no pal world is not at all a pokémon-like game. the adventure aspect is idk what to call it, the only adventure really is finding new pals for the first time. it's kind of like ark with some inspirations from BOTW mechanics but you throw some pokemon in there

it does have a good variety of pals but honestly the only thing that feels unique is the appearances/sizes and sometimes the modifiers they have. the actual movesets don't feel very emphasized

in my opinion the actual pal vs pal combat is pretty lackluster, it's definitely not the focus of the game (although using slave labour is a focus of the game)