The collectible creatures in Palworld are called Pals. The name is short for “partners,” reflecting how these creatures function as companions, workers, mounts, and combat allies throughout the game.
Players encounter many different Pal species across the open-world Palpagos Islands. Each Pal has elemental characteristics, statistics, skills, and a Partner Skill that can provide a special ability when the creature is summoned. Some Pals help with farming, mining, crafting, cooking, or transporting materials at a player’s base.
A common mix-up is calling them Pokémon because Palworld is also a creature-collecting game and deliberately combines that idea with survival crafting, exploration, and combat. Pals are not divided into Pokémon-style categories, however, and they can be assigned practical work duties as well as used in battles. Players can also trade Pals, buy them from certain characters, or encounter unusual Alpha variants.
The game’s creature roster has expanded over time through updates, but “Pals” remains the canonical name for the species as a group.