PSX 2015: Epic Games Announces New MOBA, Paragon

There are two ways to end a gaming conference for a mega games hardware and software publisher. One of them it so save the very best for last; a momentous game reveal that showcases the allure of the platform or service they are providing. This is what Sony did at Paris Games Week, saving local “beautiful, complicatedly flawed” games developer Quantic Dream’s Detroit as a show-stopping stinger. Then you have what Sony did at PlayStation Experience 2015 and end with Epic Games revealing Paragon; the latest attempt to cash in on the latest genre fad a la MMO’s in the form of a third-person MOBA.
It’s not like Paragon was a complete mystery before the PlayStation Experience. Epic Games had been teasing the title on Twitter a few weeks before they revealed the gameplay, described by its creators as a game, “That puts you in the fight with explosive action, direct third-person control, and deep strategic choice.”
What Paragon sells itself on is controlling the action inputs of your heroes, including their individual skills. You need to focus aim and movement in attacks within a behind-the-shoulder third-person view. Depending on your choice of hero, they appear to be a wide variety of characters ripped from differing narrative genres, including gunslingers, fantastical alien creatures and more.
While the selling point is to place Paragon as something you’ve never experienced in a MOBA, some things remain the same. It’s 5v5, has three lanes of major travel and contains minions, cores and towers as focal points. Agora is the name of the world, beautifully rendered using Unreal Engine 4 to create a mythical new world that carries hints of familiarity. It’s the verticality that makes the map a bit different, adding elevation as a means to change up strategies in gameplay mechanics.
Paragon will be headed to a paid Early Access in Spring 2016, with an open beta planned for Summer 2016 on both the PC and PS4.