Paladins 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. Additionally, the team that captures the point will get a bonus of 300 credits. 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.
King of the Hill: Teams battle over a small combat area that moves every 90s and grants points when uncontested. Slaying an enemy scores points here as well.
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.
Paladins Strike
Paladins Strike is the mobile version of the game, launched in May 2018.
Reception
The PC version of Paladins received generally favorable reviews, while the Nintendo Switch version received mixed or average reviews according to review aggregatorMetacritic. 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.
