by theygamesIt’s no secret that the MOBA ecosystem is dominated by two games: League of Legends, and Dota 2. It’s one of the hardest nuts to crack, with games like Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm and Epic Games’ Paragon failing to challenge Riot and Valve’s respective behemoths. Omeda Studios, however, is hoping to make its mark by breathing new life into Epic’s aforementioned MOBA with Predecessor, Paragon’s spiritual successor. While certain elements may feel familiar, however, Omeda CEO Robbie Singh tells me that Predecessor learns from its forefather, and innovates in a way that makes it a worthy competitor to LoL and Dota.
And having tried Predecessor out for myself, I can see the niche that it’s trying to fill. While I found that a lot of the language and abilities felt very League, the MOBA‘s third-person angle felt more reminiscent of Titan Forge’s Smite – something I’ve always loved because it feels like you’re participating in the action, versus watching from afar like Big Brother.
When I ask Singh where Predecessor fits in the MOBA space, he tells me that “LoL is an isometric, top-down game, whereas Predecessor is a third-person, 3D, action game. As a result, Predecessor players have different considerations from LoL players.
“In Predecessor, players need to aim their shots, for example, and can move vertically in 3D space, attacking from above and below,” he continues. “It’s a different sort of challenge from what you get in LoL.”
As someone who plays League almost every night, I certainly agree. Terrain verticality is something I’ve always felt LoL was missing, and it opens up a whole slew of different combinations and abilities.
It was these mechanics that made Paragon so unique back in 2016, so I ask Singh what elements the team took from Epic’s adventure, and if there were any features that were left on the cutting room floor. After all, at first glance, Predecessor definitely feels like a remaster, but when you play it, things do feel very different.
“There are a few elements from Paragon that we’ve kept alive in Predecessor,” he tells me. “We of course use some of the Paragon assets alongside our own original IP, and while we have updated and redesigned heroes to align more with our vision, we’ve also tried to keep alive what made players originally fall in love with those heroes in the first place.”
“We also kept some more philosophical parts alive and even pushed that further. Paragon was available on PC and PS4, now with Predecessor we’re not only available on both those platforms but we’ve launched on both next-gen Xboxes and PlayStation 5 with full crossplay across every platform. So we have kept the idea of being able to play a MOBA with anyone on any platform, but [we’re] taking it to the next level.”
While Predecessor does use Paragon assets, Singh reassures me it isn’t just “Paragon 2.” Instead the team “had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted. “So while we used the assets because of the affinity players had towards them and my background as one the largest Paragon content creators, the vision was always to build our own MOBA.”
“We think the MOBA space has room for a lot of success stories, whether that’s Predecessor, LoL, or any of the other awesome titles out there right now,” he concludes, and honestly, it’s an exciting thought.
While I love (and hate) League of Legends, I’ve seen so many awesome MOBAs appearing recently. From Paragon to the mysterious Project Loki and of course, Smite 2, I’m very excited to see how the landscape changes over the next few years. In the meantime, though, Predecessor is available to play for free on Steam right now, so dive on in – it’s worth it, trust me.
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