Paladins: Battlegrounds was supposed to distinguish itself from other battle royale games like Fortnite through its heroes. However, this mode no longer exists. Instead, there is now Realm Royale – without heroes. Is Paladins’ battle royale game now like any other?
What is it about? Realm Royale, formerly known as Paladins: Battlegrounds, will not become a mix of hero shooter and battle royale after all. That was the original plan. The champions from Paladins were removed and replaced with regular characters.
What happened? HiRez wanted to create something unique by combining the genres of hero shooter (Overwatch) and battle royale (Fortnite). PUBG or Fortnite were supposed to meet Overwatch. Paladins: Battlegrounds was already in public alpha testing in the Paladins game client. HiRez surprisingly pulled the mode after only a few hours. It was supposed to be decoupled from Paladins and revised. This led to the creation of “Realm Royale”, a standalone battle royale game that is currently in its alpha phase.
Is Realm Royale now like all other battle royale games?
Realm Royale stands out through a crafting system for weapons: On the map, loot in the form of weapons and armor is collected. Each item can be broken down into shards. In a forge, the shards can be transformed into legendary weapons. The legendary weapons belong to the heroes of Paladins, such as Drogoz’s rocket launcher. Once a forge is on fire, all players can see this on the map. Burning forges can become hotly contested areas that require monitoring.
Players can also call a horse at any time to make a quick sprint. Those who have “died” transform into a chicken and can still run away.
Otherwise, Realm Royale follows the familiar battle royale concept: Players are dropped onto a map, fight for the best loot, and try to be the last one standing.
Why did Paladins’ heroes have to disappear from Realm Royale?
Paladins: Battle Royale could have set itself apart from the competition with heroes: The game principle would have looked like this, where …
- … four players would always be in a team.
- At the beginning of a match, each player would choose one of eight random heroes. Two champs from each type were available: namely DPS, flankers, tanks, and supports.
This would have been a huge difference compared to the competition. In PUBG and Fortnite, everyone plays a generic hero, meaning the same character. In Paladins: Battlegrounds, everyone would have played a champ with skills, strengths, and weaknesses.
Why did HiRez decide to throw away this unique concept?
Different heroes would also have meant different skills. A meta would have established itself quickly to choose the best heroes for battle royale. In early tests, some champs like Kinessa, who inherently has a sniper, or Grover, who can heal himself and the team, were preferred. The item slots for legendary loot did not help either. They were supposed to grant percentage bonuses to health, damage, speed, and other stats. This was not enough to create a balance among the various skills.
To ensure fair balance, a generic character had to be provided for everyone.
It could be difficult for Realm Royale to establish itself in the long run
Leya says: The originally planned Paladins: Battlegrounds sparked interest. Players were curious about the concept of uniting a hero shooter with a battle royale game. It is questionable whether Realm Royale can stand out enough among other battle royale games without Paladins’ heroes.
The biggest competitor is likely to be Fortnite: Battle Royale:
- Both games are free-to-play.
- Realm Royale is currently only available on PC. Fortnite is already on PS4 and Xbox One.
- Both games have a colorful comic graphic style.
- Both rely on a crafting system to stand out.
Even though the building system in Realm Royale fundamentally differs from that of Fortnite, players will draw a comparison here. Similarly, as was the case with Overwatch and Paladins. It will be difficult to win this target group over.
Realm Royale plays a bit slower, which could be an advantage:
I personally have not played Realm Royale yet. But in gameplay videos, it is clearly evident that Realm Royale is slower than Fortnite. The weapon crafting in the forge works automatically. In Fortnite, players must quickly build structures and walls, create stairs, and simultaneously pay attention to what is happening around them. It is more dynamic and faster. Here, Realm Royale could score points and appeal to players who find everything too fast in Fortnite. But will that be enough?
If you want to check out the game for yourself, you can sign up for the alpha of Realm Royale in the Paladins forum. What do you think of the changes?
The first battle royale with skill-based heroes is probably now coming from another studio:
