The President of Hi-Rez Studios, Stewart Chisam, revealed on Twitter today that the company will be undergoing layoffs to "ensure Hi-Rez's long-term success". In the extensive post, Chisam indicated that Hi-Rez will be shifting its focus toward positioning its upcoming Smite successor Smite 2 for a long and sustainable future.

According to Chisam, the layoffs will impact those in marketing and publishing as well as the Evil Mojo, G&A, and Titan Forge divisions at Hi-Rez. The game division of Hi-Rez will concentrate efforts entirely on Smite 2 moving forward except for small teams that will support light updates for both Paladins and the original Smite. In the near term, the focus will shift to gameplay development for Smite 2 including new mo??des and gods ahead of its free-to-play launch next year.

This news has a real human impact at a tough time for workers in this industry. Each impacted indivi??dual is a talent??ed and dedicated professional who has poured their heart and soul into our games. Letting them go is a heartbreaking decision, reflects a failure in my leadership, and one for which I take personal accountability. These are all good people who contributed positively to the company; none should view this as a personal failure. I extend my deepest thanks to them for their contributions to the company and their role in helping entertain and bring joy to millions of players.

- Stewart Chisam, President of Hi-Rez Studios

Hi-Rez joins the many other companies in the games industry that suffering from layoffs?? this year. With thousands of jobs lost in the space just this year alone with no sign of it ending, it's hard to picture exactly what the games industry will look like in the near future.

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Developer Titan Forge Games and publisher Hi-Rez Studios revealed today that the popular mythological MOBA SMITE will be getting a sequel. SMITE 2 upgrades the third-person MOBA to Unreal Engine 5 while also introducing new content and keeping some features from the original game. Moving forward both versions of SMITEwill contin?ue to function as separate standalone games.

Two Standalone Games

Follow-up tweets confirmed that while Gods from the original will also be in the sequel, some may have some changes. While some Gods will stay true to their existing original SMITE versions, others will receive new animations, FX, and even reimagined abilities. The Goddess Hecate will be the first SMITE 2 exclusive God, featuring ranged magical abilities that allow her to reach through dimension?s and even travel in liminal space.

The itemization system and Relics are also getting an overhaul. Relics themselves ??will be no more, but your entire 6-slot item inventory can now get an activated effect which is triggered by a simple button press.

New Stealth Zones allow players to ambush their enemies from the shadows, while the map itself will get some reworks? as well. New game-changing buffs can be acquired by defeating minions such as the Gold Fury with an evolving Jungle.

While the upgrade to UE5 in SMITE 2 certainly looks nice, players have some justified concerns over what happens to the existing content they've purchased from the original SMITE over the years. According to the SMITE 2 Steam Page, a system called Divine Legacy will grant access to cross-gen skins, badges, and legacy gems for players who link their SMITE account to their SMITE 2 account. However, there's no information a?s of yet exactly what will be transferred, or if there are any sort of limitations to it.

According to IGN, not all content is carried over. In-game Skins released before Year 11 of SMITE won't be carried over as the team feels it isn't feasible to recreate the vast amount of content SMITE built over the last decade.

An Alpha playtest for SMITE 2 is planned for Spring 2024.

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Smitten

Where were you when Tony Hawk landed the 900? Where were you Danny Way jumped over the Great Wall of China? Where were you when I went o?ver the half-pipe, through the secret room, collected the hidden tape, and grinded the quart?er-pipe along the whole back wall?

Iconic moments in skateboarding history. More iconic than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles skating all over Smite? Tough to say.

Smite's new battle pass launches tomorrow, and it's completely TMNT-centric. We learned about this collaboration last month, and how Hi-Rez Studios is reskinning the Turtles to play the roles of existing gods. We were not prepared for the sheer numbe????r of ollies and kickflips and pizza-eating that we'd get. Judging by the new trailer that dropped today, I'm not convinced the Turtles will make good on any of the battle arena aspects of MOBA.

And maybe that's why I love this trailer. It's not bogged down in attack stats and roles. There's no minutiae, there's just skateboards and pepperoni. Here are the TMNT Battle Pass update notes for anyone who is interested in the nitty gritty. I'm just here to watch?? Michaelangelo catch?? big air over a Fire Giant.

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In November

Hi-Rez Studios is seemingly putting all of their money-making power into Smite, locking up deals for some fairly huge IPs to appear in the game. They just recently hosted Avatar: The Last Airbender and now they're going down the nostalgia hole (and further into their partnership with Nickelodeon) with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo are all appearing in their turtle glory, as part of the upcoming November "TMNT Battle Pass." As usual, these wacky characters are reski??ns of existing Gods. So Leonardo will double as Osiris, Donatello is predictably Sun Wukong, Raphael is Loki (ha, he would be) and Michelangelo is Mercury. You can also opt for "radical" versions of their skins, which emulate?? their '90s look.

