Paladins (video game)
| Paladins: Champions of the Realm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Hi-Rez Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Hi-Rez Studios |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 3 |
| Platform(s) |
Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One macOS |
| Release | November 17, 2015 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a free-to-play hero shooter video game developped and published by Hi-Rez Studios.
Closed beta began on November 17, 2015. The game went into open beta on September 16, 2016. The game also went into open beta on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 3, 2017.
Gameplay
Champions and roles
Paladins provides various characters, called champions, for the players to choose during their multiplayer sessions. Each of these champions fall into one of the following categories: Front Line, Damage, Support and Flank. Being a team-based shooter, players must rely on strategy, character knowledge, coordination and teamwork in order to attain victory. Players may use VGS, along with text and voice chat to communicate. A good team will have a balanced choice of classes that will support each other during the game.
- Front Line: Champions who serve as the anchor of the team, holding the front and protecting their allies. With high health pools and shielding capabilities, Front Line champions excel at blocking enemy fire and disrupting enemy objective captures.
- Damage: Champions who possess reliable and consistent damage outputs or large burst damage potential. Their damage, coupled with average health pools and decent mobility, make Damage champions ideal for skirmishes and extended firefights.
- Support: Champions with high utility and healing abilities, the backbone of any team. Due to their healing capabilities that keep their allies in the fight, Support champions are invaluable allies.
- Flank: Champions who excel at traversing the battlefield and getting behind enemy lines, eliminating vulnerable key targets. While most Flank champions are relatively frail, having lower health pools than any other role, their excellent mobility and self-sustain provide them with the means of escape and survival.
There are 29 champions[1] in Paladins, 8 of which are available from the start for new players to choose. More are slated for release in 2017.
Game Modes
There are different gameplay modes for Paladins:
- Siege: The 'main' Paladins game mode, teams are tasked first to capture the map's central capture point and, if successful, push a payload that spawns from it to the enemy base. This mode is played in a best-of-seven format.
- Payload: An attacking team is tasked with escorting a payload through an extended railroad track to push it as far as they can, or to the end goal, while a defending team thwarts their progress. A push is halted if the both teams engage in combat near the payload and it slowly moves backwards if no one on the attacking team is nearby to push it, though push progress the team has accumulated is not lost. Once time runs out or if the payload is pushed to the destination, teams switch attack/defense roles. The winner is determined by the team that pushes the payload the furthest, with the attacking team setting the bar in the first round. If the attacking team in the second round are able to push the payload the same distance as the first team, the second wins the game.
- Survival: Teams try to outlast each other on a relatively small map with no respawning until the next round, all the while avoiding deathly fog that closes in from the outer edges of the map. The fog deals percentage-based damage of a champion's health and negates all healing while a champion is in it, foiling long term stall tactics. The fog starts at the edge of the map, which starts closing in after a short delay until it reaches the map's epicenter, where any surviving champion are forced to do battle. This mode is played in a best-of-six format. This game mode was removed in OB 52.
- Co-op: A player versus environment game mode, a team of five face off against an AI-controlled team that possess extremely high health and damaging attacks, as well as modified abilities. The objective in each PvE map vary from capturing an objective in a Siege game (where the mode is simplified so that only capturing the point is necessary) or a Survival game. This game mode was removed in OB 49.
- Onslaught: Teams do battle over a large combat area in an attempt to take point control and earn points. Along with holding an uncontested presence on the control point, slaying enemy players also scores points for the team, akin to a team deathmatch. Killing an enemy scores the team 5 points, while holding control over the combat area earns the team 1 points per second. The first team to reach 400 points, or the team with the most points after 10 minutes, wins the game.
- Test Maps: An additional game mode accessible in the casual section. Players can play untested maps that may be implemented into the game and give their rating for the map. In previous history, this game mode has always been in the siege format. However, the OB 54 test map is in the Onslaught format.
Competitive
The Competitive game mode is unlocked for players once they have 12 champions over Mastery level 4. Competitive only features the Siege game mode. However, at the start of the match, players must choose their champions one by one. First one player chooses. Then, two players from the opposing team choose. Then two players from the team opposing the last choose. This continues until the last player (from the team opposing the one that has first pick) has a role. This challenges the teams to try and counter-build each other by specifically choosing certain champions. Competitive games also affects a player's Competitive rating.
A rework of the current competitive system has been announced by Hi-Rez, specifications and release date hasn't been revealed.
Reception
Within a week of its release on Steam, the game had attracted 800,000 downloads and was one of the top 10 most popular games by concurrent users on the service.[2]
In response to accusations[3] that the game is an Overwatch clone, Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris said that "Overwatch was not the inspiration for Paladins", and "the game that deserves the most credit is Team Fortress 2".[4]
References
- ↑ "Champions - Official Paladins Wiki". paladins.gamepedia.com. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
- ↑ Oliver Cragg (2016-09-23). "Overwatch 'clone' Paladins takes Steam by storm with over 750k downloads". International Business Times. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
- ↑ Phillips, Tom (2016-09-16). "Paladins open beta launch trailer reminds us a lot of Overwatch". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
- ↑ Jonathon Dornbush (2016-09-20). "Paladins Developer Responds to Overwatch Comparisons". IGN. Retrieved 2016-10-22.