With Paladins and Overwatch , there are two “hero shooters” making their mark. We compare both titles and list advantages and disadvantages.
While Blizzard’s Overwatch was one of the most successful shooters last year and was able to attract many new players to a genre otherwise known as “killer game”, another representative of the hero shooters has sneaked in. Since Paladins: Champions of the Realm launched on Steam, Hi-Rez’s shooter has gone from a hidden gem to a consistent success with rising player numbers.
We take a closer look at both games and compare their various aspects.
Gameplay and Playstyle
As expected, a hero shooter focuses on first-person action. Here – at the undoubtedly most important element – both games manage to impress.
While in Overwatch, 12 players compete against each other in 2 teams, in Paladins it’s 5 players per team, which increases the responsibility for each team member. In both games, good aiming is advantageous, but not absolutely necessary to have fun and succeed. Thanks to characters that use area attacks or have simpler mechanics, even players without shooter experience can achieve success and become useful team members.
Those who take up snipers and look back at a long “Counter Strike” career become a nightmare for the opponents.
The missions in both games are similar, sometimes even identical: capture control points or protect and escort payloads (or prevent exactly that). Overwatch stands out with a larger number of maps, where Paladins still needs to catch up.
Paladins has PvE, Overwatch Arcade
To offer players more variety, both Paladins and Overwatch have come up with different modes that deviate from the regular ones.
In Paladins, there is a cooperative PvE mode (Player vs Environment). Here, a team of five players faces off against bots that all fight with enhanced traits and reduced cooldowns for abilities. The PvE challenges rotate on a weekly basis. As a reward, crystals are on offer here. Crystals are normally only obtainable with real money and unlock cosmetic items.
In Overwatch, players are offered the Arcade mode, where exclusive modes, maps, and rules await. For example, there’s a variation where players compete 1vs1 instead of with a full team or are required to play with a random hero. These modes rotate and alternate. Here, you can earn loot boxes as rewards.
Presentation and Game World
The biggest differences can be found in the attention to detail in the game world.
The various maps of Overwatch overflow with details and small narrative hints whose connection one only understands if one reads the heroes’ stories online – but they are there. The maps feel convincing, interesting, and detailed.
The maps of Paladins cannot currently compete with the level of detail of those in Overwatch. There are significantly fewer maps here, which is why one often has to play on the same map. Nevertheless, the maps of Paladins have their own charm and are graphically less polished. More details would benefit Paladins – though that may come at the cost of performance. The latest map “Stone Keep” is already an improvement over the previous maps in Paladins. This direction should be maintained by the developers.
The characters may look extremely similar at first glance, as some champions resemble each other closely. Reinhardt and Fernando both come with a big shield as tanks. Evie and Mei heal themselves through an ice block and both trigger a snowstorm with their Ultimate that slows opponents. They have clearly inspired each other and even adopted one or two mechanics. Other champions also have parallels.
After having played both games more intensively, one realizes that the characters play completely differently. This may be due to the fact that Paladins has a card system that allows players to adjust the abilities of the champions. The mechanics of the champions in Overwatch and Paladins are partly very similar, but must be applied differently in each game.
Much more is known about the backgrounds of the champions in Overwatch, which makes them feel more alive. Each individual character comes with an elaborate story that helps the player immerse into the character’s role. In Paladins, hardly anything is known about the champions. More lore would be desirable in Paladins.
More MOBA elements in Paladins, more consistency in Overwatch
The biggest differences between both games can be quickly identified: While in Overwatch one can basically switch heroes permanently (as soon as one has died), the selection in Paladins remains until the end of the round.
Similar to MOBAs, Paladins allows players to purchase additional upgrades during the round to enhance certain aspects of their character. Should my turret deal more damage to shields? Do I want to be able to heal myself with weapon attacks?
Each round presents new decisions that allow you to tweak the current kit a bit to better align with the opponents. Additionally, before the match, you can select a set of cards that enhance certain abilities of your character. Should my ice block heal me? Do I want to deal more damage after teleporting? Do I want to be invisible while riding? Decisions upon decisions, allowing multiple playstyles even with the same character.
Overwatch does not have any of this. The heroes have fixed abilities that cannot be adjusted. If you face an “Ana” or a “Roadhog”, you always know exactly what they can do and how strong they are. Big surprises are absent – while this is more consistent, some may find it too repetitive. Ultimately, it’s up to the player’s taste which system they prefer.
When it comes to visual customization, both games are well set up. In Overwatch, cosmetics like skins and emotes are distributed through loot boxes, which are rewarded approximately every few matches for level progression. Paladins also allows some customizations through in-game currency, while others are only available in the shop for real money – after all, it’s a free-to-play title.
Conclusion – Both have their reason for existence
In conclusion, it must be noted that Overwatch delivers a rounded and slightly better balanced gameplay feel – the usual Blizzard quality is at a very high level. Paladins can still improve in areas like maps and lore, but it’s also still in beta and not officially released – minor blemishes can therefore be forgiven. For a game in beta, Paladins looks remarkably good and since it’s completely free, no one does wrong by giving it a look or two.
