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There seems to be absolutely no stopping Palworld. It just keeps on growing and pulling in more players with its enticing theme of Pokémon with guns and crafting.

Around two hours ago it hit a new record high of 1,582,482, making it jump above Counter-Strike 2 to take the current top spot for most-played on Steam right now. That's incredibly impressive! Thanks to it now hitting 5 million sales in 3 days, this concurrent player count is also the third highest on Steam ever!

Picture credit: SteamDB

I wouldn't be surprised if it took second place on highest concurrent players ever in the next 24 hours. At the rate it has been increasing, it's pretty much a given at this point. But dethroning PUBG would take more than double what they have right now but never say never right? 

The game was bound to be popular — but as much as this? I didn't have that on my 2024 bingo card.

My Steam Deck video on Palworld is below if you missed the update to the previous article:

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Have you been playing it? What do you think to Palworld? Let me know in the article comments below. I'm really hoping they add in some UI and Text scaling, it's too small on Steam Deck but just fine on Linux desktop. On Steam Deck it uses Proton Experimental by default and is rated Playable. On Desktop Linux is also works great.

Additionally for people who want to run a Palworld server, the open source tool LinuxGSM (Linux Game Server Manager) just launched version 24.1.0 with Palworld support.

You can buy Palworld on Steam

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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21 comments
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d10sfan Jan 22
I hope that they eventually support fully offline play, as you currently have to launch the game connected to the internet.
Liam Dawe Jan 22
Quoting: d10sfanI hope that they eventually support fully offline play, as you currently have to launch the game connected to the internet.
You don't. Valve's notice on the Steam Deck certification is wrong. It plays just fine offline solo.
Pengling Jan 22
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QuoteHave you been playing it? What do you think to Palworld? Let me know in the article comments below.
It's not my sort of game so I won't be picking it up, but I'm glad to see it doing well. It's fair to say that the leading brand has become quite complacent in recent years, so it's nice to see a competitor like this finding a big audience so quickly - competition and options are good!
d10sfan Jan 22
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: d10sfanI hope that they eventually support fully offline play, as you currently have to launch the game connected to the internet.
You don't. Valve's notice on the Steam Deck certification is wrong. It plays just fine offline solo.

I heard reports from people saying that running the game offline (as in no internet connection) will cause the game to not boot, but once the game starts you could play offline. Has that changed?

Not being able to boot the game offline makes the game much less appealing, especially on a steam deck.
Liam Dawe Jan 22
Quoting: d10sfanI heard reports from people saying that running the game offline (as in no internet connection) will cause the game to not boot, but once the game starts you could play offline. Has that changed?
That has not been the case in my testing. Plays fine. Gives 2 or so errors in-game which you skip, as the errors are about multiplayer. Solo offline works fine.
d10sfan Jan 22
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: d10sfanI heard reports from people saying that running the game offline (as in no internet connection) will cause the game to not boot, but once the game starts you could play offline. Has that changed?
That has not been the case in my testing. Plays fine. Gives 2 or so errors in-game which you skip, as the errors are about multiplayer. Solo offline works fine.

Ah gotcha, thanks! I'll probably give it a go soon then
LoudTechie Jan 22
Quoting: Liam DaweGives 2 or so errors in-game which you skip, as the errors are about multiplayer. Solo offline works fine.

Ka-Ching you've been tricked.
Sneakily you've been an advanced user all along.
We knew it.
You consider something working well offline if the "errors are about multi-player".
This means you can see the difference between different kinds of error messages know multi-player is online and know that not every error is destruction of your play time.
The fact that you consider it fine means that you've experienced similar issues before.


Last edited by LoudTechie on 22 January 2024 at 5:06 pm UTC
artixbtw Jan 22
> A friend got the game.
Neat. Never heard of it before.

> Three more got the game.
Perhaps they are friends among each other.

> A dozen friends got the game.
What is this?

> Palworld overtakes Counter-Strike 2...
Well... that's definitely a game, alright.


Last edited by artixbtw on 22 January 2024 at 5:30 pm UTC
sonic2kk Jan 22
It looks interesting, but I feel like the absurd hype will only make me enjoy it less. Once the hype dies down I'll check it out.
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