Starting Palworld? This Eden of Gaming guide covers the survival basics, how to catch your first Pals, which early Pals are worth keeping, and how to set up a base that runs itself while you explore.
Survival basics
- Watch your needs. Keep an eye on hunger and HP. Build a campfire and a bed early so you can cook and sleep.
- Gather the staples. Wood, stone, and fiber feed almost every early recipe, so collect them on every trip.
- Tech points. Spend tech points as you level to unlock the workbench, Pal Box, and early gear.
Catching Pals
- Weaken first. Lower a wild Pal HP in combat before throwing a Pal Sphere. Lower HP and status effects raise the catch rate.
- Throw from behind. A sphere thrown at a Pal back gets a capture bonus.
- Catch ten. Capturing ten of the same species grants a permanent stat bonus, so do not stop at one.
Strong early Pals
- Pal
- Lamball / Cattiva / Chikipi
- Use
- First workers and carriers, easy to catch near spawn.
- Pal
- Foxparks
- Use
- Early fire Pal, lights furnaces and doubles as a flamethrower in a pinch.
- Pal
- Eikthyrdeer
- Use
- Early mount with a double jump for traversal.
- Pal
- Direhowl
- Use
- Fast early ground mount and decent fighter.
- Pal
- Penking
- Use
- Solid early combat Pal and water worker.
Building your first base
- Place near resources. Set your base next to ore and wood so Pals gather without long walks.
- Assign by work suitability. Match each Pal to jobs it is good at, for example mining, planting, or kindling.
- Build the essentials. A Pal Box, a food source like a berry plantation, a campfire or kitchen, and a Pal bed keep the base productive.
- Mind sanity. Pals lose sanity when overworked. Add a hot spring or rest spot so they recover.
Where to go next
Once your base runs itself, start hunting better mounts and combat Pals, take on the early tower bosses for progression, and read the EOG.GG Advanced Guide for breeding and base optimization. The 1.0 release on July 10, 2026 adds a whole second island, so save some exploration for then.