The earlier Pocketpair game compared with Palworld as an early-access open-world survival project is Craftopia.
Craftopia was developed by the same Japanese studio, Pocketpair, and entered early access in 2020. It combines survival, crafting, exploration, building, automation, vehicles, and combat in a broad open-world framework. Those overlapping systems made it a natural reference point when Palworld was announced and later released.
Palworld carries several of those design ideas forward, but adds a much stronger focus on capturing and using creatures called Pals. In Palworld, Pals can fight, work at bases, transport materials, and provide special Partner Skills. Craftopia instead centers more broadly on crafting, technology, equipment, vehicles, and a sandbox adventure structure.
The comparison does not mean the two games are identical or that Craftopia is a direct sequel. They are separate Pocketpair projects, linked mainly by the studio, their early-access development histories, and their shared interest in combining multiple game genres. Creatures of Ava, Temtem, and Core Keeper were not the earlier Pocketpair project referenced by this comparison.