As a reminder, Hi-Rez also runs Paladins, Realm Royale and most recently: Rogue Company. They're fairly busy for a private company!

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It's Ann Veal: The Game

Rogue Company is a difficult game to write about. When I sit down at my computer to type, its bland and basic world ??begins to fade from my mind, and I struggle to think of anything meaningful to say about it. Despite its diverse cast of characters, fast-paced shooting action, and sufficiently smooth gameplay on my Switch, it just doesn't leave a lasting impact. The experience scuttles from my mind, and the only thought I can muster about it amounts to no more than an admission that I did indeed?? just play an online shooter.

Maybe that's because nothing about Rogue Company is original. This is a checklist of a game, cribbing features and modes from other popular titles and stitching them together in this third-person, squad-based shooter. There are dancing emotes, the ping system from Apex Legends, sprays, characters with their own unique abilities, a between-match weapons upgrade system, and modes recycled from gam?es that came before it. You've seen this all before, and chances are, you've seen i??t done better than it is here.

Rogue Company launched in late July in a closed beta on all the major consoles and PC through the Epic Games Store. There's crossplay between the platforms and cross-save progression is here too. Like with other Hi-Rez Studios games, it'll eventually go free-to-play. For now, players can pony up $15 or more to become a beta tester. From my time with it, there is still a lot of work to be done. The announcer ??is all over the place, I've seen my gun disappear but still shoot j??ust fine, and the ziplining feature really needs to be more reliable. Most of all, I hope this beta shows developer First Watch Games that it needs to do a lot more with its various modes.

Rogue Company currently has just a handful of modes in rotation. There is Extraction, where you need to hack an object on the stage or kill off the other team. There is Demolition, ?where one team has to plant a bomb and the other has to diffuse it...or you can just kill off the other team. Finally, there's Strikeout, where you just need to kill off the other team. However, ??in this mode, both teams have a certain number of respawns that can be chipped away at if your squad can hold point for a set amount of time.

I don't dwell on the lack of innovation in its modes because of how briskly each round moves. For Extraction and Demolition, each player ha?s just one life, and it's startling how fast your health bar will drain. My very first round in Demolition lasted less than 60 seconds. My team made it to the point and were promptly slaughtered. I didn't even have time to get my bearings. Hell, there were multiple times I was eliminated without ever seeing where the shots were coming from. If you are downed in battle, your partners have a chance to revive you if they can get to you before your opponent finishes you off. A revival like that has been a rarity outside of Strikeout.

The pace of these matches and the ease in which you can finish other players off does affect the usefulness of some characters. Saint, for instance, is the requisite healer. His unique ability is the Revive Drone. If another player is downed but not ?eliminated, he can send out the drone to bring them back. The revival is not instant, but a player going from downed to dead can be. As I'm wont to do, I went with Saint anytime he was available, but it didn?'t take long for me to realize he's not that useful in two of the three modes.

The other characters and their abilities are more versatile. For instance, Dallas, the southerner with a six-shooter, can locate the nearest enemy with his Target Finder ability. There's also Anvil, who can lay down a barricade for extra shielding, and Ronin, who can take out unsuspecting enemies with her proximity mine Ballistic Knife. It's not a?? bad mix of abilities, but they'd be better if they were attached to characters that had any sort of personality.

It's probably a bit unfair to compare Rogue Company to the other, more well-funded shooters on the market, but one way this game or any game can stand out in the crowd is through personality and creativity. The characters and the environments are both opportunities to distinguish yourselves from your contemporaries, and yet, First Watch Games has settled on a bland assortment of heroes doing battle in even blander settings. The characters he?re do nothing more than fill the genre cliches we've seen before, and the st?ages aren't much different.

From the Italian village to the deserted factory to the heavenly city in the sky, the various maps of Rogue Company merely provide a field of battle and nothing more. These settings tell me nothing about the world I'm fighting in and give me no reason to care about whatever this conflict is. I don't need a wall of hieroglyphics to illustrate the history of each city, but when a stage features a crashed rocket and I'm not the least bit interested in how it happened, that's probably not a good sign. I mean, there's a stage with a goddamn Gundam growing out of the middle of it and the m??ost enthusiastic response that image can elicit out of me is a resounding "eh."

Maybe if the actual gunplay was different I'd be more into it. After spending many hours with Apex Legends, Warframe, and Titanfall 2, I don't really enjoy switching back to shooters with such a lightweight feel to the shooting mechanics. It's why I don't play Fortnite anymore. Even Call of Duty Mobile has better-feeling weaponry than what's found here. I need gunplay with some actual weight to the guns, not just a difference in trigger operation. If there is one aspect of the weaponry I do appreciate, it's the gun upgrade system Rogue Company is packing.

