A few weeks ago, you had probably never even heard of "Pal World." But within just a few days of its early access launch last Friday, January 19, this game has become the video game everyone is talking about.

Billed as "Pokémon with guns," Japanese developer Pocket Pair confirmed that Pal World sold 5 million copies in just a few days. Its popularity continues to soar on Steam's charts, becoming the sixth game in history to have more than one million concurrent users.

Usually, the release of a major game requires a long preparation period, with extensive pre-release press coverage and much-hyped pre-launch marketing. This survival game came out quite suddenly and may prove to be a fleeting event, but here is everything you need to know about this game that everyone is playing right now.

Pal World is a third-person, open-world survival game in which you explore a vast map and interact with animal-like inhabitants known as pals.

As mentioned above, Palworld is a survival game, so you can expect the usual elements of the genre, such as the need to keep your hunger meter full at all times and an emphasis on resource gathering and crafting to create useful items and build a base of operations. But the real appeal of the game, and the reason for its rapid spread, lies in the adorable pals.

There are over 130 pals in total, each of which can be fought in battle to weaken them and captured using the "Pal Sphere". Once you capture a Pal, there are numerous things you can do with your new partner, depending on the type of Pal you have captured. They can be summoned during battle, or stationed at the home base to help with crafting. Some pals can also be used as mounts to make it easier to move around the island.

Pal World is a multiplayer game in which up to four "pal tamers" can team up and roam the island together. The game also sports a comedic tone with ironic references to illegal hunting and forced labor. In addition, you can get a lot of mileage out of the inherent humor by having adorable Pokémon-like creatures carry machine guns.

Palworld is currently available as an early access version on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Sorry PlayStation gamers, no PS5 or PS4 versions are in the works.

For PC, Palworld can be purchased on Steam for $26. On January 25, the price will increase to $29. Xbox players, on the other hand, can purchase Palworld for $29 on the Xbox store and can take advantage of a free 60-minute trial to try out the survival game before plunking down their money.

Palworld is also available on Xbox Game Pass for consoles and Windows PC. If you already have a Game Pass subscription, you don't have to pay extra to roam the open world and build your Pal collection.

Although Palworld has seen a remarkable rise in popularity, the game's Early Access launch was not without considerable controversy.

First, it is no secret that Palworld is inspired by Nintendo's popular monster-capturing series, Pokémon, but some gamers have accused developer Pockepair of taking the Pokémon design a step further. While it is difficult to draw any specific conclusions on the matter, some of the pars look suspiciously familiar.

Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocket Pair, commented on the matter in an interview with the Japanese gaming website Automation (discovered by Kotaku), stating, "We have no intention of infringing on the intellectual property of other companies."

Some sources also suggest that Pal World was created with the help of generative AI tools, a thorny issue in the game development world. Mizobe has previously made statements in favor of AI tools, which have been used as evidence to suggest that Palworld is at least partially AI-generated. However, there appears to be no hard evidence of this fact.

Controversy also arose over the Pocket Pair's previous title, Craftopia, which was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Some players claimed that the developers abandoned the game unfinished, but as of now, Craftopia is still receiving regular patches.

Palworld came out of nowhere quite unexpectedly and looks to be one of the biggest gaming success stories of the year.

Selling over 5 million copies in just a few days is a huge accomplishment for any game, especially a low-budget indie title like Palworld, and the level of online interest is even greater than what many AAA blockbusters have seen in recent years. [Realistically, Palworld's current level of popularity will not be maintained forever, but if Pocket Pairs stands well and provides timely updates that incorporate player feedback, Palworld will not be completely forgotten anytime soon.

It may not have the ultimate longevity of games like Fortnite or Rocket League, but Palworld has proven to be the right game at the right time and will continue to generate interest for many months to come.