Pocketpair dropped Palworld’s v1.0.4 update on September 7, 2026 across every supported platform simultaneously — Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Game Pass (console build 1.102.642). Unlike the balance-only 1.0.3 patch in August, this one adds actual new content: two chained sub-missions, a proper fishing rework, meaningfully smarter Base Pal combat AI, and a wall of bug fixes that addresses some of the loudest community complaints since 1.0 launched. Here’s every change that matters and what it actually means for your game. For the complete official patch notes, Pocketpair has published the full changelog at the official Steam announcement page.
New Sub-Missions: Beyond Dimensions and From the Far Side of the Moon
Version 1.0.4 is the first post-launch patch to add new missions rather than just tuning existing numbers. Two chained sub-missions have been added, both designed to funnel players into the Palworld x Terraria crossover content more naturally.
How to Start Them
Beyond Dimensions — Head to Fisherman’s Point on the south side of Mount Obsidian (the volcanic northwest region of Palpagos). Find the NPC standing near a slime — he’s a man with a suspiciously Terraria-adjacent companion who’ll point you toward a dungeon containing strange creatures. Accept his quest to begin.
From the Far Side of the Moon — This second mission unlocks automatically after you complete Beyond Dimensions. It’s built around fighting and defeating the Moon Lord raid boss, making it the more substantial of the two.
Pocketpair hasn’t published detailed reward tables for either mission yet, so definitive farm route planning will have to wait until the community has had time to map them out. Two existing mission bugs were also fixed alongside the new content: the objective marker for “Collecting Pure Quartz” was missing entirely, and the No. 1 Wildlife Sanctuary pin in Zoe’s sub-mission was pointing at the wrong location.
Base Pal AI Overhaul — The Change Most Players Will Feel
This is the update’s most impactful day-to-day improvement for anyone running a base. Pocketpair adjusted both summoned Pals and Base Pals to prioritize skills expected to deal higher damage rather than defaulting to weaker or situationally inappropriate moves.
In practical terms: your Pals will now lead with their heavy hitters during combat instead of spamming low-damage abilities. The change affects both actively summoned Pals you fight alongside and the Pals stationed at your base who defend during raids.
Alongside the priority fix, charging-type skill behavior was corrected. A longstanding issue caused Pals using charge-based attacks to occasionally trigger backward evasive maneuvers mid-charge — breaking their own attack animation at the worst possible moment. That errant backpedaling has been addressed in this patch.
The combined result should make base defense raids notably more competent without any changes to the Pals themselves or their stats. They were always capable of dealing more damage — they just weren’t choosing to when it mattered.
Fishing Overhaul — Four Changes at Once
Fishing received four separate changes in v1.0.4, making it the most addressed system in this patch:
- Difficulty rebalanced for late-game areas — The Sunreach and World Tree fishing spots had their difficulty nudged down. These were among the hardest fishing minigame encounters in the game, and the adjustment makes endgame fishing more accessible without trivializing it entirely.
- Item payout adjusted per bait type — The number of items you receive per successful catch has been boosted across bait types, with each bait type adjusted individually. Specific numbers per bait haven’t been officially published yet.
- New Fish Behaviour During Fishing Minigames World Setting — This is a configurable toggle in World Settings that lets you adjust how fish behave during the minigame. Players who find the fishing timing frustrating can dial it back; players who want a harder challenge can push it up. It’s a straightforward accessibility add-on that doesn’t change the core system.
- Control prompts and recommended-gear displays added to the minigame UI — New players entering fishing for the first time now have on-screen guidance rather than having to discover the controls through trial and error.
Radiant Gem Drop Fix — Long-Requested Community Fix
One of the most celebrated fixes in 1.0.4 is the correction of a bug that existed in Palworld since its initial launch. In the World Tree region, Electric Radiant Gems were dropping at an abnormally high rate — frequently and from Pals that logically shouldn’t have been dropping them at all. This meant players farming for non-Electric Radiant Gems were constantly getting the wrong type, making targeted Awakening material farming unreliable.
