1.0 landed free, kept everyone's saves, and added 72 Pals. I'm more interested in what surviving two years of 'this game is dead' discourse actually took — because most Early Access hits don't make it.
Palworld left Early Access on July 10, 2026, two and a half years after it detonated onto Steam and briefly became the only thing anyone talked about. The 1.0 update is free for everyone who already owns it, it's day one on Game Pass, and — the part I think matters most — it does not wipe existing saves. If you have a base you've been building since 2024, it survives.
What actually landed
The headline additions: 72 new Pals bringing the roster to 287, two new regions — the Sunreach islands plus an endgame World Tree area — new Mutations and Awakening progression systems, a level cap raised to 80, and the thing Early Access players have waited longest for, a complete main story with a real ending. Pocketpair's own launch post has the full breakdown, and the changelog running to 27 pages tells you they treated this as a genuine milestone rather than a version-number formality.
287 Pals in the roster at 1.0 — up 72 from where Early Access left off. · Unsplash
The decision I want to single out
The quieter achievement is that it exists at all
Palworld's story since launch has been less about content than endurance. It weathered a Nintendo patent lawsuit. It went through the full hype cycle — explosive launch, saturation, backlash, then the long stretch where the internet decided the game was dead because it wasn't the main character any more. And it carried the structural risk every Early Access hit carries: that the money arrives at launch, the team gets comfortable, and the finished version never quite materialises.
Shipping a free, save-preserving 1.0 two and a half years later is Pocketpair quietly answering all of that. I'd argue that's more impressive than the content itself. The graveyard of Early Access games that took a huge launch and never reached 1.0 is enormous, and the ones that do finish frequently do it by charging again for the privilege.
Should you come back to it?
If you own it, there's nothing to weigh — it's free, your save works, and there's a genuine ending to reach now where previously there was a wall. Just go and look. If you bounced off it in 2024 because it felt unfinished, that specific complaint has now been addressed, though I'd temper expectations: it's a bigger, more complete version of the game you already formed an opinion about, not a different one.
If you've never played it and you're on Game Pass, it's included, so the cost of finding out is your evening rather than your money. The one group I'd steer away is anyone who wants a tight, authored survival experience — Palworld is still a sprawling, slightly chaotic game with a sense of humour about itself, and 1.0 hasn't sanded that off.
Common questions
Do I need to buy anything for 1.0?
No. The 1.0 update is free for everyone who already owns Palworld, and it's included day one on Game Pass.
Will my existing save still work?
Yes. Pocketpair explicitly preserved existing saves — there's no world wipe, which is unusual for a survival game leaving Early Access.
Is there a proper ending now?
Yes, 1.0 adds a complete main story. That was the biggest structural gap during Early Access.
How many Pals are there now?
287, after 1.0 added 72 new ones.
Is it worth starting fresh?
Not necessary — your old world carries over and the new regions are endgame-facing. Starting fresh is a preference rather than a requirement.
