The funniest thing is how many people are taking the game setting way, way too seriously. "OMG YOU ENSLAVE CUTE CRITTERS AND MAKE THEM WORK!!!111" - Like that hasn't been a thing in Pokemon since Green/Blue. Remember Lt. Surge, "fighting the war" with pokemon? Or the first episode of the anime, with a bunch of pikachu generating electricity for the pokecenter? Every mainline game has shown pokemon being used as workforce in one way or another, in Vermillion City there's even a house being built with Machoke doing all the heavy lifting.

Regarding Palworld proper, I've been enjoying this game a lot. It scratched some itches I didn't even know I had. Might last me a number of weeks yet, then I can wait for future updates while feeling duly sated.