> the biggest of which is probably Digimon
Digimon is more about "other self", with exception of Cybersleuth and like Season 4 (which was Digimon but Power Rangers transformations). Only Cybersleuth (and other more recent games) were Pokemon "catch them" like plot-lines.
Digimon are fully sentient beings equal to humans (or even in some cases, divinely inspired angels, devils, or gods). In many cases, they are the representation of a person's soul and the "other self" reflected in the digital-world. This is why when Tai feels courageous (his Crest is Courage), Agumon gets powered-up. Because Agumon is specifically connected to Tai.
Palworld seems to be closer to Pokemon if anything, though the crafting stuff makes it look closer to Minecraft if anything. Some of my friends compare it to Ark:Evolved.
"Pokemon but more grimdark" was probably Monster Rancher, if I were to pick a 90s clone series.
Or the Persona series even.
I feel like this is all beside the point, though.
Game and story mechanics can't be copyrighted. Art—including character design—can be copyrighted. And that is where I think Palworld might have a problem, because at least to me, many of the models look very similar.
Yeah. No one will ever confuse "Lucemon" (Digimon) with anything from Pokemon, its very distinct.
But Palworld's Fenglope is *damn* close to Cobalion (same animal, same color scheme, same subdivisions with the same color on those subdivisions).