If you play it you’ll see. I just tried it out yesterday and it’s basically combined elements from Pokemon (creature collection & design style), Minecraft (crafting, resource collection), Slime Rancher (base building, using the “Pals” as workers), Zelda (hot/cold mechanics, climbing, combat, weapon durability), and a bunch of other elements from other games like a tech tree, recipes,
It’s somehow been able to do that in a really cohesive end product. It’s definitely a mish-mash, and the cutesy pals definitely do look like pokemon characters, but it somehow just works.
Pre-Windows PC Era games worth mentioning: