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Predecessor is giving Paragon its biggest farewell by rebuilding Agora
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Diego Nicolás Argüello
Now that the team has finished adapting the entire original character roster to Predecessor, a new chapter draws near. Update 1.7, available today, brings Paragon's iconic map Agora back to life for a limited time. Moreover, it also adds another brand new character designed by Omeda, following the release of Yurei in the 1.6 update. It might seem like a final farewell letter to Paragon, but it also demonstrates Omeda's willingness to not get fixated on the past, and keep on pushing forward with new ideas.
As it turns out, a lot has changed since the release of Paragon in 2016. When Omeda Studios tasked itself with rebuilding Agora in Unreal Engine 5, the challenge wasn't just technical. Similar to how the team tackled adapting characters from the Paragon roster into Predecessor, there were game design considerations to keep in mind—especially after nine years.
"While many recall Agora fondly, game design has evolved considerably since its initial debut, and when you revisit the original, some elements now feel quite dated," Omeda Studios CEO Robbie Singh said. "Our approach was to craft a faithful-yet-remastered tribute. We aimed for many of the changes to be subtle—almost invisible—such that players might not even consciously notice the extensive work involved in smoothing out those rough edges."
After extensive playtesting, ensuring the new and old are in harmony with each other, Omeda is ready to re-release Agora to the world. For now, it's a limited-time addition—though Singh mentions that the team will be keeping an eye on the community's response to see if that changes in the future, referencing Predecessor's Nitro mode, which was initially temporary as well before being permanently integrated.
Playtests and community feedback have helped shape Predecessor into what it is today, in a myriad of ways. As Singh explained, the team has learned quite a few lessons in the past 11 months since launch, one being the careful balance that comes with updates. Some updates emphasize features aimed at specific player segments, while others tend to be more overarching updates that change the overall game.
Predecessor's 1.7 update is kind-of both. Reintroducing Agora is a nostalgic hook, but the addition of the second new character (named Renna) is part of what Singh considers a three-patch arc. This started in June with Yurei, and will culminate in September with the 1.8 update and a third character. The three are enmeshed with a shared origin story—Renna and Yurei are sisters—and their presence shows how Omeda is cementing a new future for Predecessor.
"Bringing new characters into Predecessor is an immensely exciting process for us, as it offers a dual opportunity: to strategically fill existing gameplay gaps within our roster, and crucially, to build genuinely iconic heroes that resonate deeply with players," Singh said. "I think our goals for any hero, new or legacy, are pretty similar—even those who were originally in Paragon have undergone significant kit reworks when we've brought them into Predecessor."
Renna is a mid-lane hero. A sorceress corrupted by an ancient evil, she wields dark magic that grows stronger by harvesting essence from fallen enemies with her passive, which also grants her mid-air floating. Her primary ability tethers and drains enemies while simultaneously healing her, scaling said passive. Renna's secondary launches her into the air to hurl an explosive orb, while her ultimate blinks her into the midst of enemies and unleashes a storm of projectiles.
Adding brand new characters to a massive existing roster is already daunting. Doing so within a live service ecosystem, however, has proven to be quite a challenge for Omeda. The team is constantly juggling tasks like bug fixes, player support, localization, maintaining servers and other vital tech, and optimizing game balance—just to name a few.
Singh encapsulates it best: "As a relatively small team, managing all these priorities simultaneously is a continuous challenge that, quite frankly, often leads to a sleepless night or two!"
Yet, there are no signs of Omeda stopping any time soon. The team considers community feedback to be the core of everything it does, especially now that Predecessor has surpassed Paragon's original lifespan. It's thanks to that feedback that, according to Singh, Omeda has been able to stick around and grow to this point. From the looks of it, that community—and thus the team's philosophy—are here to stay.
"They are deeply invested in our every move and decision," he said. "This naturally results in a lot of very vocal feedback and intense scrutiny over the choices we make. Getting the balance right between all these different perspectives, both from our players and within the team itself, is incredibly difficult, but I do think we're getting better at it as time goes on."
Predecessor is available to play for free on the Epic Games Store, and you can find the full patch notes of update 1.7 here.