It’s not often that a game’s birth has a story as interesting as that of Paragon: The Overprime. To talk about it, we have to go back to an age before that of Fortnite, when Epic Games was trying a bunch of different projects powered by the shiny new Unreal Engine 4. There was Unreal Tournament, which was canceled in 2018, and there was a third-person MOBA game called Paragon, also canceled in the same year, after Fortnite had already turned into an incredible golden goose for Epic.
By that time, however, Paragon had already gathered somewhat of a cult following among MOBA fans. As such, when Epic Games released the game’s assets for free, multiple projects for its revival were started. One of them was spearheaded by Yong-Hoon Choi, who had been working at Epic Games Korea since 2013 and was a massive fan of the game. Choi ultimately started its own development team called SoulEve to make Paragon: The Overprime, released last December by Netmarble (which had acquired SoulEve at that point) on Steam and Epic Games Store as an early access title.
Wccftech recently had the opportunity to talk with Yong-Hoon Choi about the project’s genesis and what the road ahead looks like, including console ports (with optional cross-play).
First of all, why did you decide to pursue the revival of Paragon? Can you tell us the story of reaching out to Epic about this?
Being a former developer at Epic Games, I was always a big fan of Paragon since the internal testing. All gamers know the feeling of doom when their go-to game closes down, but I asked myself, what if I have the ability to revive the game? The story began there. I’m sure every fan would make the same choice I did. Especially because I wanted to revive the Twinblast, which was my favorite hero of Paragon, I gathered the developers and came up with a prototype called ‘PrimeX’. Later it became Overprime, and now, Paragon: The Overprime. Communicating with Epic Games was relatively easy for me because I was a developer of the company, and they knew how much I was a big fan of Paragon. I felt like dreams came true when Epic Games decided to hand over the trademark of ‘Paragon’ to my team. I want to express my appreciation to Epic Games.
How long did the development take, and how big is your team right now?
We developed the title as indie developers for a year and took about 2 more years upon joining Netmarble. Currently, our development team has about 70 experts.
The game has been live in early access for about a month, and user reviews are slightly below 60%. Which of the community’s complaints are you prioritizing for a fix?
Currently, we are focusing on raising the overall quality and obtaining an effective learning curve. As recruiting new gamers is critical, we are taking efforts to adjust the in-game difficulties for newbies. We are also continuously adding new heroes, working on the in-game balance, optimizing the overall system, and fixing any bugs.
Death timers being low was a common complaint with Paragon: The Overprime, causing games to extend longer than they should because there was no way to capitalize on winning a fight. Will this be adjusted throughout early access?
We are considering two options. One is to offer dynamic plays even though matching time takes a bit, or to offer them more numbers of battles, as well as lowering their fatigue upon shortening the matching time. I believe neither factor is more important than another, and we will find the mid-ground / best option through the internal tests.
Why did you decide to only have a single tower per lane compared to other popular MOBAs with two towers per lane? Could that change in the future?
The main map – Agnis of Light – has a single tower per lane, considering the map’s size and overall play time. We have now developed various modes and additional maps. Each map will have unique characteristics and some will have two towers per lane.
Assassins felt weaker than Tank and Bruiser heroes in the Jungle, leading to a decline in their play. Are there any plans to address Jungle Assassins and buff them?
Assassins were stronger during the CBT and were adjusted accordingly after receiving users’ opinions. Balances between heroes will continuously be adjusted, as will tactics during battles.
Can you tease any of the upcoming heroes? What is their design direction, will there be a mix of monsters, skilled humans, robots, mythical creatures, etc.?
Going forward, the new heroes will be a mixture of heroes from the Epic Games Paragon as well as from Paragon: The Overprime. There will be various types of heroes, including types of animals, cyborgs, skilled humans, monsters, and fantasy creatures for the Paragon: The Overprime’s original hero.
Will there be a focus on developing the lore and worldbuilding through season-specific storylines and cutscenes as seen in other live service titles?
As each hero and origin planet is revealed, we are preparing to showcase the storylines and each hero’s unique narratives on deeper levels going forward.
Are you going to add official controller support to the game? If so, is there an ETA for that?
We are aiming to add official controller support within the year.
Are you planning to release Paragon: The Overprime on consoles eventually? If so, would there be cross-play among platforms?
We are aiming to release the console version within the year, and cross play will be offered as an option for players.
Will you upgrade to Unreal Engine 5 at some point?
We do not have plans to upgrade to Unreal Engine 5 at this moment.
When will you update Paragon: The Overprime with AMD FSR 2 support? Is there any chance you’ll also add NVIDIA DLSS and/or Intel XeSS support?
Currently, Paragon: The Overprime has FSR 2 support, and DLSS and XeSS are currently under discussion.
Are you going to add any ray traced effects, too?
Internally, we have a mutual understanding that we do not need a ray tracing feature at this moment. But we will make sure to consider it if one of the heroes needs the rendering technique in the future.
What are your goals for the game’s future? Will there be new modes? Funding for eSports competitions? New mechanics?
From the beginning, we’ve been developing this game with the consensus that it will become an eSports title. We believe the key features have huge potential when it comes to this sector.
Is there anything else you’d like to add about Paragon: The Overprime?
Launching Paragon: The Overprime means a lot to me, as I consider myself one of the biggest fans of this title. We will do our best to offer what is best for our gamers out there. Please stay tuned for our journey. Thank you.
Thank you for your time.