Each character has their own unique loadout of guns, secondary weapons, melee weapons, throwable objects, and perks. At the start of a match and between each round, you'll spend money unlocking and upgrading your loadout. The more rounds you play, the more you can upgrade. It's a great system to experiment with though honestly, some of the unlocks don't really live up to expectations. Getting a bit of armor do?esn't matter much if opponents can still kill you in less than two seconds??.

Look, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Rogue Company, and when it goes free-to-play, you should at least try it out. Especially if you're on Switch or don't otherwise have access to games like Valorant or CS:GO. It's serviceable, it runs smooth, and it plays well if you like a shooter where the guns lack heft. Just don't expect me to join you when it finally releases because if I can barely remember this game an hour after playing it, it'll surely be lost to the Pha?ntom Zone of my mind when it launches later this year.

_{[This impressions piece is based on a closed beta build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Yesterday, Nintendo dropped a "Direct Mini" presentation for us to consume all at once, and tucked away in there was a weird and very brief mention of Hi-Rez Studios' new shooter Rogue Company. "More info is co?ming later today!" the brief uncere?moniously announced: well, we now have that info.

As it turns out, Rogue Company is not just for Switch. It's actually for PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One, featuring cross-play and cross-save across all platforms. It launched in early access already, with t?he option to buy three tiers of founder's packs, ranging from $14.99 to $59.99: this is how you buy into ear?ly access, with goodies like extra rogues (characters) and cosmetics.

Hi-Rez boasts a "minimum of 60FPS" even on Switch, and is very proud of launching on all major platforms simultaneously with cross-play. Although the aesthetics are extremely "Fast and Furious lite" looking, a few of us are looking into checking it out just because of the people involved: Hi-Rez hasn't ?gone wrong in a while.

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No more 'Founders Pack' requirement

Back in January Hi-Rez Studios released Smite on Switch, but it wasn't fully-free-to-play.

Just like Paladins Hi-Rez dropped it on the system in a sort of beta form, allowing players to pay for Founders Packs (?that would essentially allow access to all content, leaving cosmetics as microtransactions). Now, you can go to the eShop and download it for free without having to pay that premium: an "Ultimate God Pack" is still an option if you want all 100 Gods (characters) and future Gods.

Smite is currently cross-play enabled for everything but PS4, because Sony is still being awful about that in 2019. The worst part about this raw deal is that PS4 owners also lose out on cross-progression: something Sony execs don't even bring up whe??n using their "PS4 is the best place to play, there's plenty of people on the platform" mantra.

So is Smite even worth downloading? I think so. The MOBA genre is definitely less exciting in this current climate, but SMITE does enough things differently with its new perspective to the point where it's worth ??a shot.

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Chucklefish and Hi-Rez are firing back

Cross-play is a wonderful thing. It not only unites friends and validates cross-platform purchases, but also gives developers con?fidence to speak out against industry practices: after all, if there's just one holdout a??nd you're already on at least one lucrative platform, you have more a reason to complain without fear of retaliation.

That's starting to happen more and more this past year as Sony remains the sole publisher dragging their feet when it comes to fully open cross-play; and continues to blame developers for it to boot. They talked the talk in 2018 and opened it up for Fornite in "beta" form (Rocket League ??;is coming), but there is work to be done. So says Hi-Rez Studio?s and Chucklefish, anyway.

Speaking to Game Informer, Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden made the bold claim that developers were to blame for the lack of cross-play. Plainly stated, Layden espoused: "We’re open for business on this one. All it takes is for publishers and developers who wish to permission it.??" Two studios are claiming that's false. This is on top of Layden repeating the same mantra that PlayStation is the best place to play, also claiming "the PlayStation community is so large it’s not like you couldn’t fill up a lobby if you wanted to fire up a game." Spin City here we come: first stop, missing the point on cross-purchase-pro?tection-ville.

Finn Brice, CEO of Chuckelfish, took to ResetEra to explain their position in light of these comments. Brice says that they actually applied for cross-play status for Wargroove on PS4 (which already works for PC, Switch and Xbox?? mind, so the foundation is there) and were told "in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen." In the Game Informer interview Layden says that it is not as simple as flipping a switch: in the same ResetEra post, Brice claims "we can literally toggle a switch and have it working," clarifying that it might be more complicated for Sony.

Hi-Rez Studios president Stew Chisam is a little more curt, stating publicly on Twitter: "Sony, it is time to stop playing favorites and year down the cross-play/progression wall for everyone. We have Smite, Paladins and Realm Royale ready to go when you are." Yikes! Smite just recently "flipped their switch" to work on PC, Switch and X??box One with no issues.

We are now at a point where Sony is pointing fingers and forcing studios to defend them?selves while s??eeming out of touch about cross-play: it is not a good look.

Shawn Layden On PlayStation And The Future [Game Informer]

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Cross-platform progression available, as well

Hi-Rez Studios has released the latest patch for SMITE and its new features are pretty big. PC, Xbox One and Switch players will be able to play together with new cross-platform support and players can even continue their progression on whichever platform they feel like. PS4 players are left out in the cold, though that has more to do with Sony than Hi-Rez.

