# Paragon (video game)
**Paragon** was a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by Epic Games for PC and [PlayStation 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-4), played from a third-person perspective on a fully three-dimensional map. It entered paid early access in March 2016, ran through two years of open betas and early access without ever reaching a final release, and was shut down by Epic on April 26, 2018.[1](https://paragon.fandom.com/wiki/Paragon) • [2](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/) • [3](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-death-of-paragon-and-the-rise-of-fortnite/1100-6456547/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Developer / platforms | Epic Games; PC and PlayStation 4, announced for 2016 at PlayStation Experience[4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gw9fJGKvcc) |
| Genre and perspective | Third-person action MOBA with free aiming, set on the map Agora[5](https://mmohuts.com/review/paragon) • [6](https://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/paragon-beginners-guide) |
| Match format | Traditional three-lane, 5v5 MOBA with AI minions, towers, and in-match progression[7](https://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/paragon-an-interview-with-creative-director-steve-superville) |
| Early access | Opened March 2016 with only 13 heroes and placeholder art, animations, and interfaces[2](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/) |
| Equipment system | Cards instead of a shared item shop; 60 card points per match, spent from a pre-built deck[8](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/) |
| Shutdown | Servers closed April 26, 2018; no final release[3](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-death-of-paragon-and-the-rise-of-fortnite/1100-6456547/) |
| Afterlife | Epic released the game's assets; Omeda Studios built Predecessor on them, raising more than $20 million including an Epic MegaGrant[9](https://www.unrealengine.com/developer-interviews/why-paragon-fueled-moba-predecessor-shifted-to-unreal-engine-5) |
## Overview and design
Epic, a studio best known for the [Gears of War](https://www.edgepedia.org/gears-of-war) franchise, labeled Paragon plainly as a MOBA rather than avoiding the genre's [League of Legends](https://www.edgepedia.org/league-of-legends) and [Dota 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/dota-2) lineage with a softer acronym.[8](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/) Creative director Steve Superville described the game as a traditional MOBA carrying all the expected mechanics and strategy: three lanes, AI units, and in-match progression, with the team deliberately sticking to the classic three-lane 5v5 format rather than adding new maps and modes.[7](https://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/paragon-an-interview-with-creative-director-steve-superville)
The distinguishing choice was the camera. Unlike the top-down view of Dota 2 or League of Legends, Paragon controlled its heroes from a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective, which made aiming a core skill and gave the map genuine verticality.[8](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/) • [5](https://mmohuts.com/review/paragon) Superville said the team added verticality to the map so that every impact with another player or the world could be felt.[7](https://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/paragon-an-interview-with-creative-director-steve-superville) [Elevation](https://www.edgepedia.org/elevation) created tactical possibilities absent from flat MOBAs: heroes with enough mobility could jump up out of the jungle into a lane to set up surprise attacks, and being attacked from higher or lower ground changed the fight.[10](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/epic-talks-moving-from-gears-of-war-to-mobas-with-/1100-6432936/) • [1](https://paragon.fandom.com/wiki/Paragon)
The map, Agora, kept the standard MOBA skeleton: two team bases at opposite ends, defensive towers arranged in chains forming lanes, and a jungle between the lanes hiding additional objectives such as experience wells and jungle creep camps.[6](https://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/paragon-beginners-guide) • [11](https://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro3/GameAIPro3_Chapter24_Being_Where_It_Counts_Telling_Paragon_Bots_Where_to_Go.pdf) Walls blocked sight lines only briefly after entering a lane or the jungle, and minion lines of sight could reveal enemies.[1](https://paragon.fandom.com/wiki/Paragon) A lane-pushing games analysis noted that although the game was fully 3D, the minimap never showed ambiguous elevation, so the design mapped cleanly onto familiar 2D MOBA reading.[12](https://lanepushinggames.com/article/paragon-part-1)
## Progression, Amber, and cards
Heroes started each match at Hero Level 1 and gained experience by killing enemy units or being near them when they died.[1](https://paragon.fandom.com/wiki/Paragon) Paragon split progression into two currencies: hero level, and card experience (CXP).[6](https://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/paragon-beginners-guide) Slain foes left behind piles of orange orbs called Amber, which players gathered to earn CXP spent on cards in the shop; the last hitter on a minion collected its Amber automatically, while everyone else had to pick it up manually, adding a positioning risk-reward to farming.[2](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/)
