Pocketpair has teased the release of Palworld’s first raid, called Bellanoir.

“A powerful evil Pal has appeared and is laying siege to the Palpagos Islands!” Pocketpair tweeted alongside a video, below. “Only the most skilled Pal Tamers stand a chance against her…”

Bellanoir is in fact the name of this new Pal and raid battle, but that’s pretty much all we know for now, save the Pal’s design as revealed in the video.

🚨Attention Pal Tamers🚨

A powerful evil Pal has appeared and is laying siege to the Palpagos Islands!
Only the most skilled Pal Tamers stand a chance against her…

Palworld’s first raid, Bellanoir, is coming soon! https://t.co/jZ4iWVl1Qk

— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) March 15, 2024 Pocketpair’s focus up to this point has been to issue fixes and balance updates to its monster hit survival and crafting game, so the release of Bellanoir marks the first significant gameplay addition since launch. There’s no word yet on improvements to the Xbox version, which still lags behind the Steam version in terms of functionality and features.

This week, Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe said the company can’t handle the massive profits the game has generated. Palworld launched in January and overnight became one of the biggest games in the world, setting records not only on Steam but on Xbox Game Pass, where it is the biggest third-party game launch ever.

So far, the $30 ‘Pokémon with guns’ game has seen an incredible 25 million players, with 15 million copies sold on Steam and 10 million players on Xbox.

While Palworld is one of the biggest game launches ever, it’s also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff has received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].