Let's talk about Paladins - Champions Of The Realm

If other articles on here hadn’t given it away, I’m quite a big fan of SMITE. Developer Hi-Rez have just brought another of their games, Paladins, in to open beta. A friend recommended I check Paladins out and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a team based objective shooter, and incredibly similar to the ever-popular Overwatch. Many are suggesting that Paladins is simply an inferior rip-off, and whilst I can certainly agree on the many similarities the two games share, I would argue that Paladins is far from inferior. Paladins is free to play, and for a game only just in open beta it can be expected that it might not feel complete. It’s great for what it is, a free alternative. I am a little disappointed though that the game barely has an identity of it’s own. Footage from last year shows a very different Paladins, and whilst it perhaps wasn’t the best it was at least tying something different. The gameplay now only consists of a variety of symmetrical ‘payload’ maps without any real character to them. Many of the Champions are more or less clones of Overwatch Heroes, but there are a couple that stick out as fairly unique. Both Pip and Bomb King seem fairly different to anything found in the other game, and whilst both Bomb King and Junkrat are explosive based characters, they aren’t carbon copies in the same way that say, Barik and Torbjorn are. I’d really like to see some asymmetrical maps, a wider variety of unique characters and a larger selection of game modes, and then I really feel as if Hi-Rez could be on to a winner. Paladins does have a few differences already tough. Champions can get around the map on mounts, there’s an item system in-match, and even a way to customise how your Champions play with the use of cards and point allocation. I’m going to keep an eye on Paladins, at least for now. My interest is certainly piqued, and I’m excited to see what later patches bring. You’ll be able to read about them here on CollecTech. Addendum: Patch 34 has just been released, and with it come a new variation on the Payload game mode, and a new support champion. Both of these additions are certainly a good start, but by no means address the issues discussed fully. I can only commend Hi-Rez though for releasing this content, as it is a huge step in the right direction.