To enable cross-platform progression, players just need to link their Hi-Rez account with their Gamertags and everything will be set. You can check out this FAQ to get it done prop?erly, though the feature is enabled by default for new players. If you don't want to mix player pools b?etween platforms, you can opt out of the feature with a menu toggle. Ranked matches will be limited between PC and consoles, so you don't have to worry about your rank falling because of someone with a mouse and keyboard.

Currently, some issues are preventing Switch accounts from connecting after linking accounts. Hi-Rez is looking into that problem and will provide a solution as soon as possible. In the meantime, the studio suggests following the steps provided in its FAQ.

Smite rolls out cross-platform matchma?king and progressi??on on all platforms except PS4 [VG 24/7]

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More like flown the coop

The battle royale sub-genre is a harsh mistress. So many titles enter the ring, but it seems like only two big-wigs can remain popular. Once poised to be a direct competitor to PUBG, Hi-Rez Studio's Realm Royale isn't looking so hot anymore. A spin-off of a game mode from Paladins, Realm Royale released into Steam early-access in June and saw a pretty sizeable player base grow around it. Peaking at around 105,000 conc?urrent users, the game has now shed around 93% of that community.

While the remaining player base is hardly a graveyard, it doesn't bode well for the future of Realm Royale. Around 3,000 players are currently active, which is enough to populate a 100 man match, but could spell trouble if the game continues to hemorrhage players. The biggest cul??prit for this decline seems to be how unbalanced the game is, according to Steam user reviews.

There is also the lack of focus from streamers, as GitHyp points out. Similar to the rise and fall of Realm Royale's player numbers, streaming views peaked at around 150,000 in June and have fallen to a few thousand now. About the only thing retaining interest for many streamers is the official $100k tournament for Realm Royale hosted by Skillshot Media and KE?EMSTAR, which sees Twitch?? juggernaut NINJA participate.

The game is unlikely to die overnight, though. Hi-Rez Studios still has the successful Paladins to fall back on and there are plans to bring Realm Royale to consoles, where it could very well find a new home. ??This mostly isn't looking good for PC, where competition is far more prevalent.

Realm Royale Has Lost?? 93% of its Player Base After Peaking at 105k Concurrent Players 2 Months Ago on Steam [GitHyp]

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Now you can basically demo it

The Switch is diversifying its roster of games this week by adding the hero shooter Paladins into the mix. Wait! Paladins was already in the mix you say! Haha, clever girl. Well it kind of was in the form of a "Founder's Pack"? edition, which forced folks to hand over cash money to gain access. Now? you can actually download this free-to-play game for free.

At this point you have a whole swath of options for writeups, including our very own. While I'm generally a fan of Hi-Rez's recent efforts (I still play SMITE), Paladins just didn't do enough for me to grab m?e long term. It's a fine shooter in its own right but there are just so many more options to choose from at this point.

Hi-Rez is also gearing up to launch Realm Royale, a project that spun off of the Paladins franchise, on consoles. Currently it's only planned for PS4 and Xbox One but given their enthusiasm for the Switch version of Paladins it's just a matter of time until that port is anno?unced.

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Already in Early Access on Steam

Hi-Rez has put out quite a few massive online games over the years, and their latest, derived from the Paladins series (and originally a direct Paladins tie-in) is Realm Royale. It's, as you guessed it, yet a??nother battle royale, and it's skydiving off of the PC platform and onto consoles later this year.

First a beta is coming "next week," and at that point you'll be able to take part in the 100-person survival festivities set to a fantasy theme -- a relatively untapped market in th??e ?military-heavy tinted genre. The gist is that the formula is the same but your character belongs to one of five classes, giving it a self-described hero-shooter tint.

Realm Royale hit Early Access on Ste??am on June 5, and there's currently no planned release date.

Realm Royale Beta - PS4 | Xbox One [Realm Royale]

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And maybe on every system?

I know what you may be thinking: "But digital foundry did a video showing how great Paladins ran!" You know what? You're right! They did their expert analysis and mentioned that it runs at a steady 60 frames per second in both docked and undocked modes, with variable resolution to compensate. Ye??t while the game runs great, everything around it does not.

After playing and enjoying Overwatch for two years now, making the switch to Paladins, especially on the Switch, was rather jarring. Everything about it screams "budget Overwatch." Is t??hat a slight? Yes.?? Does it make the game especially awful? ...Sort of?

First thing I need to mention: I cannot comment on the grind to unlock new C??hampions, as the only way to play it on the Switch at this point in time is to own the Founder's Pack, which unlocks everything. I hear tell that the grind isn't great, but considering the rather low cost of the Founder's Pack, I'd consider the free version a demo and if you like it, buy it! I've always loved Founder's Packs and their ilk on principle: buy this thing for a reasonable price, and everything non-cosmetic is yours. There is not, however, a way to migrate or link your account. This isn't an issue for me, but for those who have invested time (and money!)?? into the game on PC, this is a kick in the pants.

