Why would you want a Pal when you can capture humans in Palworld? Can Pals hold guns? Well, some can. Can Pals craft things for you while you explore the world? Yes, they can do that, too. So why would you capture a human? Because you can!
To engage in this morally questionable activity, just hit a human until they have low HP, then throw a Pal Sphere at them, just like you’d do to capture pals. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes you need better Pal Spheres. However, once a human is captured, they will appear in your party or Palbox.
Capturing humans is a fun detail that many players might miss because they might have never thought of even trying this. Granted, you don’t tend to see this in monster-collecting games. It seems that, unlike Pokéballs, Palspheres don’t make the distinction between what is a Pal and what is a human. If it’s alive, breathing, and its HP is sufficiently low, you can confine it in a Pal Sphere without mercy.
Once a human is captured in Palworld, the game warns you that this practice is considered inhumane, but it doesn’t prevent you from doing so. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about the humans I captured. They shot me and my Pals first. Also, I love how friendly they become once captured. You can release and retreat them as if they were any other Pal in your party.
One thing is for certain, humans are definitely worse than pals. They move slowly, have a single attack, aren’t very active in your base, and can’t be utilized for breeding. They don’t even have partner skills. Funny enough, you can condense them to increase their stats, effectively sacrificing other humans to make one stronger.
Capturing humans is more of a joke than a feature intended to be seriously used in the game. I’m pretty sure Pocket Pair is just poking fun at the genre, and adding an element that helps establish Palworld as a satire of known games. I’m not sure why anyone would capture humans in Palworld other than to test if it’s possible. That said, I already have eight in my Palbox, and they all have names now.