I’m pretty excited about Epic Games and their new releases. Especially Paragon, their new third person MOBA that’s built on the new Unreal Engine. Paragon is still in pre-alpha, but it’s pretty impressive. After playing through it in these initial stages, here are some of my thoughts.
Recommended VideosThe Graphics
Paragon is built on the Unreal Engine — an open engine with decades of development behind it and huge following of developers. So needless to say, the game flat out looks good. The detail on the characters is fresh and follows the environment well. The environment looks great. The road you follow in each lane is done well, with notable attention to detail. The foliage, minions, surrounding buildings, and towers all show how much work the devs put into the game. I have a feeling that gameplay and graphics were equally important to the devs, and it really shows.
But to get the full effect, you’ll have to have the power to support it. At the end of this article, you’ll find a list provided by Epic that offers recommended specs and AVG FPS per piece of hardware.
Gameplay
Like your usual MOBA, there are lanes with towers that need to be defended and destroyed. You wait for the creeps to come, and then follow suit behind. But instead of a top-down view, you are in a third person view behind your champion. This is where things start to get interesting. This game isn’t one where you can simply click your ability and you hit. You have to try and aim if you want to hit anything. There is a different set of skills needed. Think of it this way — add The Division to Dota 2 and you have Paragon, in the simplest form.
Some of the champions use guns at range, others cast magic, and others are up close and personal. It doesn’t matter which champion you use, because they all require some kind of skill in aiming and moving to avoid getting blown to pieces.
After you have chosen a champion, you need to choose your skills and your cards. Like Dota or LoL you choose equipment, but instead of actual equipment you have cards. These cards can be upgraded and will either be passive or activated as you play. As you kill creeps and players during the match, you get points that can be put towards upgrading cards or buying new ones.
As with other MOBAs, you get to level up skills, which are activated by Q, Right Click, Left Click, E, and R. You also level by yourself, instead of as a team like in Heroes of the Storm.
All the champions are fun and each one have their own unique style. Getting used to each champion is a challenge, but once you find one you like, try leveling that one up and sticking with it, so you can adapt to the play style.
Content
As of now there is only one map with three lanes. The main objective is to destroy the opponent’s core. You can jungle a little, but be careful — this will leave your lanes open and make you vulnerable to attacks from behind.
As of now, this game is doing great for being in Early Access. The controls are smooth, everything looks great, and there is a decent player base to keep games going. There are some balance issues that need to be handled as your team levels and with certain heroes, particularly with TwinBlast and Rampage.
Overall I give this a B+ for being early access. Sign up for the beta here or purchase here for early access.
Recommended specs:
- Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7870 equivalent DX11 GPU
- 2 GByte VRAM
- Core i5 2.8 Ghz
- 8 GByte RAM
- Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
Minimum spec:
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 or AMD Radeon HD 6870 equivalent DX11 GPU
- 1 GByte VRAM
- Core i5 2.5 Ghz
- 4 GByte RAM
- Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
Epic Resolution
GPU
Avg FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
87
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
85
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X
75
AMD Radeon (TM) R9 Fury Series
61
High Resolution
GPU
Avg FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
86
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
79
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN
73
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
71
AMD Radeon (TM) R9 390 Series
68
Medium Resolution
GPU
Avg FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
89
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
81
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
78
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
76
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
71
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690
70
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 Ti OEM
69
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
68
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
67
AMD Radeon R9 200 / HD 7900 Series
66
ASUS R9 280 Series
64
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
64
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
62
AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
62
AMD Radeon (TM) R9 380 Series
60
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
60
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M
59
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
57
Low Resolution
GPU
Avg FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
80
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (192-bit)
80
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
76
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
75
AMD Radeon (TM) R7 370 Series
75
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
70
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580
65
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
63
AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
62
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
61
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti
60
AMD Radeon (TM) R9 200 Series
58
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
57
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M
57
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
56
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
55
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
54
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M
52
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M
51
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M
50
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST
49
AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
49
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
48
AMD Radeon R7 200 Series
45
AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series
45
AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
45
AMD Radeon R9 M370X
44
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M
42
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M
42
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
42
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745
41
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
41
AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series
39
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M
38
AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series
38
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M
37
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
36
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
35
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720
34
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M
32
AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series
32
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640
31
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
30
NVIDIA GeForce 940M
29
NVIDIA GeForce GT 730
29
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M
28
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
28
AMD Radeon HD 7500 Series
27
NVIDIA GeForce 840M
27
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
23
Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
23
AMD Radeon HD 6670
19
NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M
19
NVIDIA GeForce 820M
18
Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
18
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630
18
NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M
17
Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500
15
NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M
14
Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
13
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
12
Post Tag: first impressions 9 Paragon: Early Access First Impressions A refreshing take on a MOBA that looks and plays great. Paragon will hopefully do well when a full release is announced. GameSkinny is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy Join The Conversation