**Cards replaced items.** Instead of a shared store where every item was available to every hero, the cards a player could buy were fixed by the deck chosen before the match.[8](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/) Cards came in three types: active (health potions, energy potions, and wards), passive (stat boosts with three upgrade slots each), and upgrade cards that tweaked a passive's bonuses, with a fully upgraded passive gaining an additional buff.[2](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/) A match allowed 60 card points in total, and an item bought early, such as a healing potion, could not be refunded for the rest of the match, so deck-building was described as a tricky math problem.[8](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/) Cards and heroes could only be earned through gameplay, not purchase, which Epic presented as keeping the game fair.[8](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/) • [7](https://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/paragon-an-interview-with-creative-director-steve-superville)
**Harvesters** were capture points placed on the map's XP wells that gathered Amber for the owning team over time; a player hero had to retrieve the stored XP regularly because harvesters had limited capacity, and an overflowing harvester dropped excess where either team could take it. An enemy-held harvester could be attacked to reset it to neutral and claimed.[2](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/) • [11](https://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro3/GameAIPro3_Chapter24_Being_Where_It_Counts_Telling_Paragon_Bots_Where_to_Go.pdf) Jungle creep camps offered experience and temporary stat buffs.[11](https://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro3/GameAIPro3_Chapter24_Being_Where_It_Counts_Telling_Paragon_Bots_Where_to_Go.pdf)
## Movement and combat feel
Paragon included a travel mode for crossing the map quickly when combat was not a factor. Unlike comparable systems in other games, heroes could keep moving during travel mode's spin-up time, which made it especially useful for chasing.[12](https://lanepushinggames.com/article/paragon-part-1) The same analysis observed a trade-off in the aiming model: because the game was in full 3D and shots were fired into the vanishing point, it was harder to track a projectile's distance and build familiarity with it than in the flatter third-person camera of SMITE.[12](https://lanepushinggames.com/article/paragon-part-1)
## Development and release
Paragon was announced as Epic's new project alongside Fortnite at PlayStation Experience, closing the conference, and was described as a shooter-MOBA following the basic fundamentals of [Defense of the Ancients](https://www.edgepedia.org/defense-of-the-ancients) with a faster, more dynamic concept.[4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gw9fJGKvcc) • [13](https://as.com/meristation/2016/01/04/reportajes/1451890800_152058.html) Alpha gameplay footage was shown on PC in December 2015, with release set for PC and PS4 in 2016.[4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gw9fJGKvcc) [Early access](https://www.edgepedia.org/early-access) began in March 2016, rolled out to the public remarkably early in the game's life: servers were already live for alpha testers, but the build had only 13 heroes and plentiful placeholder art, animations, and interfaces, with balance concerns and little new-player experience.[2](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/) New players were routed into AI modes until reaching account level 3 before standard PvP.[5](https://mmohuts.com/review/paragon)
Superville said Epic planned to grow the game over time as a living game and adjust how it taught its systems if players struggled.[10](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/epic-talks-moving-from-gears-of-war-to-mobas-with-/1100-6432936/) During its two years in open beta and early access, Paragon underwent a number of changes, yet a full launch never materialized.[3](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-death-of-paragon-and-the-rise-of-fortnite/1100-6456547/)
## Shutdown and legacy
In February 2018 Epic announced it would shut Paragon down on April 26 of that year, as Fortnite's rise coincided with the game's end.[3](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-death-of-paragon-and-the-rise-of-fortnite/1100-6456547/) Epic then offered the game's assets to developers, and Omeda Studios built its cross-platform third-person MOBA Predecessor on them, raising more than $20 million in funding including an Epic MegaGrant; Omeda's founder and CEO Robbie Singh said he became interested in Paragon early on through its announcement trailer with [PlayStation](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation).[9](https://www.unrealengine.com/developer-interviews/why-paragon-fueled-moba-predecessor-shifted-to-unreal-engine-5)
## References
1. [Paragon Wiki (Fandom)](https://paragon.fandom.com/wiki/Paragon)
2. [What you need to know before playing Paragon, PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/what-you-need-to-know-before-playing-paragon/)
3. [The Death Of Paragon And The Rise Of Fortnite, GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-death-of-paragon-and-the-rise-of-fortnite/1100-6456547/)
4. [Paragon from Epic Games - Gameplay First Look, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gw9fJGKvcc)
5. [Paragon Game Review, MMOHuts](https://mmohuts.com/review/paragon)
6. [Paragon Beginners Guide, Ten Ton Hammer](https://www.tentonhammer.com/guides/paragon-beginners-guide)
7. [Paragon: An Interview With Creative Director Steve Superville, Ten Ton Hammer](https://www.tentonhammer.com/articles/paragon-an-interview-with-creative-director-steve-superville)
8. [Everything we know about Paragon, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/paragon-review/)
9. [Why Paragon-fueled MOBA 'Predecessor' shifted to Unreal Engine 5, Unreal Engine developer interviews](https://www.unrealengine.com/developer-interviews/why-paragon-fueled-moba-predecessor-shifted-to-unreal-engine-5)
10. [Epic Talks Moving From Gears of War to MOBAs with Paragon, GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/epic-talks-moving-from-gears-of-war-to-mobas-with-/1100-6432936/)
11. [Being Where It Counts: Telling Paragon Bots Where to Go, Game AI Pro 3 (Mieszko Zieliński)](https://www.gameaipro.com/GameAIPro3/GameAIPro3_Chapter24_Being_Where_It_Counts_Telling_Paragon_Bots_Where_to_Go.pdf)
12. [Lane-Pushing Games: Paragon, Part 1](https://lanepushinggames.com/article/paragon-part-1)
13. [Los Juegos del 2016, MeriStation](https://as.com/meristation/2016/01/04/reportajes/1451890800_152058.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Video games and digital play › Games and gameplay › Individual game titles › Individual PC and computer-platform game titles › Strategy and tactics titles*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license