Developer Pocketpair's breakout hit, Palworld, hit early access on Steam and Xbox Game Pass earlier this year and took off shortly thereafter, catapulting the open-world survival crafting monster-catching mashup title to huge popularity. Palworld managed record numbers of concurrent users and sales in its opening few weeks, capturing the attention of millions of players with its take on the mix of genres, and continues to enjoy a healthy and active player base. Perhaps unavoidably, though, Palworld also drew some heat for its clear inspirations from the Pokemon franchise, which, depending on opinion, may go too far in some cases.