Hi-Rez Studios is entering the team-based shooter genre with their Paladins game. It’ll give you flashbacks of FPS gameplay from experiences like Overwatch, but there’s other concepts and ideas thrown into the mix here – such as collectible cards that help customize your character. If you wanted to try Paladins out, the open beta is rolling out to PC users today.
“Since the start of closed beta late last year we’ve been refining the core gameplay and the overall user experience”, said Hi-Rez Studios co-founder Todd Harris. “Paladins is a team shooter with a fantasy setting, a sense of humor, and a high degree of customization and strategy. Paladins is now and always will be free-to-play and with our move to Open Beta anyone can download the game from the Paladins website or Steam. We look forward to continuing to shape and improve the game with an even larger community.”
The game is free-to-play, but there are buyable items such as Founder’s Packs that unlock all current and future champions, 20 item chests, and grant you an exclusive mount and skins. You can also pay incremental dollar amounts for a currency called Crystals, if you so desire. The Paladins Open Beta came with an update bringing some new features: an overhauled user interface and match lobby, a third map known as “Enchanted Forest”, 17 champions to choose from, a redesigned in-match item system, and a Competitive queue with leaderboards.
Paladins is available on PC and when the game launches sometime next year console versions will arrive as well. If you’re interested in trying the beta, you can do so on Steam or their website. To learn more about the game, check out the developer’s Twitter and Facebook.
