Palworld took off with a Steam record-breaking player count, controversy over unfortunate game mechanics, and AI concerns. This morning, the roadmap posted on the game's official Discord server was updated.

The top priority for the developer, Pocket Pairs, seems to be fixing bugs, like stopping saves from rolling back on their own or the game hiccuping on loading screens. Improvements to the AI and paths in PAL are promised.

I played the game yesterday and encountered a problem where I placed a base next to a cliff and all captured pals spawned in that shape. Junji Ito's "Mystery of the Amigara Fault" is a great horror film, but I don't want it to be replicated in my crappy Pokemon Survival Gun game.

The main promise here is in the "Upcoming Updates" section, where PvP, which seems obvious in a survival-focused game like this, sits alongside arenas that let you fight your friends to the death in bloody combat. Or K.O., although I wouldn't be surprised if the pocket pairs add their own edgy flair.

Endgame raid bosses are also on the list of things to tackle, along with the glittering promise of new friends and new islands. I'm enjoying the game so far, but these seem like very optimistic promises with no concrete dates.

Cross-play between Steam and Xbox is also planned, which should fix the problems with the Game Pass version of Palworld; the hotfix has been delayed, and the menu functionality is completely gone; and the game's community manager has been working on the game for the past few months. Earlier this week, Bucky, the game's community manager, noted that the differences between the Steam and Microsoft Store versions will not be fully resolved until "crossplay is fully compatible."

However, one must remember that the game is still in Early Access. What Early Access actually means in the modern era remains to be seen, but there have been times when great promise has come from the success of an unexpected beta. Whether Pocket Pair can actually pull off this particular landing remains to be seen.