Paladins is a new free-to-play, class-based, multiplayer shooter that recently launched its closed beta on November 17th. Below are my first impressions written after playing the game for about 15 hours.

Gamemode

At the moment, Paladins only has a single gamemode that you can play either against bots or other players. It could be described as a mix of the familiar ‘king of the hill’ and ‘attack/defend’ gamemodes. At the start of the match, one of three points is activated and both teams have to stand on it for a period of time in order to spawn a siege engine for their team. This siege engine then proceeds to attack the enemy fortress - specifically its two gates and a vault door. The team that didn’t capture the point has to destroy the siege engine and prevent the attacking team from destroying their gates. Another point is activated a short while after the siege engine is destroyed and both teams have another shot at capturing it. The game ends after either team destroys the enemy’s vault door.

Fights at capture points tend to get pretty heated

Having a single gamemode might look disappointing at first but it’s honestly a lot of fun regardless. Its length can be anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes which is a very nice sweet spot in my opinion. The game never goes on for too long to make it exhausting but at the same time it doesn’t feel like you jumped into a game just a minute ago and now you’re waiting in the queue again.

As the game progresses, each spawned siege engine is progressively stronger and stronger, creating a lot of back and forth action. Comebacks are also not only possible, but extremely frequent because of this. This creates an exciting atmosphere where a match isn’t lost until the last second.

I do have a complaint, however. Especially in the later stages of the game, the siege engine almost feels invulnerable. It can be sometimes frustrating seeing the enemy siege engine just barrel through your defenses after you’ve killed the enemy team and there’s nothing you can do to prevent it from destroying your vault door. I think that a simple change would be to make the siege engine not function while no one is nearby.

The first two gates also have automatic turrets that protect the door

Maps

Both maps currently available (Temple Ruins and Enchanted Forest) are much bigger and much more open than maps in other class-based shooters. This encourages mechanics that are almost unknown to the FPS genre like flanking and ambushing your enemies or scouting.

Each map has three capture points and two forts that offer defensive advantages to their teams. Unfortunately, I think that the capture points don’t differ too much from each other except for the amount of cover and a few walls that you can stand on. I am hoping for the developers to take advantage of vertical gameplay a bit more and vary their objectives with it in mind.

Characters

At the start of a match you have to choose a character that you’ll be playing for the rest of the match. This creates the need to plan ahead as a team and introduces an element of strategy into the game. The character design feels unevenly distributed across the characters. There is Fernando who has a fantastic set of armour and a flamethrower in the shape of a lance and then there is also Skye who doesn’t have much detail put into her outfit at all.

Fernando's design is simply amazing

Each champion has a weapon, two normal abilities, one escape/movement ability and a mount. The mount is an excellent addition to the game as it gives players a way to get into combat much faster - especially on Paladins’ big maps. The escape abilities are fairly unique and fit into the champions’ playstyles very well. I can’t say the same for the normal abilities, however. Most of them are only bigger and more explosive versions of guns’ projectiles or barriers and personal shields. I’d love it if there was more variety here -- the game needs abilities that truly make all characters unique and reinforce their personality.

Hopefully Skye will get a more detailed model later

The gunplay in Paladins is superb. Every gun feels very responsive and they all feel unique. Players of all skill levels will find a weapon that fits their playstyle. Skilled players might try Cassie, who wields a bow and arrow, and has to lead her targets in order to hit them. Players who enjoy casual shooters can try out Ruckus who has a giant minigun instead of an arm.

None of the weapons (except from Skye’s) have a reload/overheat mechanic. I feel this hurts the competitive aspect of the game a little bit. Champions who don’t need to care about reloading their gun can just keep holding the left mouse button without sacrificing anything. A simple overheat mechanic added to some characters would make the game a little bit more intense and would also increase the skill cap of certain champions.

Players are rewarded for kills with small health nuggets that drop from players upon death which is a nice little touch. Another great thing is that there is no total ammo counter. The last thing I’d want to do is to go around the map looking for ammo packs.

The Card System

Finally, the most unique feature of this game -- cards. Champions gain experience for kills and focusing on the objective. Every time you level up you get to choose from three different cards. These cards can increase your damage, survivability or enhance your abilities in several interesting ways to completely change the playstyle of your character.

Cards also provide passive damage and health boosts shown in the corners

Cards come in four levels of rarity: Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary. The higher the quality is, the flashier are the effects that come with it. Most ability-augmenting cards also change the visual effects of those abilities which is a nice detail. When your champion dies, the cards go on a cooldown and the length of the cooldown depends on the quality of the card.

At this time, the cards in the casual gamemode work like this: you get to choose from three random cards that you own for the character you’re playing. It has been confirmed that there’s going to be a ‘constructed’ gamemode as well. In this gamemode you get to build your own deck of cards before going into a match and then you’ll get to pick cards from that deck in the match. I believe this will bring more strategic elements into the game and reduce the random factor.

After hitting level 5 you get to choose from 3 legendary cards

For those worried about the game being a pay-to-win, Hi-Rez has already confirmed that all characters should be free and cards are quite easily accessible without paying as well.

A Future Esport?

With its strategic elements, skillshots that are hard to hit and weapons you have to lead, this game might see some competitive tournaments in the future. It is apparent that the game focuses on teamplay more than any other shooter I’ve played recently which makes it a little bit similar to MOBA games but without the hassle to learn all the characters and item builds when starting out.

The only thing that might hurt its esport viability is the card system. Random factors that control the game aren’t always good for an esport title - but then again, everyone has seen the success Hearthstone is having right now.

Overall, I think that the constructed deck is going to eliminate a lot of the random chance factor involved in playing the game as players can pick cards that counter their opponents with the random factor taken into account.

Conclusion

Paladins’ mix of fairy tale and technology aesthetics give the game a very special feeling. Even though most of the features in the game feel unfinished, this is a very early look at the closed beta version. To quote HiRezStew - President of Hi-Rez Studios: “There may be times when we introduce new features or champions or maps before their art quality is at a level that is ideal for us. That's because we want to make sure the gameplay is right before we apply tons of art resources in a direction that isn't working. As gameplay and fun solidify, we will come back around and make the art great.”

The artstyle is lovely and unique

Now, what matters the most: is the game fun? Yes, yes, yes and yes. The fun I’ve had with it so far far outweighs all the minor bugs the game has. With a single gamemode and eight characters the game still feels fresh and fun thanks to its excellent card system which makes sure that no two matches are the same. The cards’ effect on the playstyle of champions is amazing and it is only going to improve with more cards. If you get the chance to play it in closed beta, definitely try it. Otherwise, make sure to keep an eye out on this game as it is already a blast to play!

If you'd like to sign up for the beta, you can do so at the official website of Paladins. Thank you for reading this article. If you have any questions or suggestions, please send me a message on Twitter - @TheRikisak