Free-to-Play Paragon gets a $60 retail release, open beta dates for PC and PS4 revealed

Hyacinth Mascarenhas

One Paragon character unleashes their power.

Epic Games

Epic Games has announced the physical edition of its multiplayer online battle arena (Moba) Paragon is getting a $60 retail release on 7 June. Announced on the PlayStation blog, the Paragon Essentials Edition will include "everything you need to start killing on the battlefields of Agora".

The third person edition is worth more than $160 in value – based on in-game currency – and includes $60 worth of in-game currency, five Hero Master challenges, the launch-exclusive Wasteland Twinblast skin, exclusive skills and reputation boosts.

According to Epic Games' senior manager Wes Phillips, the Paragon Essentials Edition will include:

• 6,000 Paragon Coins (worth $60).

• In-game currency to spend on additional Master Challenges, skins, boosts, and other items that I'll see as you stand over my corpse.

• Five Hero Master Challenges.

• Each Master Challenge immediately grants a Challenger skin and permanent XP boost, plus unlocks unique rewards as you play, including a taunt (that you'll use on me) and the Master skin.

• Includes Master Challenges for Twinblast, Sevarog, Iggy & Scorch, and two soon-to-be-announced Heroes.

• Five Skins, including the launch-exclusive Wasteland Twinblast skin.

• For now, you can only get the Wasteland Twinblast skin in the Essentials Edition.

• Five Rep Boosts (each lasts for three wins).

• Rep boosts speed up how quickly you earn Rep, which you can spend on card packs, Master Challenges, and more.

The developer has also confirmed the dates for Paragon's free beta weekends on PC and PS4. The first phase to stress test servers will kick off on 28 April and run until 1 May. The second phase will begin on 5 May and run until 8 May.

The game is currently available in early access for players to buy in and join the campaign with digital Founder's Packs that cost $20, $60 and $100. However, developers have maintained that Paragon will be fully playable for free upon launch.

Paragon is slated for release sometime this year on PC and PS4.