You’re back from a long scouting run in the Windswept Hills, your bags are heavy with Ore, and you're ready to craft some Mega Spheres. Then you see it. That dreaded light-bulb icon or the red text over your base: your Pengullet is "Upset and not willing to do tasks." It’s just standing there. Staring at a wall. Maybe it’s pacing aimlessly near the campfire while your assembly line sits stone-cold silent. It’s frustrating. It's honestly one of the biggest momentum-killers in the game.
New players usually think it’s a bug. It isn’t. Palworld has a surprisingly deep (and occasionally punishing) Sanity (SAN) system that mimics a workplace burnout simulator more than a monster-catcher. If you treat your Pals like mindless robots, they eventually break. They get depressed, they develop fractures, or they just decide they've had enough of your management style.
The Sanity Spiral: Why Your Base Is Stalling
When a Pal is upset and not willing to do tasks in Palworld, it’s a direct result of their SAN dropping to zero or near-zero. Think of SAN as a secondary health bar. While HP is about physical damage, SAN is about mental fatigue.
Pals lose SAN when they work. They lose it faster if the work is hard, if the environment is bad, or if they aren’t eating right. Once that bar hits rock bottom, they enter a "Refusal" state. They won't just work slower; they’ll stop entirely. Sometimes they’ll even develop status ailments like "Depressed" or "Weakened," which require specific medical supplies to fix. You can't just yell at them to get back to work. Well, you can, but it makes it worse.
The game doesn't always do a great job of explaining the hierarchy of needs. Your Pals need more than just a bed and some berries. They need pathing that actually works and amenities that keep them from losing their minds.
Fix the Environment or Face the Consequences
Most "Upset" Pals are victims of bad base design. If your Pal can't reach their bed, they won't sleep. If they don't sleep, their SAN doesn't recover. It’s that simple. I’ve seen countless bases where players cram fifteen Pals into a tiny cliffside area. The pathing AI gets confused, a Digtoise gets stuck on top of a logging site, and suddenly it's starving and "Upset" because it couldn't walk three feet to the feed box.
The Bed Problem
Standard Straw Pal Beds are the bare minimum. They provide a tiny SAN recovery boost. If you're still using these in the mid-game, you're asking for a strike. You need to upgrade to High-Quality Pal Beds as soon as you hit Level 24. These beds actually heal SAN significantly during the night cycle. Also, space them out. If Pals overlap, they often glitch out and fail to register the "Sleeping" state, which keeps their SAN plummeting.
Hot Springs are Mandatory
You might think the Hot Spring is just a decorative fluff item. It’s not. It is a functional building that Pals will visit autonomously when their SAN is low. If you have a high-intensity base—say, a mining outpost with multiple Reptyros—you need more than one. One spring can only hold so many Pals. If a Pal is waiting in line for a bath, they aren't working, and if they can't get in at all, they stay upset.
Food Quality: Berries Aren't Enough
Let’s be real: we all start by dumping thousands of Red Berries into the feed box. It’s easy. It’s automated. It’s also a recipe for a mental health crisis in your base. Berries provide zero SAN recovery.
If you want your Pals to stay motivated, you have to feed them "real" food. Cooking your ingredients at a Campfire or Cooking Pot adds a SAN-restoration value to the item.
- Baked Berries: A tiny bit better, but still basic.
- Jam-filled Buns: These are the early-game meta. They require Flour and Berries, but they keep SAN stable.
- Salad: Once you unlock the Lettuce plantation, Salads are king. They increase work speed and keep Pals happy.
If a Pal is already upset and not willing to do tasks, feeding them high-quality meals like Pizza or Ominous Soup (if you're feeling dark) can jumpstart their recovery. Avoid the "Monitoring Stand" settings like "Brutal" or "Hard Working" unless you have a constant supply of high-end food to offset the massive SAN drain.
Handling Medical Ailments
Sometimes, a Pal being "Upset" is just the beginning. If left unmanaged, they get "Sick." You’ll see statuses like:
- Overfull: They’re stress-eating.
- Fracture/Ulcer: Physical toll of overwork.
- Depressed: The ultimate work-stopper.
To fix these, you need the Medieval Medicine Workbench. You can’t just pet them or give them a berry to fix Depression; you need "High-Grade Medical Supplies." These require Bones and Horns to craft. It’s expensive and time-consuming. Honestly, it’s much cheaper to prevent the "Upset" status than it is to cure "Depression."
If a Pal is stuck in the "Upset" state and won't move, try the "Reset" trick. Open your Pal Box, move the upset Pal back into the box (essentially "storing" them), wait a few seconds, and drop them back into the base. This forces their AI to recalculate their pathing and can sometimes snap them out of a logic loop, though it won't fix their low SAN.
The "Stuck" AI Factor
We have to talk about the pathing. Pocketpair is constantly updating the game, but Pals still get stuck. Often. A Pal that is "Upset" might actually just be starving because it got stuck on a roof or behind a storage chest.
Build your base on flat ground whenever possible. Avoid building near steep cliffs or tight corners. If you see a Pal's hunger meter flashing red while there's plenty of food in the box, they are stuck. Pick them up and throw them manually at the feed box or the bed to reset their coordinates.
Managing the Monitoring Stand
The Monitoring Stand is a trap for new players. It allows you to set the work intensity to "Cruel" or "Brutal." While this increases output, it tanks SAN faster than you can imagine. If your Pals are constantly "Upset," check your stand. Switch it back to "Normal." There is no point in having a 50% work speed buff if your Pals spend 80% of their time refusing to work or sleeping in the Hot Spring.
Nuance matters here. Some Pals have traits like "Workaholic" (SAN drops slower) or "Dainty Eater." These are your best friends for base building. Conversely, if you have a "Slacker" or "Clumsy" Pal, they will become upset significantly faster than their peers. Check the passives. Sometimes the best way to fix an upset Pal is to replace them with one that actually wants to be there.
Immediate Steps to Get Your Base Running Again
If your base is currently a graveyard of unmotivated Pals, follow this sequence to restore order. Don't skip steps or you'll be right back here in twenty minutes.
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- Recall and Reset: Put every "Upset" Pal into the Pal Box. This stops the SAN drain immediately and prevents further injury.
- The Nutrition Pivot: Clear out the raw berries. Cook everything. If you have Wheat, make Bread. If you have Honey, make anything with Honey.
- Pathing Audit: Look at where your Pals were standing when they gave up. Is there a chest in the way? A wall that’s too low? Clear the floor space. Wide-open bases are happy bases.
- Medicine Check: Check the Pal's detailed stats. If they have a red status effect like "Depressed," craft the High-Grade Medical Supplies. They will not recover from Depression naturally just by resting.
- Upgrade the Infrastructure: If you are over Level 24, replace every single straw bed with a High-Quality Pal Bed. It’s a resource sink, but the ROI on labor hours is massive.
Stop looking at your Pals as just "stats" and start looking at the SAN bar. A happy Pal is a productive Pal. Or, at the very least, a Pal that doesn't stand in the corner staring at a tree for three hours while your base runs out of wood.
Check your Pal Box right now and look for the SAN values—anything under 50 is a ticking time bomb. Switch those Pals out for a "B-team" while the regulars rest in the box or the springs. Rotation is the secret to a high-efficiency endgame base.