Common Sense Media Review
Colorful multiplayer arena offers frenetic team fun.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
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Paladins: Champions of the Realm
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 9 parent reviews
Based on 19 kid reviews
Kids say the game is fun and enjoyable, especially for its price as a free-to-play title, but it does have some suggestive character designs and occasional mild violence, including animated blood. The community aspect can be problematic due to toxic chat, but players appreciate the ability to mute and block unsavory content, making it generally safe for children.
- fun gameplay
- suggestive content
- mild violence
- community issues
- free-to-play
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's It About?
PALADINS: CHAMPIONS OF THE REALM is a freemium team shooter with three main game modes and a wide range of quirky heroes to choose from. Initially, you have access to a limited range of heroes (more unlock as players gain experience), each with a unique set of skills which can be amplified before the match by a customizable "loadout" of ability cards. Players join a team with four other squadmates to make a balanced team of damage-dealers, defenders, front-liners, flankers, and support units to take on an opposing team of heroes. The game offers three modes: Siege, (payload capture and movement) Onslaught, (point capture and kill count) and Deathmatch (first to forty kills wins.) Heroes earn currency during matches, which can be spent on useful powerup items during the match. Post-match, players earn experience points and in-game currency, and unlock additional heroes and skill cards. Once players unlock twelve heroes and raise their player profile to level fifteen, they unlock Competitive mode, which lets them join ranked battles and grants them leaderboard status.
Is It Any Good?
This fun team-based shooter uses a cute visual style and emphasizes competition over gore, which keeps players coming back round after round. Paladins: Champions of the Realm has a Disney-like art style that slightly lessens the fear of competition with fun, attractive heroes, a quick tutorial, and practice matches against forgiving AI opponents. Gameplay is immediately fun, even when you're still learning the game and getting accustomed to each character's abilities. See, there are lots of options for heroes, weapons, skills, and items, and players who know how to combine them become extremely powerful. The more experience you have, the more cool heroes you unlock. Still, even when you're just starting, out you can have a blast.
Cool themed maps give you plenty of strategic options, and the quirky heroes have powerful, often hilarious weapons. An almost-instant respawn when you die makes the pace of the game crazy-fast, and a wide range of unique hero powers keeps fights unpredictable. If buying item upgrades during matches confuses you, a convenient "auto-purchase" button solves that problem, and if your teammates get too bossy or rude, you can disable voice chat in the Options menu. Playing matches levels up your player profile, which means access to more modes, heroes, items, and skill cards, and special events occur periodically so you can earn even more unique items like character skins and emotes. The sound in Paladins: Champions of the Realm is nice, with upbeat music and funny character quips, and aside from the occasional busty beauty, the art and bloodless effects are colorful and kid-friendly. Player chat and voice add-ons remain a concern of course, when it comes to language, bullying, and potential predators, and the in-game shop is likely to be a constant temptation. But in terms of gameplay though, Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a quality team shooter -- one competitive kids are bound to enjoy.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about unfriendly/bullying team play. Do your kids know what to do if an online teammate becomes abusive?
Does your kid want to be a professional eSports player? Does he or she know the pros and cons of doing that?
Game Details
- Platform : Windows
- Pricing structure : Free (Contains optional in-game purchases.)
- Available online? : Available online
- Publisher : Hi-Rez Studios
- Release date : May 8, 2018
- Genre : First-Person Shooter
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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