i had to put aside my biases and play this despite the fact that it's blatantly ripping off lego fortnite's gameplay mechanics. My thoughts? It's really early access. It's less buggy than i'd expect and honestly has more content than i'd thought, but the gameplay loop is honestly pretty lame. The pals automating the work in your camp is a really cool idea and i can see it becoming self sufficient and satisfying lategame, but in terms of being an actual open world pokemon game it leaves some to be desired. Like, sure the designs are good and it's real time combat and its fun and everything, but you don't control the pals. You attack alongside them which is badass but i'm trying to catch this pal so i got him at 1hp and my pal just does the killing blow without me asking. Sometimes the pal won't attack at all. The AI is busted and janky and i'm honestly not sure if they'll stick with this long enough for it to finish early access and become good. I did manage to catch a human in a pokeball which is f#cking hilarious. I named him kenneth awesomepants (after my iconic baldurs gate 3 character) but he did no damage and couldnt do any camp work so ironically he was the mascot. Has potential. Wait til full release.