It looks like the plagiarism-accused Paladins is giving Overwatch some competition: It’s coming to consoles, and it’ll be free.
There will be closed betas for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but you can register to participate now. The game has been quite successful on Steam, breaking into the Top 10 Games being played within a week of its Early Access. Perhaps getting a bit ahead of themselves, there is also information available for the 2017 Paladins Invitational in the above links.
Paladins was recently accused of plagiarizing Overwatch, as the hero shooters do have several archetypes in common: Slender female sniper, heavily armored barrier shielder, etc. Hi-Rez has made a strong case for why the allegations aren’t true (and, in under a year’s time, fairly impossible), which you can read more about here. The trailer above does some work for and against them; a cloaked man appears and fires a powerful looking gun, for instance, but we also see a small animal riding a horse, and a dragon plummet from the sky. Certainly, the fantasy vibe is different from the futuristic Overwatch.
Hi-Rez is clearly putting the work in– one trip to their YouTube channel is proof enough of this, replete with teasers, updates, character guides, community activity, you name it. And while the PC version is available now, and the console version doesn’t have a release date yet, there’s one major reason you’ll want to try it: It’s free. You can unlock all the heroes by playing, too, or pay $20 for the Founders Pack to snag them all– 1/3 of Overwatch’s price. Something for Blizzard to keep in mind.