Wooloo a haircut isn’t enough to make Lamball pass as a completely new design.
Fenglope just looks like Cobalion got caught in a strong wind.
Broncherry is Meganium with a new hairdo.
The Pal called Wixen might look like it was inspired by Delphox, and in a sense it might be, but it actually has more in common with a fan-made, alternate design of Delphox.
This is Cremis. Just because you drop an Eevee into a bowl of whipped cream doesn’t mean it’s suddenly a brand new creature. Suffice to say, Cremis looks a lot like Gigantamax Eevee.
The Pals in this group appear to be built from different parts of several Pokémon.
Verdash could pass as a copy of Cinderace that was colored green, then they stuck on the ears of Leafeon and the distinct mane of Hisuian Arcanine.
Azurobe is a blue snake-like Pal sporting a big head of blue hair, that has Serperior’s body and Primarina’s hair.
Add Lilligant’s crown and Meganium’s eyeballs to Goodra’s body, colored green, and you pretty much have Dinossom.
To me this is Mega Gardevoir’s ballroom gown look with Bellossom’s flowers on top.
Whoever created this unholy atrocity combining Mewtwo’s thicc legs with Salazzle’s feminine wiles will never see heaven. It may be Pal number 69 but this horror is anything but nice.
And finally, these Pals are almost mirror images of their Pokémon counterparts.
Boltmane is essentially just a shiny Luxray. However, it’s worth noting that while Boltmane was seen in preview footage, it is not currently available in the game. It could have been scrapped or it may be added at a later date. Only time will tell.
Direhowl is little more than a recolored Lycanroc and you can’t convince me otherwise.
These are all the Pals I thought had some similarities to Pokémon. Were there any others that caught your eye? And how do you feel about all this? Let us know in the comments.
Honkai: Star Rail’s version 2.0 will arrive at the start of February, adding a new area, three playable characters and new missions to the gacha space game, HoYoverse have revealed.
