Palworld v1.0.4 Patch Notes: Two New Missions and a 120 FPS Default on PC

Pocketpair has released Palworld v1.0.4, a maintenance-focused update that adds two new sub-missions, reworks parts of fishing and changes how your Pals pick their attacks in combat. The Palworld v1.0.4 patch notes run to well over a hundred lines, and they cover the PC build alongside console-specific entries for PS5, so this is not a Steam-only hotfix.

Palworld is available on PC through Steam and the Microsoft Store, on Xbox including Game Pass, and on PlayStation 5. Pocketpair did not publish a download size for this one, and there is no wipe or save migration attached to it.

What the Palworld v1.0.4 patch notes actually change

The two new sub-missions are "Beyond Dimensions" and "From the Far Side of the Moon". You pick up the first from an NPC at Fisherman's Point in Mount Obsidian; the second only opens once you have cleared it. That is the entirety of the new content, so treat 1.0.4 as a cleanup pass on the 1.0 release rather than a content drop.

Combat behaviour got the most meaningful tuning. Summoned Pals and Base Pals now prioritise the skills expected to deal higher damage, which should stop the long-standing habit of a Pal burning its weakest move on a boss. Pocketpair also adjusted how Base Pals handle charging-type skills, changed the minimum use distance on Power Bomb so Pals stop backstepping repeatedly before firing it, and tweaked Core Eject damage on the Core Eject Shotgun. Mission target Pals and NPCs will no longer fall asleep mid-objective.

Fishing, bases and the quality-of-life list

Fishing in the late game is easier now. Difficulty at fishing spots in Sunreach and the World Tree area has been lowered, the amount of items you get per bait type has been rebalanced, and the minigame finally shows control guides, warning displays and a recommended equipment prompt. There is also a new World Settings toggle for fish behaviour during fishing minigames.

• Cancelling work at a production facility now returns the materials to your inventory instead of the ground.
• Players, summoned Pals and Base Pals no longer catch fire when they touch a player-built campfire.
• Server admins get a new setting for a per-player cap on how many buildings each person can place in the world.
• Building is now blocked near the desert Field Boss Suzaku, the desert Main Mission cave and some Sakurajima mission locations when building restrictions are on.
• The Palpedia has a name search, and the Pal status screen explains Work Suitability in detail.
• Ancient Bark now only needs Work Suitability Lv. 1 to gather.

The PC and PS5 changes worth knowing

On PC, the default frame rate cap is now 120 FPS. On PS5, you can open chat from the Radial Menu, which was one of the more common console complaints after 1.0. Version mismatch errors now tell you which version the machine you are trying to connect to is running, which saves a lot of guesswork in co-op. Pocketpair also says it reduced rendering load from foliage and effect playback, cut stuttering when certain passive skills trigger, and lightened the field rendering load in the World Tree area.

The bugs this update fixes

The fix list is long. Among the ones players are most likely to have hit: a crash when sorting Pals on a server, a crash during the animation after a fishing spot disappeared, and controls locking up after a connection error dropped you back to the title screen. In co-op, joining players sometimes failed to enter the host's guild, and a client walking into a mission area could push the host's mission forward. Both are fixed.

Progression fixes matter more. The World Tree Guardian would not appear later in the Main Mission if you had already beaten Panthalus, and the "Crafting an Axe and a Pickaxe" objective would not tick over if you already owned the tools before accepting it. Elsewhere, Radiant Gems dropped by wild Pals in the World Tree area had mismatched elements, the Lucky passive's defence bonus was not applying at all, and Killamari Primo's Partner Skill had its Lv. 2 and Lv. 3 effects swapped.

If you are working through a backlog of console patches this month, our rundown of September's Game Pass wave and what leaves on the 15th covers what else is worth installing, and Dragon's Dogma 2 update 3.2 and its save-slot changes is the other large patch of the week. Cloud players should also read the new Xbox Cloud Gaming hour limits arriving in November before planning a long streamed session. If you want survival games on a phone instead, our guide to running PC games on Android with Winlator explains what a mid-range handset can realistically manage.