After playing a good amount of time of Paladins while undocked, I can say with great confidence that the Switch's Joy-Con are not super great for first-person shooters. Now, if Paladins did the Right Thing and included gyro aiming controls, I don't think this would b?e a talking point. As soon as I found out there was no semblance of gyro controls, I knew this would feel miserable to play. There are lots of sensitivity and auto-aim options to tweak to make it feel better, but I can't shake the thought of what could have been. The Pro Controller fared better, b?ut I still found myself tilting the controller at times to make adjustments.

The first thing I noticed about the Paladins Switch port was just how awful everything not related to the gameplay was. There is no tutorial and an absolute ton of systems to just...figure out, I guess. "Okay, so characters have abilities and ultimates, makes sense. Oh, and I get a specialization, but only on?e is unlocked to start. Probably unlock more with time. Oh wait, there are cards too? What the hell do these do? Oh my god, items to buy? Why did I unlock a mount? How do I use the mount? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"

Holy shit this is the most Overwatch screenshot ever.

It's as if Hi-Rez was picking game systems out of a hat, but forgot to stop at a certain point. You know how that one FPS/MOBA/RTS game that you like has that unique system in it? Paladins has it too, probably. On top of ??that, the menu has locked up on me many times, and the load ?times border on unbearable. Why does it take a minute to load the post-match stats screen? How is that a thing? Ugh, I'm frustrating just typing about it!

The game itself feels like it's not quite done. Like it needs more time in the oven. Like I'm peeking behind the curtains before the big reveal. Again, as digitalfoundry pointed out, the game runs at a steady 60 frames per second, docked or undocked, and that is cool and impressive. But then the cadenc?e of the pre-match ten-second countdown isn't steady (four...threetwo...one). And the announcer says "Prepare for battle" after saying the battle has begun. And the game will kick everyone out if one person does not choose a character (what?!). Oh, and the "play of the game" system really feels unfinished. The game ends, there's a soulless shot of the character who had the best play, and then an instant cut to the play itself, often with blaring sound effects to juxtapose the awkward silence tha??t preceded it. 

Look, Paladins is okay. A solid 5/10 genre-chaser that's not in the safest development hands. It's a hero shooter that goes out of its way to check off as many boxes as possible, resulting in an over-complicated and yet somehow measly experienc??e. Nothing has any weight to it, and most characters blend together with each other or the characters they are aping from other hero shooters. I had to check Steam, because I would have bet money that this was still an Early Access title. But, at some point, it will be free-to-play on the Switch, and that's something I suppose.

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This looks familiar

Hi-Rez Studios is the king of chasing trends, so much so that they abandoned Tribes: Ascend to chase the MOBA craze early. It paid off as Smite is still a major player in the genre, and they followed it up with a foray into hero shooters with Paladins. Now they're doing a battle royale.

Realm Royale was released just within the past week on Steam, and Hi-Rez took the time to announce at E?3 today that it's currently list??ed in the Steam charts at number four. "Every game is a battle royale now" is becoming less of a joke and more of a reality.

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The listing is finalized

Amid many pre-E3 leaks, one in particular stood out -- the datamining of the eShop. That very act uncovered Paladins for Switch, right there in all its official glory, and Hi-Rez Studios have just confirmed it this morning by flicking a switch and making the Switch (ha) listing live in the UK (ju?st log into your UK eShop account anywher??e and check it).

The listing confirms that it's 60FPS with cross-platform multiplayer (with Xbox One), and will arrive on June 12, clocking in at 5.8GB. Like other versions it'll sport a free-to-play base, as well as at least ??one "Founder's Pack" with bonuses. Amazingly that's during the E3 Nintendo Direct, when they likely would have announced "and it's live right now!" on stream.

Well, it's still kind of exciting I guess! Now you just know it's coming and can plan for it -- along with the inevitable Switch port of Fortnite.

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May 8

Hi-Rez Studios has had their hands full for a while. Ever since the controversial move of dropping Tribes: Ascend they've begun work on several games at once, namely Smite and Paladins. One is a MOBA and the other is a hero shooter, both hot commodities, and both successful ?in their free-to-?play format.

While you may not have heard of the latter it's maintained a status in the top 20-played Steam list for some time, and it'll probably shoot up a bit after it finally launches next week. Yep, Hi-Rez has announced that Paladins is going to be ending its early access peri?od and will see a full release on May 8 on PC, PS4, a??nd Xbox One.

Strangely, Hi-Rez also pivoted into the battle royale scene before many other developers got around to doing it -- announcing the mode in February. It'll be interesting to see the identity of Paladins develop over time, especially with the accusations that they borrowed many archetypes from Overwatch.

