Palworld: Beginner’s Guide

Palworld drops you into its open world with a very short intro video and zero hand-holding. Your first instinct might be to wander off, explore, and hunt for Pals. Don't. If you stray too far without a plan, you'll quickly run into a wall.

Palworld - Base Missions

Pay close attention to the tutorial and main missions in the top right corner. They will quickly teach you how to build a workbench, spend technology points, craft tools, and catch your very first Pals. Following this path unlocks the Palbox, which serves as the heart of your base and hands out Base Missions. Completing these will level you up incredibly fast and shower you with essential rewards.

Catching a wide variety of creatures is great, but Palworld rewards repetition. The game grants a massive XP bonus for catching the exact same Pal twelve times. After the twelfth catch, the bonus wears off.

Palworld - Catching Pals XP Bonus

In the early game, don't waste time picking fights you don't need. Instead, craft a large stack of Palspheres and catch every Cattiva or Lamball you cross paths with. It doesn't matter if your Palbox is filling up with duplicates; your main goal right now is boosting your character level.

Pals aren't just there to look pretty or fight by your side. Every creature has specific traits, known as Work Suitability. You can check these icons on the right side of the screen via your Paldeck or Menu.

Palworld - Work Suitability

A Foxparks, for instance, is excellent at Kindling (making fire), while a Cattiva excels at Mining and Transporting. Assigning the right Pal to the right job at your base will automate your resource gathering and make your life a whole lot easier.

Your Pals will literally suffer from the daily grind if you don't take care of them. They can get lazy, stressed, or even severely injured. To keep them efficient, you must monitor their Sanity Meter (SAN).

Palworld - Straw Pal Bed

Make sure your base has exactly one Straw Pal Bed per Pal and keep your Feed Box constantly stocked. While raw berries will keep them from starving, taking the time to cook them into Baked Berries is much better, as they restore SAN at a much faster rate.

You will likely build your very first base right where you spawn. Don't worry, you can easily dismantle and move your base later. When you do decide to settle down permanently, look for a spot surrounded by Ore nodes (the large, shiny, copper-colored rocks).

Palworld - Ore Vein

While wood and stone can eventually be generated automatically at your base using specific structures, Ore cannot be farmed passively this way in the early-to-mid game. Finding a spot with 4 to 6 Ore veins close together will save you hours of manual hauling later on, as Ore is incredibly heavy and acts as a major bottleneck for advanced gear.

Every RPG player knows the struggle of an overloaded inventory. In Palworld, carrying too much weight drastically reduces your movement speed, turning you into a sitting duck. Luckily, there is an early-game trick to bypass this.

Palworld - Cattiva

As long as you keep a Cattiva in your active party (the pink cats), they will automatically increase your maximum carrying capacity by +50 weight per cat. Stacking a few of them in your party at the start of your journey will save you countless tedious trips back to base.