Palworld 2025 Updates: Crossplay, Home Sweet Home, and the Road to 1.0

Palworld has transformed dramatically since its explosive Early Access launch in January 2024. After the Sakurajima and Feybreak Island updates in 2024, Pocketpair kept the momentum going through 2025 with crossplay, major quality-of-life improvements, and one of the game’s biggest content drops yet. Here is everything that happened and what comes next.

Crossplay Update (v0.5.0) — March 2025

One of the most requested features since launch finally arrived in late March 2025. The Crossplay Update connected Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Mac players for the first time, letting friends on different platforms explore the Palpagos Islands together.

Key Features

Full crossplay support across Steam, Xbox, PS5, and Mac when enabled by the world host.
Global Palbox, a new system that allows players to transfer Pals between different worlds. This was a major quality-of-life addition that previously forced players to start fresh on every server.
Photo Mode for capturing and sharing screenshots with creative camera controls.

Crossplay must be toggled on during world creation or in server settings. It is disabled by default, so dedicated server administrators need to update their configurations to enable it.

Mid-Year Quality Updates

Between the major content drops, Pocketpair shipped several patches throughout spring and summer 2025 focused on stability, balance adjustments, and bug fixes. Key improvements included:

Performance optimizations for servers with large player counts.
Base Pal AI improvements to reduce stuck behaviors and improve worker productivity.
Balancing passes on combat, particularly for higher-level encounters introduced in the Feybreak update.
Continued Terraria collaboration content, building on the crossover that began with the Feybreak update in December 2024.

Home Sweet Home Update (v0.7.0) — December 2025

Released on December 17, 2025, the Home Sweet Home update is the final major content drop before Pocketpair shifts focus to the 1.0 release. It delivers substantial improvements to base building, combat, and community features.

ULTRAKILL Collaboration

The update introduces a crossover with ULTRAKILL, the acclaimed retro FPS. Players can earn the iconic V1 and V2 armor sets and wield weapons like the Marksman Revolver and Core Eject Shotgun. The Marksman Revolver features a unique Ricoshot mechanic that lets bullets ricochet off thrown coins for devastating damage, bringing ULTRAKILL’s signature style into the Palworld universe.

Overhauled Base Building

Base building received its most significant upgrade yet:

48 new building pieces including triangular foundation and wall pieces for more creative architectural designs.
Color customization for select buildings and foundations, letting players personalize their bases.
Redesigned building UI with list-based selection that makes finding pieces faster.
Improved placement system with orientation arrows and work location indicators.

New Raid Boss: Hartalis

Hartalis, the King of Salvation, is a new legendary Pal and raid boss. Players can summon Hartalis using the Summoning Altar and choose whether to fight in their base or a separate battlefield. Hartalis has exclusive skills including Sacred Barrier, Radiant Barrage, and Savior.

Combat Enhancements

Melee combat was reworked with consecutive combo attacks for swords, katanas, and beam swords. Special attacks were added to katanas and beam swords, giving melee builds more depth and viability.

PvP and Steam Workshop

Two community-driven features arrived with this update:

PvP mode (experimental): Tools for players to set up their own PvP rules on dedicated servers, allowing for structured competitive play.
Steam Workshop support: PC players can now browse, download, and apply mods directly through the Steam Workshop, dramatically lowering the barrier to modding.

Looking Ahead: The World Tree and Version 1.0

Pocketpair confirmed that Palworld 1.0 will launch in 2026. The centerpiece of the full release is the World Tree, the massive structure at the center of the Palpagos Islands that has been blocked by a red barrier since launch. In 1.0, that barrier finally falls.

What We Know About 1.0

The World Tree zone will serve as the definitive endgame area with new high-level content and unique Pals.
New Pals have been teased through concept art, including an Electric-type lion cub and a Giant Whale that players can ride toward the World Tree.
Level cap increase is expected to reach 70 or 75 to match the difficulty of endgame content.
Final Boss and Ending Scenario will give the game a proper conclusion for the first time.
Further Pal improvements including new ways to strengthen and evolve your collection.

The developers have described 1.0 as “shaping up to be our biggest update ever,” signaling a shift away from the rapid island updates of 2024 toward a comprehensive, polished full release.

Hosting Your Palworld Server

With crossplay connecting all platforms and major content continuing to roll out, running a dedicated Palworld server gives your group a persistent world to grow in together. Reactor’s Palworld hosting provides one-click deployment, automatic updates, crossplay support, and scheduled backups so your Pal collection and base progress are always safe.

From the early chaos of launch to the rich, feature-complete experience 1.0 promises to deliver, Palworld’s evolution has been remarkable. 2025 laid the groundwork, and 2026 is where it all comes together.