Palworld Beginner's Guide — Everything You Need to Know to Start

Early Game Priority Checklist

Surviving Your First Day

Palworld starts you on the Windswept Hills of the Palpagos Islands with basic gear and a tutorial sequence. Your immediate goal is gathering resources: punch trees for Wood (left-click on small trees), pick up Stones from the ground, and collect Berries from berry bushes for instant food. These three resources fuel everything in the first hour.

Build a Palbox as soon as you have enough materials — this is your base anchor point. Place it somewhere flat with space around it for expansion. Once a Palbox is down, you have a base; Pals assigned here will automatically eat from the Feed Box, work at assigned stations, and rest when tired. Without a Palbox, you're homeless and Pals have no work assignment.

The Campfire is your first cooking tool. Cook Red Berries (5 per cook) into Cooked Berries for slightly better hunger restoration. Early in the game, the biggest threat is not enemies but starvation — both yours and your Pals'. Keep a stack of food in your inventory at all times during exploration and make sure your Feed Box at base is stocked.

Catching Your First Pals

To catch a Pal, weaken it in combat (reduce its HP without knocking it out), then throw a Pal Sphere at it. The lower the Pal's remaining HP percentage, the higher the catch rate. A Pal at 10% HP is much easier to catch than one at 80%. Use your fists or a club to deal light damage without risking an accidental kill.

Your starting Pal Sphere inventory is small. Craft more using 1 Paldium Fragment + 3 Wood + 3 Stone at the Primitive Workbench. Paldium Fragments glow blue in the world — collect them whenever you see them on hillsides and riverbeds. Running out of spheres in the field means you can't catch Pals, so always carry 10–20 minimum.

Prioritize catching Pals with useful Work Suitabilities for your base. Lambball (Handiwork suitability) helps craft items. Cattiva (Mining + Handiwork + Transporting) is a versatile early worker. Lifmunk (Planting + Handiwork + Gathering) handles the farm. Don't catch only combat Pals — base workers are more valuable in the early game than fighters.

Base Building Basics

Your base levels up as you complete activities and place structures. Higher base levels increase the maximum number of Pals that can be assigned (starting at 5, increasing with level). Place work stations strategically: the Feed Box near sleeping areas so hungry Pals can eat without traveling far, the Logging Site near trees, and the Stone Pit near rocks.

The most important early buildings are: Palbox (required for everything), Campfire/Cookpot (food), Berry Plantation (food farming), Feed Box (Pal hunger), Logging Site (automated wood), Stone Pit (automated stone), and Primitive Workbench (crafting). This core set enables the base to function semi-autonomously while you explore.

Pal comfort matters — Pals become less productive when their Sanity drops. Build beds for them (Straw Pal Bed early, then upgrade), ensure they're fed, and avoid assigning them to dangerous or uncomfortable work. A Pal with 50% Sanity works significantly slower than one at 100%. Keep the base comfortable and Pals will maintain high productivity.

Essential Technology Tree Unlocks (First 10 Levels)

1. Level 1: Primitive Workbench, Pal Sphere, Campfire — absolute basics for survival.
2. Level 2: Small Feed Box, Straw Pal Bed — base Pal care requirements.
3. Level 3: Berry Plantation, Logging Site — automate food and wood gathering.
4. Level 4: Stone Pit, Wooden Chest — stone automation and storage.
5. Level 5: Bow, Cloth Outfit — better combat and weather protection.
6. Level 6: Egg Incubator — hatch Pal Eggs found in the world for powerful Pals.
7. Level 7: Sphere Workbench — mass-produce Pal Spheres more efficiently.
8. Level 8: Better workbench tier — unlocks Metal gear crafting prerequisites.
9. Level 9: Repair Bench — repair tools instead of crafting new ones constantly.
10. Level 10: Saddle for first mount Pal — dramatically increases travel speed.

Food Management — The Most Critical Early Survival Mechanic

Both you and your Pals get hungry over time. If a Pal's hunger reaches zero and it can't find food in the Feed Box, it will eventually lose Sanity and stop working entirely. A starving Pal is a useless Pal. Keep your Feed Box stocked with at least 30–50 food items at all times. Early game, this means regular Berry Plantation harvesting; mid-game, transition to cooked meals for better efficiency.

Your own hunger depletes during exploration and combat. Carry at least 10–15 food items during dungeon runs or long exploration sessions. Cooked Berries provide minimal restoration — by Level 10+, craft better food like Baked Berries or Salads. High-quality food also restores more HP, making it simultaneously a survival and combat resource.

The Feed Box is shared between all base Pals — place it centrally so every Pal has short travel time to eat. If your base is large and some Pals are starving despite food being available, the issue is usually that the Feed Box is too far from their work stations. Either build a second Feed Box or move work stations closer to the feeding area.

Most Common Beginner Mistakes

• Not building a Feed Box before assigning Pals to the base — Pals can't eat without one.
• Catching too many combat Pals and ignoring work suitabilities — your base needs miners, gatherers, and farmers more than fighters early on.
• Running out of Pal Spheres in the field — always carry 20+ and craft more before leaving base.
• Not keeping food in your personal inventory during exploration — hunger damage kills you slowly.
• Building base structures without checking for flat ground first — slopes create pathing issues for Pals.
• Ignoring Technology Points from leveling — unlock critical tech like Feed Box and Bed before expanding into combat gear.
• Forgetting to repair tools — tools degrade with use and break permanently if not repaired at the Repair Bench.