Palworld: How to pet your Pals

In a game like Palworld that's all about catching and leveling up cool and adorable creatures, one of the first things I bet you wondered was "can I pet them?" — and why wouldn't you? Those big poofy Lamballs are the fluffiest things anyone has ever seen, so it's only natural that we want to give them some loving pats and scritches before sending them off to work in our base. However, Palworld never mentions petting once in its tutorial, and the prompt for it doesn't come up automatically when you're near one of your Pals, either.

This has led many players to wonder if it's even possible to pet your Pals at all. Thankfully, I can confirm that it is, and doing so is incredibly easy. Here's how to pet Pals in Palworld, as well as an explanation of why you should and the benefits of doing so (aside from enjoying the cuteness).

How to pet your Pals in Palworld

Palworld never tells you this directly, but there's a radial menu you can open that has a "Pet" option on it. Whenever you either have a Pal from your party out or are next to one of the Pals working in your base, either press the "4" key (PC) or the right analog stick (Xbox) to open up this menu. Then, simply select the option to pet your Pal. It should come over to you, and when it does, your character will drop to one knee and give them some love.

Note that you can manually feed your Pals food through this menu, too, and can even command them not to attack, to attack aggressively, or to always focus on the same enemy you're fighting. This makes it particularly useful in combat, especially when you're trying to weaken, but not kill, a Pal so you can catch it.

What does petting Pals do in Palworld?

Now, I'm not saying there has to be a reason to pet your Pals, because I certainly don't need one. That big smile on their faces is the only reward I'll ever need; these loyal critters are the only reason any of us have thriving Palworld bases and can fully explore the Palpagos Islands, so I like making them happy. That said, though, there is a tangible benefit to it, even if it's only a small one.

Whenever you pet your Pals, their Sanity meter will go up by exactly one point. That's not a lot, and there are much better ways to increase a Pal's Sanity so that they stop slacking off, but those points can add up quite a bit over time. If you've got some downtime in your base and have nothing else to do, I'd definitely take a minute or two to give everyone some headpats.

Palworld is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, and Windows PC via either the Microsoft Store or Steam. It's quickly become one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of 2024 so far, and it's also playable through Xbox Game Pass.