I was stoked to boot it up and like…what? It’s such a stupid game on all fronts. I get that stealing mechanics works if you’re into that kind of gameplay, but there’s no way that anyone other than pokemon obsessed people enjoy this. Even then, it’s such a poor analog for actual pokemon games. I feel like it’s “success” is all media buzz. Every actual human in my life agrees it’s terrible. Even my partner who is actually pokemon obsessed lol. But the coverage on the internet would have you believe it’s goty contender. I have never felt more convinced that we are living in a simulation lol. I can’t be alone in this, am I? Is there where I learn that I’m that far out of touch? Like, truly, if you enjoy it, good for you. We all have things we love that others don’t get. But like, someone please tell me I’m not the only one lol.
No it didn’t have a lot of hype. There was almost no marketing budget for it at all. Nobody talked about it until it was released. There was absolutely no hype for it. This isn’t like Cyberpunk 2077 where millions of people were chomping at the bit for its release. Palworld came out of nowhere and became a favorite organically.