A newly announced Steam game is already drawing comparisons to Palworld, but it's more about how it innovatively combines that formula with Monster Hunter Stories-style anime aesthetics. Indeed, as is the case with many creature-collecting games, sometimes innovation isn't in introducing something new but in combining new specific niches in new ways. A Pokemon-inspired formula and design with survival and guns became Palworld, and Palworld's formula with monster bonding and more Monster Hunter-style anime results in Wild Wild Eden—an upcoming open-world creature-collecting survival-crafting anime game, if that's not too much of a mouthful, releasing on Steam in Q1 2027.
Open-world survival crafting games have exploded in popularity over the past few years thanks to titles like Palworld, ARK: Survival Evolved, and Valheim. At the same time, monster-collecting RPGs such as Monster Hunter Stories have shown there's plenty of demand for games centered around bonding with creatures instead of simply fighting them. Wild Wild Eden appears to sit somewhere between those ideas (with an equally cozy tone).
For fans of unrestricted adventures, these open-world games offer the most leisurely style of gameplay and never rush you towards the next story beat....
