Rise of Kingdoms and AFK Journey maker Lilith is trying to muscle in on the success of Palworld with its mobile take on the formula, Palmon: Survival.
According to Appmagic the game was launched on iOS and Android about a week ago in most markets worldwide, but with some notable exceptions: China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The game is currently being advertised on TikTok and Facebook with creatives that make Palmon look exactly like Pocketpair’s breakout Pokémon-inspired survival game, as you can see below. Though of course the actual game is rather different.
Though the ad creatives suggest Palmon: Survival has Palworld’s over the shoulder, third person survival and crafting gameplay, it is a more straightforward farming adventure.
Players reap, sow and sell crops to unlock more and more land while bumping into the titular Palmon along the way. This triggers a battle scene very similar to Pokémon Go, but instead of Pokéballs, players throw Palmon into the fray to do battle. Players can also use a laser-type weapon to defeat the critters.
Beating a Palmon adds it to the player’s collection. Palmon can then grow and reap crops on your behalf as well as help the player in battles.
Lilith’s take on Palworld is, rather surprisingly, the first high-profile mobile spin on the game, which broke out despite – or perhaps because of – controversy over its similarities to Pokémon games.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company launched legal action against Palworld maker Pocketpair in September 2024 over alleged patent infringement. Nonetheless, a month later, PUBG maker Krafton said it was working on the ‘official’ Palworld mobile game.
“We plan to faithfully reinterpret and implement the main fun elements of the original work to suit the mobile environment,” said Krafton. “The project will be handled by the development team of PUBG Studios, a creative studio under Krafton.”
Shortly after Palworld’s launch on Xbox and PC back in January 2024, a Palworld clone made it through Apple’s app review and onto the live store. It was available to pre-order for several days.
The game’s developer appeared to have lifted Palworld assets wholesale for the game’s on-store screenshots. Its developer and publisher was listed as ‘Oleksandra Kryvcun’ and ‘Blue Ridge Gutter Cleaning LLC’ respectively.
Apple removed the game from the store after we alerted the tech giant to the game’s presence via its PR representatives.
