Paladins (video game)

Paladins: Champions of the Realm
Xbox store artwork, featuring the game's playable character classes
Developer(s)	Evil Mojo Games
Publisher(s)	Hi-Rez Studios
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One Nintendo Switch
Release	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One May 8, 2018 Nintendo Switch June 12, 2018
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a free-to-play online Hero shooter video game by Hi-Rez Studios. The game was developed by Evil Mojo Games, an internal studio of Hi-Rez, and was released in 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Plot

Paladins: Champions of the Realm takes place in a sci-fi fantasy world. There are elements of both fantasy and science fiction, including medieval-looking soldiers who use ranged weapons such as shotguns and assault rifles instead of swords.

In the world of Paladins, there is a conflict between two factions; the Magistrate and the Paladins. Champions were recruited in order to minimize casualties of regular foot soldiers. The champions would be considered "special forces" as they are more efficient at combat than a regular soldier. Not all champions are committed, however. There were a few who did not pick sides during the war, rather they would contract with both, rendering them mercenaries. The rest of these special forces were committed to a faction, either the magistrate or the paladins/resistance. There are also minor factions in the game as well, the "Abyss", the "Thousand Hands" and the "Pyre".

Gameplay

Paladins provides various characters, called Champions, for the players to choose during their gaming sessions. Each of these Champions falls 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.

Game modes

There are different gameplay modes for Paladins:

• Siege: The 'main' Paladins game mode, two teams of 5 race against each other to capture the map's central capture point and, if successful, push a payload that spawns from it to the enemy base. Each successful push or capture grants one point. Preventing the enemy team from pushing the payload also grants one point. The first team to score four points wins the game. A team cannot score their fourth point on defense, however, meaning that the team must capture a point or push the payload to win.
• Onslaught: Teams 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.
• Team Deathmatch: A classic game mode in most first-person shooter games, where two teams fight against each other to score kills. The first team to score 40 kills wins the game.
• Ranked: The same game mode as Siege, however when players are choosing a champion, each team can pick two champions to ban, which makes them unavailable for either team. Also, each team can see the opponent's champions that are picked and selected, and once a champion is picked by any player on a team, the other team cannot use that same champion.
• Monthly Quests and Battle Pass: You can compete in quests and monthly battle pass quests to earn skins, crystals, and chests. Note you can complete Quests and Battle Pass objectives in training matches, but not in custom matches.

Champions

The game has 44 playable characters, called champions, each with unique abilities, talents and load outs. New champions are added thorough the year, and the rotate free playable characters monthly. and The champions are organised into 4 categories: Front Line, Damage, Supports and Flanks. There are 11 front line, 14 damage, 9 support and 10 flank champions. Front line champions are the tanks of the game and specialized in holding objectives. Damage champions have the ability to deal the most amount of damage in a game. Supports have abilities centered around healing teammates while also dealing damage of their own. Flanks have strong mobility and were designed to deal damage and secure kills in the enemies' back line.

Front Lines

1. Ash
2. Atlas
3. Barik
4. Fernando
5. Inara
6. Khan
7. Makoa
8. Raum
9. Ruckus
10. Terminus
11. Torvald

Damages

1. Bomb King
2. Cassie
3. Dredge
4. Drogoz
5. Imani
6. Kinessa
7. Lian
8. Sha Lin
9. Strix
10. Tiberius [New]
11. Tyra
12. Viktor
13. Vivian
14. Willo

Supports

1. Furia
2. Grohk
3. Grover
4. Io
5. Jenos
6. Mal'Damba
7. Pip
8. Series
9. Ying

Flanks

1. Androxus
2. Buck
3. Evie
4. Koga
5. Lex
6. Maeve
7. Moji
8. Skye
9. Talus
10. Zhin

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	PC: 83/100 NS: 74/100

In response to accusations 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".

The game was nominated for "Best Competitive Game" at the 2018 Golden Joystick Awards.

See also

• Realm Royale – previously Paladins: Battlegrounds. Realm Royale is a battle royale spinoff game that involves similar characters and weapons as Paladins. This game is free to play and available on all platforms.

External links

• Official website