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2018 is off to a start

Hi-Rez Studios announced that its team based shooter, Paladins, will be getting a new "battle royale" mode called Paladins: Battlegrounds. Lack of originality aside, this new ??100 man free-for-all will be the first "battle royale" to feature hero powers, which could make for an interesting twist on the sub-genre.

As with everything else in the game, this mode will be a free addition that is supported by microtransactions. If you actually dig Paladins and have wanted to check out PUBG or Fortnite, now you? have the perfect opportun??ity to jump back in.

Paladins: Battlegrounds - Official Trailer [YouTube]

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Earn double gold until May 7

If signing up for the Paladins closed beta on consoles was too much of an ask but you're still interested in Hi-Rez's free-to-play take on team-based shooters, today's the day. There's now an open beta running on PlayStation 4 (North America, Europe) and Xbox One (over here), no registration needed.

As an extra incentive, console and PC players alike can benefit from a Double Gold weekend. The event is happening now until Sunday, May 7, so there's not too much of a rush to take part.

Personally, there's only so much room in my life for this type of game, and I'm not tired of Overwatch yet. But if you are, or you're otherwise looking for a free alternative, Paladins certainly has its fans.

Paladins: Now Free on Xbox One, PS4 [Paladins]

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Sign up for the closed beta, if you're curious

With its open beta newly available on Steam Early Access, Paladins: Champions of the Realm has stepped into the spotlight. This is a team-based shooter from Hi-Rez, the studio behind SMITE and Tribes: Ascend, and I don't think it's unfair to say the game's main draw is its f??ree-to-play nature.

That'll be especially important on consoles where this specific kind of multiplayer experience can, at the right price, do very well for itself. Hi-Rez has announced PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Paladins and is now offering closed beta signups for both platforms (PS4 here, Xbox here).

"From day one of development, Paladins was designed with console in mind. We've enlisted some big-name console gamers to make sure the control scheme feels just right. Name any big-time multiplayer shooter that you enjoy most on console and Paladins stands right there alongside them."

Paladins is Coming to Console! [Paladins]

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So long, Space Cowboy

_{[Header courtesy of Steam user Apoc Hedgie]}

Tribes 2 was one of my favorite games as a pre-teen. I would wake up super early so I could get some uninterrupted play in on my dial-up modem. That is a piece of technology I haven't thought about in a long time, but those memories were joyous. I learned to type really fast because of Tribes 2.

Tribes: Ascend, while solid, never clicked with me. I couldn't seem to get into the series after the glory that was Tribes 2. I did give the game a fair shot and even accumulated about 10 hours on Steam, but I eventually grew tired of the free-to-play schemes that were bolted on. I j??ust wanted different weapons without paying, despite being pretty damn good at ??the game.

After a surprise patch last year, it looks like developer Hi-Rez Studios is done with the title. In a new update, titled "Parting Ways," Tribes: Ascend will be coming to an end. The game will st?ill remain up for download (and with all of its microtransactions up for purchase, heaven forbid), but there will be no official support moving forward.

I think this would be a great opportunity to turn the game over to the community. Much like how, in the distant past of 1997, id Software turned over the keys to Doom, it would be wise to let people go nuts with Ascend. It runs on the?? Unreal 3 engine, so peop??le could easily mod the hell out of it.

If nothing else, at least remove all of the free-to-play nonsense. I'd love to actually have a different weapon and class without playing for an exorbitant amount of time. Th?e game was really fun, at first.

Tribes Is Dead Again [Kotaku]

The post Tribes: Ascend gets a final patch a?nd unofficial goodbye appeared first on Destructoid.

The learning curve should be easy enough to handle

Today marks my first time really looking at Paladins, the new team-based shooter from Smite maker Hi-Rez. So, excuse me if this is well-worn territory by now, but boy does it look familiar.

The game comes across as a veritable hodgepodge of recent MOBA and team-shooter designs (and also Groot?). While I realize there's a lot of overlap in this space, a lot of shared inspiration, what I'm seeing here doe?sn't make for a great first ?impression. That said, is the game fun?

Those of us who skipped the closed beta can soon find out first-hand. Paladins is now on Steam Early Access with a free open beta should you want to try it after you've had your fill of Overwatch or Battleborn or Paragon or whatever else keeps your eyes glued to the? screen these days.

Paladins Enters Open Beta, Available on Steam Now [Steam]

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Unfortunately

Ever since Microsoft opened its Cross-Play gates, I've been waiting for Sony to oblige. That would certainly help out fans of SMITE, a game that's getting a PS4 version on May 31, but cannot interact with either the PC or Xbox One edit??ions.

A lack of PC cross support I get, because like Overwatch they have two different control schemes and different balance teams, but it's sad that we can't live in a world with PS4 and Xbox One compatibility for at least a few games. Maybe one day? I guess Sony has no reason to help out its competitor with such a big lead, and only consumers would win out.

