It’s the battle of the Pokémon-likes! Sort of. Developer Crema has unveiled Temtem: Pioneers, a new spin-off for its 2022 creature-collecting adventure Temtem that – based on the limited information revealed so far, at least – looks like it’s aiming squarely for Palworld.

Temtem: Pioneers, as per its Triple-i Initiative Showcase unveiling, takes players far from the Archipelago setting of Crema’s original Temtem, dropping them into the mysterious Downbelow – a “vast and untamed region where Temtem roam wild and every expedition opens the door to new discoveries”.

It’s a departure from Temtem in genre terms too, swapping out the 2022 game’s heavily Pokémon-inspired RPG action for something that sounds quite a bit like Palworld on paper (minus the sweatshops and machine guns, judging by the trailer). That means “creature collection, survival gameplay, and fast-paced action combat”, with building, multiplayer, and other bits thrown in.

Temtem: Pioneers marks Crema’s third attempt at a Temtem spin-off, following on from its free-to-play multiplayer battler Temtem: Showdown (shut down in 2024) and the Vampire-Survivors-inspired Temtem: Swarm. Temtem itself also wrapped up development in 2024, after the studio announced it would be jettisoning the game’s live-service elements and ditching monetisation as it turned its attention toward new projects.

As to when Temtem: Pioneers might emerge, that’s currently unclear – Crema is opting to crowdfund at least some of its development through Kickstarter.