Palworld player uncovers secret Mewtwo-like hidden in the game files that looks too legally actionable even for Palworld

The Dark Mutant pal layered atop a blurred piece of colourful Palworld keyart.

(Image credit: Pocketpair)

I've heard it said that Palworld's pals bear more than a passing resemblance to Pokémon. Is Wumpo Botan actually Tangrowth? Is Lamball actually Wooloo? Is this thing Eevee? No. Shush. That is clearly Cremis. Zip it, buddy, before we all end up in the dock.

But I've gotta admit that the latest Palworld discovery—uncovered by a dataminer called Brian Cozzens and spotted by Eurogamer—really does ring the old Poké-bell. It's not actually in the game (yet) but it's called Dark Mutant and you can find its model and Paldex entry if you rummage through Palworld's files. Or you can just check it out on this Palworld Paldex website.

Cozzens told Eurogamer that he found our friend Mewthree here while crafting an interactive map for the game. Let's not beat around the bush here, that's a Mewtwo. Specifically, it's a Mega Mewtwo Y that someone's dyed black and purple and given a pair of Brezhnev-style eyebrows to. Per its Paldex entry, it may have the power to "tear holes into other dimensions" once it's worked on its technique.

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Palworld's Dark Mutant next to a picture of Mega Mewtwo Y, to which it bears a striking resemblance. — (Image credit: Pocketpair / The Pokemon Company)

Sounds powerful! Almost as powerful as, uh, Mewtwo, whose prodigious psychic abilities made him a potent foe back in the first Pokémon Movie (which is, I admit, the only one I've seen by virtue of it coming out when I was five years old, the last time I was truly engaged with Pokémon). Perhaps the similarity was too much even for Pocketpair, which is why the studio opted to leave Dark Mutant tucked away in Palworld's files rather than having it inhabit the world.

Regardless, Dark Mutant's resemblance to its Pokémonic counterpart hasn't been lost on Palworld players, who mostly find the whole thing quite funny. "It really does seem like [Pocketpair] removed most of the pals that were WAY too 'inspired' by Pokémon, lol," wrote a Reddit user named veselek. "Looks… cooler than the actual Mega Mewtwo," wrote Spider-Phoenix. Blasphemy, frankly, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.

I hope Pocketpair shaves the serial numbers off Dark Mewtwo and eventually puts it into the game. We need something even rarer for PCG's Lauren Morton to accidentally end up breeding like some kind of Palworld Dr Frankenstein. Just, please don't make it as troubling as Lovander.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.