Smite on PS4 Launches May 31 [PlayStation Blog]

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All platforms

Remember Smite?

I do, occasionally, before it slips far back in my mind with Heroes of the Storm hogging most of my limited attention for MOBAs. I'm looking over the list of gods now as a refresher, and there's so many unfamiliar faces! Ah Puch. Janus. Raijin. At this point, would it even be viable to work my way back in without first needing to watch a bunch of YouTube character guides?

Something to think about ahead of this weekend's promotional event for the game. Hi-Rez is opening access to all of the gods and giving out double experience, worshipers, favor, and fantasy points from Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15 on PC and consoles.

Double Everything Weekend [Smite]

The post Smite is unlocking all gods and doubling ‘everything’ for the weekend appeared first on Destructoid.

Sprung fully formed from the head of zeus

The cat was out of the bag already, but the free-to-play third-person MOBA, Smite, is officially on its way to the PS4 following an announcement on the PlayStation blog. While the game is already in a closed alpha, Hi-Rez studios plans to hold a closed beta in March that you can sign up for t??oday if you dig togas, Minotaurs, and V??alkyries.

Smite is one of those games that I'm always told has a huge player base, but never hear anyone talk about. Are its fans just very polite and keep to themselves? Does the volume of the bigger MOBAs like Dota and LoL just drown it out? Or maybe (likely), I'm just not checking in on the right places. Maybe I should sign up for the beta ?and see what all the fuss is about myself.

Smite: Battleground of the Gods Coming to PS4 [PlayStation Blog]

The post Smite is coming to the P?S4, begins closed beta sign-ups appeared first on Destructoid.

Oh yeah, this game

Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a thing that exists, and is the newest first-person team shooter project from the folks over at Hi-Rez who created the controversial Tribes Ascend and Smite. While there hasn't been a whole lot of buzz for it yet people will get a chance to check it out very soon, as the beta is scheduled fo??r November 17.

They've also announced a Founder's Pack for $20.00, which nets you immediate beta access, an exclusive mount, and 15 "Card Chests," which seem to be the microtransaction element in the game. In fact, cards will be used to bui?ld out your loadout -- let's see if Hi-Rez can avoid the "pay-to-win" model.

Register for Beta [Paladins]

The post Smite developer’s Paladins gets a Founder’s Pack, beta date appeared first on Destructoid.

Free games

Lot of out of the blue Tribes news this year. Developer Hi-Rez released its appropriately named "Out of the Blue" update to Tribes Ascend after two years of nada back in September.

Now, each entry in the series joins Ascend in being free. That includes the Earthsiege games and even the PS2 game Tribes: Aerial Assault. Yes, a developer is giving you its?? decade-plus old PS2 game fo??r free on PC for kicks. Well, for good will and to invigorate its newest iteration, too, I'm sure.

Still, free games.

The post Tribes Ascend dev releases past Tribes for free appeared first on Destructoid.

'We love making free-to-play games'

Originally announced as just "Paladins," Hi-Rez's free-to-play team-based shooter Paladins: Champions of the Realm is set to have card collection and a sort of deck-building aspect. Details were sc??ant during the announcement, bu??t the video below sheds a bit of light on it.

It sounds more like a collectible card game than a deck-building game, as players collect cards and create decks outside of a match only to draw and play them during a battle for various buffs. The video isn't explicit about pricing, but given that all characters are stated to be available for free, I stand by my initial prediction that the cards are where people will be paying for this. Hopefully it's not too scummy; I can see th?at idea turning into pay-to-win very easily.

The post Paladins behind-the-scenes video goes into t????he deck-building aspect appeared first on Destructoid.

Praise the mighty Shazbot on this day

Plenty of people (myself included) have been upset about Hi-Rez’s treatment of the pretty damn excellent FPS Tribes Ascend. Development was abandoned a few years ago, and ever since Smite has been the developer’s core focus.

Hi-Rez has now descended from the heavens in a shaft of golden light. With feathery wings and a harp in their hands, those angels have announced via the Tribes subreddit there is to be a patch coming to ??the ga?me in the very near future.

Fittingly dubbed the Out of the Blue update, the patch makes some major updates to the game: the game’s nine classes will all be merged into just three (Light, Medium, and Heavy). The different roles each class had before wi?ll still be present in the form of loadouts for each of the new classes.

A new Capture the Flag map called Terminus is also being introduced. Some smaller changes include weapon tweaking and changes to the loadout system to reflect the bigger class shakeup. According to the creative director of Tribes, the patch notes don’t include everything being changed, as feedback ??throughout the test period will be taken into consideration.

The public server that tests the update will go live on September 14, while an official release will come at?? a later date.

Thank you, Hi-Rez. Thank you so much. I think one comment on the Reddit post ca??n sum up feelings about this better than I ever could.

The post After two years, Tribes Ascend is finally getting a ne?w update appeared first on Destructoid.

