Pocketpair have to be trolling Nintendo and The Pokémon Company at this point, with the announcement of Palworld: Palfarm.
Not just because of the ongoing lawsuit over Palworld versus Pokémon but little over a week ago, Nintendo only just revealed Pokémon Pokopia, their own blend of Pokémon with a life sim and now we have Pocketpair doing something very similar.
Just watch, Nintendo will now probably attempt to patent some kind of mechanics included in Pokémon Pokopia like they're doing with another problematic patent. They won't, probably not anyway, especially given the masses of prior art on it but never say never when it comes to Nintendo.
No release date has been revealed yet for Palfarm but it's not lost on me that Pocketpair are announcing a new game, with two others still in Early Access. One of which, Craftopia, has been in Early Access for over five years at this point. Hopefully they will actually finish it.
Anyway, the Palfarm trailer is below:

Direct Link
Must admit, I do actually like the look of this one. And with online co-op as well, it might turn into a great one to play with friends. Love how they blended a very cosy vibe and then suddenly – creepy person playing russian roulette? And then back to being cosy on the beach and rolling snowballs and all sorts. And then right at the end, the suddenly sinister vibe returns of catching a Pal that wants just to be friends. Okay then.
From the press release:
Move to an island where the Pals live, work together to till the fields, cook, craft, and build the farm of your dreams.
Each Pal will lend a hand in farm work by making use of their unique abilities. From sowing seeds and watering to harvesting, Pals make for reliable partners. Deepen your relationships with the island residents and Pals through daily conversation and gift-giving, and you may discover unexpected, special stories unfolding.
At times, you’ll also need to defend your farm from some nasty Pals that come to wreak havoc. Head to the market, buy and sell crops or crafted goods, and sometimes even obtain rare items. Of course, multiplayer is also supported, so you can build your farm life together with friends.
A cosy life is waiting for you with your Pals!
Copyright law was already fucked up, but patent law seems even more absurd. How can you patent a decades-old gameplay mechanics you're not even the inventor!? Nintendo is creating itself an arsenal of weapons to use in court to remove competition. And nobody will ever fight against Nintendo, unless you're a very big shot.
Next year you'll hear Nintendo claiming they invented farming game and create a patent where you navigate in a grid-like environment and plant crops with the help of a automatically controlled sub-characters.
