Pagan Online ( – August 4, 2020)
Genre: Battle Royale | Developer: Hi-Rez Studios | Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch| Payment Model: Free2Play
What kind of game was it? Pagan Online was an old-school action MMO set in a fantasy version of pagan Eastern Europe. In Diablo style, you fought through monsters from Slavic mythology with predefined heroes. The game utilized group play. Up to 4 players should set off and assume roles like tank, healer, and DD as in an MMORPG.
The game relied on six principles that the developers believed characterize a good action RPG:
- Loot
- Challenge
- Story
- Progression
- Planning
- A credible world
During the playtest, MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus said: Pagan Online is fun, but only for a short time. The game was developed by the Serbian studio Mad Head Games, while Wargaming, the studio behind games like World of Tanks, was responsible for publishing.
In July 2020, the developers announced that the MMO servers would go offline. Pagan Online can still be played, but as a purely single-player game and no longer online. The developers are now also handling distribution themselves.
What did it fail at? Although the game claimed to be based on 6 principles, there were shortcomings in this area. The core of the game was not good, and the mechanics and controls felt “clunky”.
Furthermore, updates were very slow. Players accused the developers of being lazy and slow. In June 2020, player numbers on Steam dropped to just 13 concurrent players at peak (via Steamcharts). Not enough for online operation.
However, the new version Pagan: Absent Gods is not being received well on Steam either. According to reviews, the game has been abandoned. Player numbers have dropped again to 22 players at peak over the past 30 days.
What are the best memories? Especially the comic graphics and the good tutorials were praised. Additionally, there were some interesting boss fights in Pagan Online.
Are there alternatives or successors? Pagan Online aimed to be an alternative to Diablo. Accordingly, many alternatives also exist for Pagan. A list of the best games can be found here:
