Packed with cuddly totally-not-Pokémon Pals decked out with miniguns, it’s not hard to see why Palworld has caught the Xbox community in its spell. However, it undeniably lives up to the early access moniker, with bugs galore and some big gaps in content. What might have gone under your radar though are all the missing features showcased in trailers before launch that could be coming in the Palworld roadmap.
Palworld is one of the best Xbox exclusives of recent years and it’s only set to get better – so long as it isn’t ended prematurely as The Pokémon Company takes “appropriate measures” to investigate its suspiciously similar monster designs.
Taking a closer look at the pre-release material, it’s evident that Pocket Pair’s survival game is missing several features that were teased in trailers. Most notably, there are a handful of stunning locations that aren’t currently available in-game. The most eye-catching locale is undoubtedly the large, ancient Greek-inspired city in the sky. Occupying several floating islands, this city truly looks massive and would no doubt be fun to explore – and possibly be home to unique new Pals to collect.
Likewise, there is a colosseum area which, as you might expect, looks home to a fighting pit activity. Whether this colosseum is inside this floating city or not is unknown, though the architecture is similar. We also see a lush forested environment with a large, glowing tower at the center. Again, it’s unclear what gameplay purpose this location might serve, though it’s certainly stunning in the trailer footage.
Moving onto missing gameplay mechanics teased in trailers, it’s evident that fishing, animal wrangling, vehicles, and more advanced interactions with your companions are on the table. With the survival nature of Palworld, fishing seems like a no-brainer. The trailer showcases a character standing on a dock casting a line, likely to catch standard fish rather than aquatic Pals. We also see a glimpse of a player petting and playing with a cute dog inside a home – this could be a new Pal, or maybe a separate ‘pets’ feature that would let you own standard animals alongside Pals. Either way, it looks like more extensive interactions could arrive at some point.
Perhaps most excitingly, however, trailers also showcased Pals building a space rocket at a launch facility. While nothing has been outright confirmed, this could point towards potentially visiting other planets or outer space in the future. Alien Pals? Where do we sign up?
There are also numerous Pals, including a massive flying whale-like mount, as well as bosses that are not currently in the game that could arrive in the future.
Curiously, despite these features and locations having been showcased in official Palworld trailers, the confirmed early access Palworld roadmap does not explicitly expand on these teased items. The ‘Pal Arena’ for PvP could be the colosseum area, though other than that connection, we’re left with the simple note that “new islands, Pals, bosses, and technologies” will be added, which hopefully include the teased features absent from release.
In a post by ‘SincerelyPhoenix’ on the Palworld Subreddit, fans are discussing several other features that they’d like to see added in the future, such as better Pal bonding, fixing building placement, and improved AI. Ironing out the experience should certainly be a top priority right now, though these oddly absent features promise a much deeper experience on the horizon.
In the meantime, check out the full Palworld Paldeck list to find out all the cute and chaotic creatures you can find while exploring the Palworld map on Xbox. If you’re planning on waiting for more content to be added, it’s worth tackling the heap of exciting new Xbox games on the way, as it’s a good time to chip away at your backlog before getting lost in Palworld once more.