Paragon: The Overprime

Paragon: The Overprime is a free-to-play MOBA in the TPP online shooter style. The game was developed by the Team SoulEve and supporting Korean publisher Netmarble, but it is also the heir to Paragon, a cancelled project by Epic Games.

After the original was discontinued, the US company released the game's source code in an open source model. Paragon: The Overprime is one of the projects whose developers have set their sights on bringing this never-released production back to life, alongside Predecessor, among others. Developer Team SoulEve initially named its project Overprime, but in October 2022 Epic Games allowed Netmarble to use the Paragon trademark, among other things.

Plot

Paragon: The Overprime focuses on multiplayer skirmishes and we won't see much of a story over the course of the game. Nevertheless, the title has a story background, which we get to know through intermittent scenes of individual characters. The thing takes place in a fictional galaxy inhabited by numerous races. Many heroes, mercenaries, crooks and others come to the planet Prime to fight and achieve their own goals.

Game mechanics

Paragon: The Overprime is a game that combines TPP shooter (TPS) mechanics with MOBA-style gameplay, similar in many ways to the original Paragon. The game boils down to skirmishes between two teams of five, whose task is to take over the opponent's base. It's not easy, as both teams are aided by AI-directed mobs, and access to quarters is defended by fortifications.

Players have a choice of numerous heroes. Each of them has its own story, role and skills, as well as statistics. We increase a hero's combat potential by developing skills and buying items with gold falling from defeated enemies. In time, we will also unlock the fifth, most powerful skill of the character, the appropriate use of which can determine victory.

As usual for MOBA games, the key to victory is cooperation. There are five positions on each map, each of which requires heroes with different talents. Some will prove themselves in frontline combat at the beginning of the game, while others need time and support before they are ready to move on the enemy base.

Adding to this typical pattern are arcade elements absent from LoL and other games in the MOBA genre. Controls native to strategy games and MMORPGs have been replaced by a model familiar from TPP action games. Maps are much less linear than in other titles, allowing players to climb environmental elements to get to their targets faster or surprise the enemy with a flank attack. Card decks have also returned from the original Paragon, allowing you to permanently increase your character's combat potential.

Overprime vs. Paragon

Although Paragon: The Overprime borrows a lot from the original, the developers have made a handful of modifications from the original. The pace of gameplay is faster and the maps are much larger than in the original. The names of the characters and other elements related to the story background have also been changed. As a result, the whole thing has less in common with the original Paragon than Predecessor, coming closer to hero shooters like the Overwatch series than other MOBA games.

Game modes

Paragon: The Overprime lets you fight in a 5-on-5 ranked mode, but the developers also allowed players to create their own sessions with personalized rules (for example, fewer players).

Technical aspects

Like the original Paragon, Paragon: The Overprime was developed on the basis of Unreal Engine technology. Graphically, the title is almost identical to the original, although here too the developers made their own modifications, opting for more colorful visuals, among other things.