Like a lot of the world lately, I’ve been a little obsessed with Palworld. If it weren’t enough that it’s pretty much what I wanted from Pokémon Legends: Arceus, what with all the crafting and catching and expanding your own little world, it also came with the added bonus of letting me build.
Because as we all know, if there’s one thing I love in a game, it’s when I get to build and design.
Given that the game is still in alpha, naturally, my building options are a little limited. But that hasn’t stopped me from learning what I can about building and designing in Palworld!
So here’s what I’ve got.
Just like FFXIV, it’s a lot more fun when you don’t follow the rules.
Obviously, with a bunch of square building options, building can feel pretty limited in Palworld if you stick to what you’re given. Luckily, though, there are ways to bend the rules so you can get a little creative.
There’s been a rather large segment of the extensive Palworld population that’s dedicated themselves to finding all the ways they can break the game when it comes to building their bases, and some of the things they’ve come up with are pretty darn cool. Overwater bases, underwater bases, floating things far up above the ground, using benches to create custom stairs that pals can actually use, you name it.
I’ve only just started to scratch the surface with my own building, but it’s been a neat journey, and it’s especially fun because Sekan’s really interested in it too!
Unlike FFXIV, the glitches can be pretty complicated.
I know some people may look at what I build in FFXIV and say that it looks painfully complicated, but honestly, compared to some of the tactics you have to take to create stunning bases in Palworld, it’s pretty tame.
For example, recently, we were trying to figure out how we could build a base over a section of water between a series of waterfalls, so we could have a floating base halfway up the mountain.
To make that happen, though, we quickly learned we’d either need to turn to mods (something that the devs said just last week they’re going to start cracking down on) or we’d need to do something fancy like getting under the entire world map and building up from the metaphorical bedrock.
I may or may not have tried getting under the world map, and after about two hours, came to the conclusion that it was too much for my patience levels at the time and came up with a simpler design.
You have to consider your pals.
It’s one thing if you’re going to build to break the game for yourself. But if you’re building any kind of functioning base, rather than a cliffside retreat home, you’re going to need to think about whether your pals can work with what you’re doing.
For example, if you’re going to build foundations and use the bench trick to create stairs, you need to keep them fairly even for the AI to think it can use them. If you’re going to work around difficult terrain, you’ll need to think about how you can help them move from key area to key area so they don’t end up stuck.
And you may need to consider that tall ceilings will be a must for crafting areas, especially if you’re going to use pals like Anubis to speed things up.
Clutter is limited, but satisfying.
I will admit, I was a little disappointed with how few decorative items there were overall, especially when you consider that later unlocks are pretty much all outside clutter like sewer pipes, traffic cones, and tires.
After I got over that initial disappointment, though, and started looking at how people were using what’s available, I got a fresh wave of inspiration. Because really, even though we don’t have a ton, there are a ton of ways to use what we do have!
Right now, I’m loving the cottagecore builds, especially the ones with plenty of plants—and vines adorning the outsides of otherwise somewhat boring buildings.
