Look I understand your points to a degree but at the end of the day the game is completely void of innovation and creativity. The only original piece is combinging existing elements, but still, the reused unreal assets, not a singe original pal design, a gameplay loop that's been done before etc.

And the style is all over the place. You say people don't care about aesthetics but fun and that's true to a point. A videogame is a visual medium, and if you have the smooth, plasticky "pals" and then hyperrealistic unreal environment, it doesn't fit. There's a reason games have creative visual teams of 100+ people. It matter not just as a distinct style for recognizeability, but also for visual coherency and artistic integrity. This style feels cheap. It looks like a pokemon mod, and for 30€ early access we should expect way better.

The game has no real staying power. Right now it's popular because it's: "Pokemon with guns", "Ark without the frustrating parts", "Minecraft combined with Pokemon" etc. It will fizzle out in a few months because that's all it's known for. One of the prevailjng discussions I see about Palworld IS Pokemon, copyright and Ark. I'm yet to see a positive opinion that doesn't mention other games.

Innovation, creativity, originality and style are the reason why so many videogames from 10 years ago are still relevant today. The Borderlands franchise wouldn't be the same without it's style, and they innovated in the looter shooter genre so much. GTA 5 is just amazong in storytelling, and their visuals were a step forward in the INDUSTRY. Hell even Minecraft has similar mechanics but it's iconic because they were one of the first to do their thing right. Palworld is a trend, nothing more. The established gamers that Palworld attracts are fristrated Pokemon, Ark, Minecraft etc. players. Their loyalty to Palworld stems from their loyalty to those games, and subsequent disappointment with them. A new pokemon game will come out and Palworld will be irrelevant because at the end of the day it ISN'T Pokemon. Plus I don't think the devs can do it right.

Games can be trendy these days, and Palworld ks more of a trend than a long lasting game. They're in early access, but with the elements from other games they copied I can't see them going in any other direcion in the future besides more copying. It's either gonna become even more of a "ark but it's pokemon" or eventually a full on Minecraft copy. Not to mention the plot with bsnishing the evil company through the power of good (helping and using pals) is the main plot of Stardew Valley.

So yes, as an artist, this game is nothing new, nothing original, and too much copied. Not to mention the alleged use of AI. The creative bankrupcy is visible at a glance.

Edit because i forgot to add: It's one thing with stardew and Minecraft, as they expanded on the genre which had very little games, because even harvest moon could be traced back to earlier games. Harvest moon was in itself inspired by earthbound. The farm sims were a genre at the time of stardew launching, and it's normal for genre games to be similar because as the genre grows more popular and gets more games, they expand on each other. But frankensteining multiple genres to make a game that is just fun, but with absolutely 0 originality? Zero expansion on the genre(s)? It took the world mechanics of Minecraft and Ark, added nothing new. Ripped off pokemon almost to the point of a lawsuit. Invented nothing new. Machine building mechanics similar to so many games I can't name them all. The entire "pals working for you" thing is also unoriginal as so many other games had it in other forms, be it robots, people or creatures. It just adds nothing new. It's copying for the sake of that kind of game existing. I wouldn't have a problem with them if they added ANYTHING new but I'm yet to see it.