Hello dear readers and thank you for tuning in to my biweekly column. I will keep things brief today because I am burned out from working on my Borderlands 4 review and, believe it or not, I have a date to get to. Anyway, Borderlands 4 really took a lot of my time as I am close to getting a platinum trophy with it, but I digress.

As for the subject of the column this week, as many of you know I am a huge fan of Palworld, which is a perfect combination of whimsical world building, crafting, and combat. In fact, I will say here that I like Palworld better than any modern Pokemon title, and I think that I will like it even more as it receives future updates. I am also a fan of simulation games like Cities: Skylines, Football Manager type titles, and Manor Lords.

And so with that said, Palworld developer Pocketpair once again caught my attention when they announced Palworld: Palfarm. Looking at the Steam pre-early access page, Palfarm seems to be like Palworld crossed over with farming games like Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon. There is not much to see regarding the gameplay just yet, but just the announcement of it makes me excited. Palworld’s building and survival mechanics really add depth to the monster fighting genre. Now, we get to use that same world as a pseudo-cozy game? This makes me genuinely thrilled because I do need a new cozy title to play.

I tried to play the most recent Animal Crossing, and it didn’t hit the spot for me. I don’t know if it was the requirement to check in daily or what, but I just wasn’t feeling happy like I should in a cozy farming type title. That said, I have not really found a fun one to play recently. I don’t know why, but Stardew Valley just wasn’t sticking with me and ditto with older Harvest Moon games. That is why Palfarm has me so filled with anticipation.

I like a lot of the Pals and the general ecosystem of Palworld, so I hope a lot of that carries over. While details are slim, the developers mention that players and their Pals will work the fields but may have to grab a weapon to protect their farm too. It is like an Ohio doomsday prepper’s nightmare after binge watching the entire Pokemon anime catalog. I have it wishlisted on Steam, and hopefully Pocketpair can slide us a code when it launches. I recently came back to Palworld after they made some updates, and they made it so much better.

There is still a lot we don’t know about the Nintendo patent suit, much less what will ultimately happen, but I think Pocketpair has hit gold with Palworld regardless. If you have not done so yet, do yourself a favor and wishlist Palworld: Palfarm on Steam.

Take a look at the trailer and see if you get just as excited as I did for the next great cozy life sim.

Palworld: Palfarm is scheduled to launch sometime in 2026. Let’s hope that this one sticks the landing.