Palworld Community Votes Sekhmet as Top Pal in New Poll; Winter Update 'Side by Side' Teased

According to a fresh poll by developer Pocketpair, Sekhmet has been crowned the community's favorite Pal. The feline-shaped creature topped the global vote with 49,637 votes. Solenne secured second place with 37,425 votes, while Chillet followed closely in third with 34,625 votes. Poor Verdash, despite sporting a green bouffant that would make any 90s emo kid jealous, landed at the bottom with just 1,479 votes.

Along with the poll results, Pocketpair offered a teaser for the upcoming winter update, Palworld: Side by Side. The teaser was minimal—just three human silhouettes—but it was enough to send the fandom into a frenzy of speculation. The leading theory on Reddit is that the mysterious figures are Auri, Zoe, and Saya, which would align with their top placements in the character popularity poll. All three already appear in-game as faction leaders or tower bosses, and since Pocketpair made Zoe a recruitable companion after last year's poll, fans speculate that Side by Side might allow players to team up with the trio.

In an interview with Gaming World Interviews at Gamescom in August, Pocketpair's head of publishing and communications, John “Bucky” Buckley, hinted that the next Palworld update would include something fans have long requested. However, Pocketpair hasn't confirmed if that's Side by Side. He also suggested the update's timing was chosen to avoid November, likely to steer clear of GTA 6's release.

“It’s exciting for us at Pocketpair because we’re doing something that people have wanted for a long time,” he said. “We kind of considered it for 1.0, but it would have just pushed the release back too far. And, you know, not to be cliché, everyone’s saying it, but this year... something’s happening later [in the year]... So we didn’t want to go anywhere near the November kind of range.

“We’re doing something that’s really exciting, but it’s not big... We’re going to start the marketing on this soon. It’s not a huge thing. You don’t have to restart your game to experience it.”

If you're planning on heading back to the Palpagos Islands, take a look at all the new Pals added in Palworld 1.0, plus a guide to all the Palworld bosses, and our interactive Palworld map.