Palworld Sakurajima review: Breathtaking beauty in a brief journey

The Palworld Sakurajima Update is a visual spectacle for players, and you are drawn into its breathtaking landscapes the moment you step foot on this new island. With cherry blossoms, torii gates, and structures inspired by Japanese architecture, this region is definitely a feast for the eyes, especially for someone who has a particular liking for the Land of the Rising Sun.

While the Palworld Sakurajima Update promises an imposing adventure and a plethora of new challenges, it misses out on that one significant spark that had fans attracted to the game when it launched in early access back in January 2024. The update does many things right, undoubtedly, but it also stumbles in a few key areas.

Multiplayer and Co-op are a few of the major changes that came with the Sakurajima Update, finally giving the players what they wanted, with Xbox dedicated servers and new PvP modes. Although I am not a huge fan of PvP in this game because adventure time sounds more appealing to me, Palworld's Arena has seen me return to play this mode quite a few times.

Let's take a deeper dive and objectively look at all that Palworld Sakurajima Island has to offer, and where the game's lack of a narrative might feel like an important deciding factor.

Palworld Sakurajima Update is a feast for the eyes and there's content to grind, but is it enough?

Gotta tame 'em all?

Katress Ignis and Wixen Noct (Image via Pocketpair, Inc.)

For collectors like myself, the Palworld Sakurajima Update is food for the soul. New Pals with unique designs, partner skills, and new variants of existing favorites already had me exhaust my Pal Sphere resources before I even set forward to catch 'em all.

In particular, Quivern Botan was an absolute favorite of mine owing to its soothing color and unusual Grass/Dragon-typing. To top that, new Pal variants also keep the lore spicy, with sworn rivals Katress and Wixen reigniting the feud in their new variants Katress Ignis and Wixen Noct. In terms of Pal design, their mechanics, and their skills, the Sakurajima Update lived up to the hype, delivering exactly as it promised.

The Meteorite Event is an absolute winner in this update. It checks all the right boxes according to me - a surprise event that can potentially have powerful exclusive Pals guarding it, and offers unique and rare items. It is simple, yet fun, although the sound of the event might be annoying after you've heard it for an extended period.

Challenging fights, underwhelming rewards

Saya and Selyne in Palworld Sakurajima Update (Image via Pocketpair, Inc.)

There is a lot to talk about here. Pocketpair seems to have focused a great deal on events and boss fights, and it works very well for the majority of the part. The new raid with Blazamut Ryu, and the new tower boss fight with Saya is Selyne is quite daunting for a regular player.

I don't mean souls-like challenging, although you might be able to tweak the game settings to achieve that. Fortunately, I am not one of those players who wants to make every moment a challenge for me.

Saya and Selyne, with their devastating attacks and imposing presence, put my Pal-battling skills to the ultimate test. And then there's the Blazamut Ryu raid, a monumental clash against a powerful variant of an existing Pal. There are very few things a big Rocket Launcher cannot solve in Palworld, and Blazamut Ryu is one of them.

And finally, we have the Oil Rig Stronghold. It's a suicide mission for anyone who is not at max level in the game already. I went there, died, came back to die again, and undertook an enlightening journey to max out my level. And then, when I was finally able to conquer the Oil Rig Stronghold, all I had was a sense of achievement. The rewards for the effort just did not make sense to me at all.

Oil Rig Stronghold in Palworld (Image via Pocketpair, Inc.)

This has been my biggest concern with the Palworld Sakurajima Update. There are a lot of challenging events, but not enough rewards to compel me to do it again. There's not enough incentive for players to re-do a challenge. Now for the raids, it's understandable since there's no other way to farm for Ancient Civilization Cores, but Tower Boss fights and Oil Rig just does not make it worthwhile.

You will actually end up using more resources (ammunition, Pals, armor and weapon health) to clear the Oil Rig than what you will receive from completing it. One can argue that it gives a lot of Crude Oil from the main chest, but I can just as easily set up a Crude Oil base and optimize it to produce a decent output. On top of that, you don't even need to clear the entire Oil Rig to get the reward, just head to the room with the chest, clear the room, and claim the reward.

The PvP arena is a fun addition to the game that allows you to fight other Pal Tamers as well. While I was initially skeptical of this feature, I found myself enjoying it with its fast pace and adrenaline-filled gameplay.

It's chaotic and thrilling, and most importantly, the events of the PvP Arena do not reflect on your main game. With some more refining, this mode can be a potential game-changer for Palworld, possibly bringing in a new crowd of competitive players.

Lost in the beauty

Cherry Blossoms in Palworld Sakurajima Update (Image via Pocketpair, Inc.)

For all its splendor, Sakurajima suffers from a lack of focus. At the end of the day, it's still too scattered. Sure there is a ton of content that you can explore, but there's no proper reason behind your actions at all. The meteorite event, for example, offered an amazing chance to create intricate lore and give us some history of the land. Alas, there's no overarching narrative to tie everything together.

I found myself wandering the gorgeous island, appreciating every bit of visual artwork that I could see while collecting Pals and battling bosses. But soon, the nagging sense of "what now?" dawned on me after the initial excitement faded.

The content is mesmerizing, but it's all on the lighter side. To top this off, you can finish all the content in a relatively short amount of time and then return to that empty feeling where the lack of a narrative comes back to haunt you.

In conclusion

PvP Arena in Palworld Sakurajima Update (Image via Pocketpair, Inc.)

The Palworld Sakurajima Update is a visually stunning addition with tons of exciting new things. New Pals, challenging bosses, an exciting PvP arena, and a plethora of powerful weapons produce the right mix of fantastical and realistic elements. However, the clear lack of direction and the relatively smaller size of the content might leave you yearning for more.

Considering the game is still in early access, and this update was free for anyone who owned the base game, it is absolutely worth checking out. And if you are one of those die-hard completionist players like myself, trust me, there's more than what you bargained for.

If I had to give one piece of advice for this update, it would be the take the Palworld Sakurajima Update at a slower pace, because, after the initial excitement, it does get monotonous and is unlikely to keep you busy for a long time.