Is it a legit good game or its just the meme game of the moment?
It's a survival game at its heart. But mixed in with elements from Breath of Wild / Tears of the Kingdom crafting, durability and stamina meter. Combined with Pokémon Legends Arceus catching mechanics and enemy pals attacking you. Combined with building elements like Minecraft/Fortnite that you can build things at any time and the structures stay there pernamently. There is also online play up to (I don't even know how many people). People are running servers with their own rules, playstyles and so on.
The game is a slow starter, but it has a lot to do, a lot of upkeep and a lot of grinding to get resources and having you catch more Pals (and more powerful ones) to really get the game rolling. Once you got one Home Base settled you are off on a Zelda-Pokemon-Esque Adventure.
Just fun notes:
There is a hookshot item
The map is HUUUGE and despite only being 100 or so pals and some variants, you never really feel underwhelmed.
Egg mechanics can help you obtain late game mons early by hatching them if you find their eggs.
You really need to explore caves, get keys and unlock loot to get better weapons/gear. Pretty much all high rarity weapons and gear are obtain via dungeon treasure chests.
There are a lot of nook and crannies with powerful pals hiding that takes some running around to find.
Yes you can catch humans. (They are awful pals though. I did managed to find a level 50 Human whose name is reincarnated human and states he was isekai'd into the world. I somehow managed to catch. He gives me pizza whenever I talk to him. I just have him chill at my base.
At the end of the day, if you enjoy one or two of these games: Pokémon, Zelda, Minecraft, Fortnite, Cult of the Lamb, and so on. Then Palworld for you.
I will easily spend hundreds of hours doing playthroughs like I did with Baldurs Gate. It has that limitless potential feeling to it. And it's only in open beta yet feels like a fairly complete game as it is.
I'm sure the mod scene will be going crazy with this game too.
Start of the year, but already my game of the year and it feels weird saying that.