In Palworld, the latest in a long line of Pokemon-inspired games, the otherwise ubiquitous cognitive dissonance between what a game in this genre says versus what it shows has finally closed. It must be the most cynical creature collector I've ever played, and that's a refreshing perspective in a genre so often tripping over itself to present things as joyous and heartfelt.
Palworld leans into its depictions of exploitation and violence to such an extent that I can only watch in awe. You see, in Palworld, you still capture animals, you still force them into fighting other animals, and you even work them to the bone in a home base that is depicted as something closer to a sweatshop or even a labor camp for political prisoners. It's dark. Darker than Pokemon, or TemTem, or any of the many creature collectors that have come before it.
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