Last year, for April Fools’ Day, developer Pocketpair announced Pal♡world! ~More Than Just Pals~ as a spinoff dating sim. At the time, though, it was clear that the game was just an April Fools’ joke, especially since it said it was releasing on April 1, 2025. So, it’s not much of a surprise that the joke would make a return this year, but now we’re having second thoughts about whether or not it’s a joke. For starters, the video actually went live a few hours before April 1, 2025, in Japan, but even if you want to ignore that, there’s an actual Steam page for the game. If this is still a joke, Pocketpair is really going the extra mile this year.
There’s a possibility that last year’s trailer generated so much buzz that Pocketpair decided to turn the game into a reality. Besides, creating a dating sim or virtual novel wouldn’t be that difficult for the team, and chances are, it would actually be profitable considering Palworld was one of the biggest launches of 2024. As for why I’m convinced it’s real this time around: It just wouldn’t be funny to repeat the same joke, but repeating it and turning it into a real game would be pretty good. Also, the new trailer says “in development!!” instead of an April 1 release date. Don’t be surprised if Pocketpair actually launches this, given the growing popularity of its Palworld brand.
