Palworld’s watering can animation is a lot like the game itself: kinda janky and surprisingly powerful.
January 2024 has ended up being a much stronger time for games than I expected. We were all calling 2023 one of the best years ever for games (with an all-time bad record of layoffs), but 2024 is off to a strong start (unfortunately,on both counts). Though I was looking forward to revisitingThe Last of Us Part 2with the new remastered version and fully expected to likePrince of Persia: The Lost Crownas a fan of Metroidvanias, Palworld’s release and massive success snuck up on me.
Other players seem to have been eagerly anticipating the game, though: Palworld has already soldmore than 8 million copies.
I’ve been having a surprisingly good time while playing thePokémon-clone-that-could. I’ve got a decent base that I’ve leveled up to 7, I’ve got my Pals working hard for no pay, and I’m still staying far away from any and all of the big monsters that are roaming around near the starting area. As a result, I mostly just catch Lamballs and built increasingly esoteric structures near my simple wooden hut.
I’ve got a Logging Site where my Pals can retrieve wood. I’ve got a Stone Pit where they can mine for rocks. I just built a Crusher which I haven’t used yet and assume is some sort of Pal torture device. And, strangest of all, I’ve got a patch of dirt and water that the game refers to as a “Berry Plantation” right next to my house. This structure proved to be the key to discovering the game’s unintentionally funny aspects.
Building this tiny cranberry bog led to me discovering the best animation in the game. Unlike other structures, where you merely approach and press F, the Berry Plantation has two discrete phases. First, you plant the seeds by standing near the bog and tossing them out in any direction. Once that’s done, you enter the watering phase. When you water the seeds, your character pulls out a watering can — so far, so normal — tilts it toward the ground, and then a stream that looks like it could be coming out of a firehose blasts out of the nozzle.
You should need a license to operate a watering can this powerful. It looks like it would knock unconscious any Pal unfortunate enough to wander in its path. It looks like a Blastoise used Hydro Cannon on your garden! It looks like you pressed F to open a fire hydrant, and now you should press F to pay respects to your seeds that will never grow into berry bushes!
No, but seriously folks, this water is ridiculous. It’s so powerful you could charge tourists from both New York and Ontario to visit it! It’s so powerful it would wash away pesky Ringwraiths as effectively as the water horses Arwen summoned at the Ford of Bruinen! It’s the most powerful depiction of water since Katsushika Hokusai used woodblocks to print his masterpiece The Great Wave off Kanagawa!
