Hi-Rez Studios are introducing a new game mode for Paladins. It will come as a standalone client separate from the main title. Don't expect "instant" invites until the closed alpha phase provides for some basic stability and balance.
Paladins Realm Royale has kicked off its closed alpha stage today. Only a few select players have received access keys so far, but more open sign-ups will be available soon. The team stated that this was only a short gameplay and technical test to find any underlying and potentially huge issues with the game.
What makes the game stand out from other battle royale titles is the Forging system which the team talked about a bit more this time around. The idea is that players will sacrifice Shards they gather in a Forge that will take two minutes to craft them a legendary item. This will be the only way to get legendary items in the game.
Hi-Rez Studios
The game mode was announced to be just that, a game mode for the MOBA hero shooter. However, the team recently decided to separate the two clients showing more interest in the genre than was known before.
Paladins Realm Royale is yet another copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, as many are stating when referring to the battle royale genre and its sudden explosive rise in popularity. So far we have very little to go on in order to deduce the status of Hi-Rez's take on the genre apart from a couple of gameplay videos which are, as of now, outdated.
Hi-Rez Studios
Paladins: Champions of The Realm began early access in September 2016 and is regarded as a very successful title, reaching over 800,000 downloads in its first week becoming one of the top 10 games on Steam. In the following year, Hi-Rez claims the game was downloaded over 17 million times with an average of an approximate 30,000 daily players.
Since the release, Hi-Rez has faced several controversial situations with their audiences because of their lootbox practices. These were quickly repealed by the studio in order to save face.
