Sekhmet is Palworld's homecoming queen, according to a new poll published by creator Pocketpair. The kitty-shaped Pal was voted the most popular by global players, scoring 49,637 votes. Solenne came in second with 37,425 votes, and Chillet was third with 34,625 votes. Spare a thought for little old Verdash, who, despite a green bouffant that would make any 90s emo kid proud, was at the bottom of the rankings with 1,479 votes.
Alongside the results, Pocketpair also teased a new update for this winter, Palworld: Side by Side. When I say "teased," I mean gave us three human silhouettes, sending the fandom into speculation mode about who the hidden characters could be. The prevailing Reddit theories are that the mystery figures are Auri, Zoe, and Saya, which would make sense, given that they were the top picks for most popular characters in the character rankings in the Pocketpair poll. All three are already in-game as faction leaders, or tower bosses, and given that Pocketpair made Zoe a recruitable companion after last year’s poll, it could mean that Side by Side will let players team up with the trio.
In an interview with Gaming World Interviews at Gamescom in August, Pocketpair head of publishing and communications John “Bucky” Buckley teased that Palworld’s next update would include something fans have been asking for. Pocketpair hasn’t confirmed whether that’s Side by Side. He also suggested the update’s timing was chosen to steer clear of November, presumably to avoid GTA 6’s release.
“It’s exciting for us at Pocketpair because we’re doing something that people have wanted for a long time,” he said. “We kind of considered it for 1.0, but it would have just pushed the release back too far. And, you know, not to be cliché, everyone’s saying it, but this year... something’s happening later [in the year]... So we didn’t want to go anywhere near the November kind of range.
“We’re doing something that’s really exciting, but it’s not big... We’re going to start the marketing on this soon. It’s not a huge thing. You don’t have to restart your game to experience it.”
If you're planning on heading back to the Palpagos Islands, take a look at all the new Pals added in Palworld 1.0, plus a guide to all the Palworld bosses, and our interactive Palworld map.