The fix restores correct drop rates across all Radiant Gem types, meaning the different elemental variants will now drop from appropriate Pals at appropriate rates. Players running Awakening farms in the World Tree should notice an immediate improvement in the consistency and predictability of their drops.
Campfire Friendly Fire Fix
A small quality-of-life fix with an outsized impact on daily base life: campfires placed by you can no longer burn you or your Pals. Previously, walking too close to your own base campfire would set your workforce on fire — a problem that was equal parts absurd and genuinely annoying during busy base management sessions. The constant roasting of your own employees is, as of 1.0.4, a thing of the past.
Ancient Bark Access Expanded
Ancient Bark — a rare wood variant needed for four high-value accessories including the best carry-weight item in the game — previously required Lumbering at a skill level above the bottom rung to gather. That gate has been removed. Any Pal with Lumbering at Work Suitability Level 1 can now gather Ancient Bark, opening up all 63 Lumbering Pals in the game to the task. Early-game Pals like Lifmunk and Tanzee, which sit at Lumbering 1, can now contribute to Ancient Bark gathering from day one of a run. For players building toward the four accessories that require 90 total Ancient Bark, this significantly reduces the roster planning required.
Palpedia Name Search
A navigation quality-of-life addition: the Palpedia now has a name search bar. Previously, finding a specific Pal required filtering by elemental type and scrolling — useful in some contexts but clunky when you already know which Pal you’re looking for. The new search bar lets you type a name directly and get the entry you want immediately. This is particularly useful in randomized worlds where Pal locations differ from the standard map.
Note: this search applies to the Palpedia only, not the Palbox. A common point of confusion in early community discussion — Palbox filtering is unchanged in this patch.
Resource Recovery When Demolishing Structures
Two building-related improvements for base management: when you abandon construction or demolish structures, you now get your resources back cleanly. Additionally, if you activate the option to disable automatic collection when there’s excess material, only the surplus materials will be left on the ground — not the full resource return. This gives players more granular control over base resource flow during reorganization.
Performance and Stability Improvements
The console builds received specific technical attention in 1.0.4:
- PS5 — More stable co-op performance with reduced memory pressure during multiplayer sessions
- Xbox One / One S — Reduced overall system memory strain
- All platforms — Memory usage optimizations across the board
Bug Fix Summary
1.0.4 ships with a substantial bug fix list covering practically every system in the game. The total count across major and minor fixes exceeds 100 entries. Key categories addressed include:
- Crash fixes — Including the bug where a Pal could no longer be summoned if recalled too quickly, and one where controls stopped responding after a crash to the title screen
- Multiplayer fixes — Co-op stability improvements and connection issue resolutions
- Mission progression fixes — Multiple objective marker corrections including the Pure Quartz marker and Zoe’s Wildlife Sanctuary pin
- Battle skill fixes — Charging behavior corrected, skill priority logic improved
- UI fixes — HUD ammo count no longer sticks at 0 after reloading; Watchtower map unlocking works correctly when revisiting locked towers
- Sound fixes — Various audio issues addressed
Dedicated server groups should note: all players on the same server must be on the same build for the connection to work. Version-mismatch errors now display the target’s version number, which makes identifying and fixing build mismatches considerably easier than before.
What v1.0.4 Doesn’t Change
For players tracking specific systems: the level cap remains at 80, the Paldeck sits at 287 Pals, no new tower bosses have been added, capture-bonus costs are unchanged at 5 catches, and condensing costs remain at 48 Pals. This patch is also unrelated to Palworld Online — the separate Garena-licensed mobile MMO announced in August 2026 is a completely different product from a different team.
Pocketpair has been teasing bigger structural changes for the eventual 1.1 update, though no timeline has been given for that release. For now, 1.0.4 is a solid quality-of-life and content patch that addresses real issues players have been raising since the 1.0 launch — and the combination of the Radiant Gem fix and Base Pal AI improvements alone will meaningfully improve the endgame experience for most active players. The gaming calendar this September is stacked with new releases and updates across the board — from Overwatch Rush’s Southeast Asia soft launch to Aniimo’s September 16 global launch — but Palworld veterans who have been waiting for base AI to smarten up finally have their patch.