I'll be done in a minotaur two

Hi-Rez Studios has earned a rather interesting reputation in recent years. After creating Tribes: Ascend, a game heavily re?liant on the free-to-play mod?el, fans accused the studio of abandoning the game in record time (roughly a year), to focus on "other projects."

One of those projects is SMITE, a MOBA that's received a decent amount of traction since its PC beta p??eriod in 2012 and eventua??l 2014 release. Now, it's on the Xbox One, and works surprisingly well with a controller, despite bringing over some of the same issues to the platform.

Smite (PC, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developer: Hi-Rez Studios
Publisher: Hi-Rez Studios
Release Date: March 25, 2014 (PC) / August 19, 2015 (Xbox One)
MSRP: Free-to-play with microtransactions ($30 for all Gods until August 31)

Unlike your typical MOBA experience, SMITE is framed by way of a behind-the-back camera, more akin to an action game than an RTS title. It was predicated on coming to a console day one, mostly because of how simple the control scheme was, and I'm pleased to say that the transition has been incredibly smooth, gameplay-wise. For new players looking to jump in, all you really have to do to play at a base level is un??derstand that the right trigger initiates your auto-attack, and the face buttons correspond to specific ?abilities, all of which are relatively self-explanatory. Of course, there's a deeper level of understanding required when it comes to leveling up your abilities and buying items and equipment, but the former can even be implemented automatically if you wish.

Where Smite really shines is with its assortment of game modes that will appeal to pretty much everyone. While MOBAs typically cycle in the same few gametypes with "guest" modes appearing sparingly, Smite goes all out with five variations available at all times. These include Arena (5v5 all-out fights without lanes), Joust (3v3 one lane), Conquest (standard MOBA 5v5 three lane), Assault (5v5 ARAM), and Siege (4v4 two lanes). You can also spring for four modes that pit you against the AI, should you need the practice. In short, the game has it all, and any one mode will keep you satisfied for quite some time. It's also great that Smite works in a l?ot of personality into s??aid maps, like the fact that the final "core" is actually a boss character that players have to take down, and the last line of defense is a giant phoenix.

There are 67 gods (characters) currently, all from various faiths throughout history. Characters range from well-known deities like Hades, all the way to Sun Wukong, to Guan Yu. While every god does look different enough visually, I couldn't help but realize that playing with a controller really exposes some of the monotony of Smite's gameplay. For the most part, you're going to be holding down RT, firing off a boring series of auto-attacks. Although it is easy to pickup, it's important to realize that although it may look like it, Smite isn't a full-on action game, and that abilities move rather slowly in the grand scheme of things. In a PC MOBA clicking can often keep you constantly engaged as you're always figuring out the best position possible, but Smite can feel sluggish by c?omparison. For those of you who don't enjoy the genre on PC, this may be the game for you.

It also doesn't help that a lot of abilities tend to blend together, and in one particular session, I played three gods that basically had the exact same attacks, just wi?th slightly different animation?s. Since you're leveling up the same abilities each time without an option to take new ones, you're going to want to switch gods often to keep things fresh. If you really want to go all in, you can buy the Founder's Pack for $30, which grants you access to every current and future god.

It's a pretty great deal as you're essentially "buying out" the gam??e, but unfortunately it's only available until ??the end of the month. Outside of that, you're left with a rather generous free rotation of 11 characters per week, and an assortment of boosters, items, skins, emotes, and icons. The game is heavily monetized and many things must be purchased with premium currency, but the Founder's Pack and most of what's on offer is fair.

There's also a few issues inherent to the Xbox One version of the game. For starters, no Cross-Play capabilities with the PC edition really sucks. Also, Hi-Rez is only offering up account progress transfers for a limited time, one way to the Xbox One, and it's just that -- a progress transfer. Note that experience levels and most of your content will be ported over, but not everything (Gems, mastery levels, and any stats or activities aren't eligible). It's also unfortunate that there's no inherent keyb?oard support (like many PS4 games). Based on my experience, nearly every player is content on playing without any form of communication, which, as many know, can be a kiss of death in a MOBA.

SMITE is a fine game and a great choice for folks who may not spend a lot of time on their PC, but there are a number of shortcomings present in both editions that prevent me from playing it as much as some of its competitors. Still??, it's ?a perfect starting point if you're looking to get into the genre, especially with the intuitive controller scheme.

The post Review: Smite (Xbox One) appeared first on Destructoid.

It launches on Xbox One next week

If you're into Smite on Xbox One and want access to every current and future character in the game, you might want to start thinking about buying the Founder's Pack soon. Hi-Rez has announced that the $30 bundle will be removed after August 31, as well as the ability to merge accounts from the PC.

Smite will be formally released on Xbox One on August 19, following a lengthy (and successful) alpha an?d beta period. Expect our review next week.

Smite [Smite Game]

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