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Palworld teases update with its own take on Pokemon Stadium, with the small change that you bring guns to PvP with your Pals in gladiatorial blood sport

Palworld, a survival game inspired by Pokemon, is introducing a new arena for gladiatorial battles. The Pal Arena allows players to pit their strongest Pals against each other in PvP combat. The update is expected to arrive this year, along with other major updates such as a new island and new Pals.

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If you ever thought the likes of Pokemon Stadium needed more guns, then I have to say that's oddly specific, but the hit survival game Palword is serving up what you're looking for. 

As part of today's Triple-I indie showcase, developer Pocket Pair revealed that Palworld is getting an arena for all your gladiatorial blood sport needs. We've only got a 15-second teaser for now, but that's enough to tell us that the Pal Arena lets us rustle up our strongest Pals to battle against other players and their motley crew of critters. You won't have to wait long for the update, either, as Pocket Pair says it's coming this year, per its previously announced roadmap. 

Having played both Pokemon and Palworld, I can only dream up the possibilities. Battling Pokemon is typically an honorable affair – you can't bring a gun to a Pokemon fight for one, nor can you catch a foe's Pokemon or harm the trainer. Will Palworld throw out yet more rules? You can capture humans and sell their decapitated body parts on the black market, so I certainly hope so.

Palworld has been busy this year. The dev team followed up on a successful launch with a big patch adding a raid complete with goth girl boss Bellanoir. On top of that, fans also got new items, abilities, and quality-of-life changes that went over wonderfully with the community. 

The survival hit is not stopping there, either. The team has also teased a summer update with a "new island" and "many new Pals." Why not throw a gladiatorial arena into the mix, then? 

Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director compares success of the "f***ing CRPG" to Palworld, says "it's not rocket science" why the survival game is doing so well.