Sometimes games shut down before they can make an impact. This can be for a myriad of reasons, but most times the game just isn’t sustainable anymore. In a lot of cases the titles had potential and, if given a chance, could’ve been big hits. Here are 5 games that were gone before their time.
Battlerite
Battlerite is a game where you and your squad fight in a small arena against an enemy squad. The game is sometimes looked at as a more skill-based version of League of Legends. I like to think of it like Smite’s joust mode, except it’s top-down, fast paced and you’re constantly in danger. The game actually has a 9/10 on Steam, and I think it deserves it. The gameplay is unique and tense, and there is a certain degree of skill needed to be successful.
The only problem is that the game couldn’t keep a consistent playerbase. It’s not closed down per-se, but it’s not getting any huge updates any time soon. It’s instead gone into maintenance mode. Developer Stunlock is keeping the game alive, but that’s it. It’ll receive small updates here and there, but they’re not really doing any more big things with it. That goes for Battlerite Royale as well.
This is good and bad. Bad because the game deserves more, but good because it’s not actually going away. It has the potential to become the focus again, if it can gain more concurrent players, but who knows if that’ll happen.
Lawbreakers
The gravity defying FPS hero-shooter that I loved even though I was bad at it. Lawbreakers seemed like it had it all going for it. There was hype, the gameplay was a rush, and was super smooth. But alas, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Despite the excitement surrounding the game, it was trouble from the start. The game sold poorly and wasn’t marketed in the best of ways either, having a hard time attracting new players. In the end, Lawbreakers only lasted about a year, and ended up taking the studio down with it. Lawbreakers was no more, and neither was Boss Key Productions.
Battleborn
A game – only slightly – ahead of its time, Battleborn is a hero-shooter from the studio behind my beloved Borderlands series. Battleborn has varied game modes, a HOTS-like upgrade system, and the signature humor of Borderlands. Now, you’ll notice that I’m speaking in present-tense. Battleborn hasn’t actually closed… yet. It’s still open for around another year, and has gone F2P.
The game itself had a few different game modes, and a diverse cast of characters. The upgrade system was a breath of fresh air as well, and aided in keeping things interesting every time you hopped into a match. Due to its hero-shooter nature, it drew unfair comparisons to Overwatch, which launched around the same time and had more hype to carry it.
Battleborn deserved more, but an unfortunate set of circumstances means it is now destined to close without getting a fair chance. The game still has a small and dedicated player base – which sadly just isn’t enough to keep it afloat.
Paragon
A console MOBA developed by Epic Games, Paragon was a smooth, third-person experience in being a badass. Running in Unreal Engine, the game was gorgeous and sported awesome looking characters and abilities, while remaining simple enough for casual players to pick up. Unfortunately, it got derailed by the success of Fortnite, and closed down two years later without ever leaving beta.
There’s not really too much to say about the game. It wasn’t necessarily different from the big players out there. One good thing about it was the card system. The cards were divided into five affinities – each changing your playstyle and strengths. The abilities were fun to use, and due to the third-person camera, were sometimes really hectic to use. Long range guns needed to be aimed with precision, and abilities like Gideon’s portal had to be placed *just right* or you’d be doomed.
Paragon had great potential, especially considering the limited competition it had as a third-person MOBA. Still, Epic Games just decided that it wasn’t meant to be.
Fortnite: Save the World
And speaking of Fortnite, we have the Save the World mode. Save the World is far from cancelled, but compared to the attention the battle royale mode is getting, it may as well be; so we are going to talk about it. The thing is, the Save the World campaign actually came first. Before all the hype of the battle royale craze, you had to buy Fortnite, and the campaign was about building a base and holding off zombie hordes.
Save the World was, and is still fun, innovative and features a smooth and dynamic building and destruction system. It let you shape the world around you whatever way you wanted. There was wave defense, boss battles, exploration, a massive area for you to design the perfect fort – hence Fortnite and tons of weapons and traps for you to find and build.
It’s all still there and still pretty enjoyable honestly. It’s obvious though that the whole thing was sidelined when the battle royale mode was released. They still update it to follow along with Fortnite Battle Royale, but it’s long been clear that it’s no longer the main attraction.
Oh and I should mention – if, like me, you own Save the World and you’ve neglected it, it’s a pretty good way to get some free V-Bucks.
C’est la vie, c’est la mort
These games were, and in some cases still are pretty good. Personally I miss Paragon the most, I had some really good times in that game. If there’s anything to take away from this, it could be my personal belief that Epic has some pretty lacklustre prioritization skills.
Personal bias aside, lots of games aren’t immortal; multiplayer titles especially. Some disappear before they have a chance to make a splash, and some don’t even make it to the pool. These games deserved better, and hopefully they can make a comeback in the future.
