Paragon Gameplay, Development, And Legacy

As a free-to-play MOBA, Paragon was created and released by Epic Games. The open beta for the game, which is powered by the developers’ own Unreal Engine 4, became available for free in August 2016, and the buy-to-play early access phase followed in March. During the month of April 2018, Epic Games decided to turn off its servers.

Paragon Gameplay

Paragon was an online battle arena (MOBA) game played from a third-person perspective. The game’s maps were mirror images of one another, with bases at the map’s extremes. The players’ objective was to eliminate the central computer of the opposing base and so win the match.

The three lanes on each map allowed them to safely and quickly advance to the enemy base. Tower defenses placed at the end of each lane would automatically strike at any foes that got too close to the bases.

Each lane contained two towers and an inhibitor, the destruction of which granted the destroying team access to stronger minions and let them advance toward the enemy core. In the jungles that grew between the lanes, players could gather more supplies for their teams. Players could not see each other via the opaque fog walls that separated the jungles from the lanes.

Ten players competed on each of the two teams in a single match. A hero was assigned to each player. Each hero had their own unique basic attack, as well as four abilities that could be used in combat or to provide boosts to themselves or their allies. The abilities and arsenals of the heroes varied. Heroes can be classified as either offensive (like TwinBlast), which relies heavily on two pistols and grenades, or defensive (like Muriel), who uses a shield to protect her friends. There were ranged heroes and melee heroes.

Each hero possesses a unique superpower, such as Murdock’s laser gun, which can travel indefinite distances and vaporize anything in its path. There were henchmen on both sides, and they jogged over to the other side’s base to provide their support to the heroes. After obliterating the opposing inhibitors, Super Minions flooded the lanes.

Gaining experience and gold were contingent on players killing opposing heroes, minions, and towers. Gaining a level granted access to new skills and the chance to improve existing ones. Immediately prior to the start of a match, players might select a deck of cards that would allow them to spend money on various hero enhancements, such as health refills and stat-increasing items. During downtime between matches, players had the option of using a premade deck or constructing their own.

There were five categories created to classify the cards and decks. Every pack had to have at least one card that fit one of two categories of affinity. In this game, the rewards for winning matches took the form of chests (loot boxes) that contained cards. Both a player’s standing in the community and their level of experience might be boosted by spending real money.

It was not a pay-to-win system, Epic claims. Therefore, in-game currency or coins acquired in treasure chests are the sole means through which players can acquire cosmetic goods. An in-game replay system allows players to watch previous rounds. By means of upgrades, the game was continually augmented with new characters, and the central battlefield area was constantly refined.

Paragon Development

Epic Games was working on a game called Paragon. John Wasilczyk, the executive producer, has stated that the team was given a great deal of freedom of expression and the opportunity to “create anything” before production began. The inclusion of action-oriented gameplay was a primary focus during development. As such, the game takes on the feel of a third-person shooter, and the protagonists are equipped with the ability to move quickly.

Khaimera, for one, can leap at an opponent and land a blow, while Kallari can perform a double backflip. The team also paid attention to verticality when designing the game’s battlefields, which is what made it possible to include the moments shown in MOBA CGI trailers in the final game. The game’s creative director, Steve Superville, has stated that the maps were made to “[form] like a bowl” so that players, upon reviving, can quickly assess the battlefield scenario and plot their next move.

The card system was developed to reduce the complexity of the original item system and to add strategic depth to the game. Epic claims that this addition will set their game apart from the rest of the pack. Some of Epic’s Fortnite-related resources have been reallocated to help forward the development of Paragon. Wasilczyk added that an esports series may be in the works if there was enough interest from the community.

Epic planned to release Paragon digitally, rather than in a box. The crew, as reported by Superville, is thrilled about the shift because the new format would allow them to quickly incorporate community feedback. On November 3, 2015, the game was revealed, and at PlayStation Experience 2015, the first gameplay footage was shown.

On March 18, 2016, the game gained early access for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, with cross-platform play having been tested the month prior. The product itself was free to use, but until the open beta launch on August 16, 2016, users had to pay to gain access. In the game’s early access phase, there were three different versions available, each with its own set of cosmetic items, additional boosts, and upgrades: the Founder’s Pack, the Challenger Packs, and the Master Packs.

There were originally 13 playable characters in the game’s early access build. Epic stated that they will not be capping the roster size and that new characters would be added for free every three weeks. The game’s digital free-to-play version was scheduled for release on June 7, 2016, and a retail PS4 edition called Essentials Edition, which adds a number of in-game goodies, was also intended to be published at the same time.

With the launching of the “Battle Royale” mode for Epic’s Fortnite in the latter half of 2017, the company made the decision to shift resources away from Paragon and into Fortnite, as the game’s slow growth had fallen short of expectations. In the end, Epic stated in January 2018 that they would be shutting down Paragon by April of that year and that all players would be given a full refund.

After Paragon’s cancellation on March 19, 2018, Epic Games—the creator behind and owner of Unreal Engine—announced that all $17,000,000 in-game assets would be made available for free on the Unreal Engine 4 Marketplace to any developer using the engine. Twenty playable characters, complete with skins, animations, VFX, and conversation, and over 1,500 pieces of scenery were released at once.

Paragon Legacy

The decision by Epic Games to transform the Paragon game assets into free-to-use materials prompted a number of imitators in the years following the game’s cancellation.

As the first of these revival projects, Fault: Elder Orb was created by Strange Matter Studios of Canada and released into early access. Since July 17, 2020, you may find it on Steam and play it in its entirety. On July 18, 2022, Fault: Elder Orb will be released for free on the Epic Games Store.

Omeda Studios announced on March 9, 2021, that they had secured $2.2 million to develop a cross-platform third-person MOBA game named Predecessor utilizing the assets from Paragon. Overprime, a third-person MOBA developed by Netmarble SoulEVE for the PC, with content originally designed for Paragon.

On October 14, 2022, Epic Games licensed Netmarble Corp. to use all Paragon assets in the development of Overprime. Epic Games has granted Netmarble permission to exploit all intellectual property, including the Paragon trademark and the name of the game. Netmarble has therefore opted to rebrand Paragon as Paragon: The Overprime.

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