Pred Talk #1: Oh We All Love Grim.exe in Predecessor

This week saw the release of the Predecessor update V0.17 and brought yet another one of Paragon’s heroes into the fray: Grim.exe. We’re also seeing some fairly stable growth in the concurrent player numbers, at least during the weekend, indicating that the Xbox launch has certainly done its part to pull new players on board.

Welcome Back Grim.exe

I have seen so much love for Grim.exe in Predecessor this week, and why wouldn’t I? This is a returning character from Paragon and honestly, one of the finest examples of intricate character design in a MOBA you’ll ever get.

While this is essentially a small creature using a hand crank to power a massive robot, Grim.exe has quickly become one of the game’s powerhouses since its release on April 11. It’s not only the ability the hero has to dominate and push back the enemy team with sheer firepower but there are intricacies to each attack that are being discovered over time that open up new avenues for synergies.

For example, just as I write this article, players on the Predecessor Subreddit are gushing over a clip showing how Grim.exe’s ultimate blocks Muriel’s. More interactions will no doubt be discovered over time, and it’s hard to know if they’re intentional, I’ve certainly seen Omeda Studios’ CEO Robbie being caught by a few surprises while playing this hero. This next week will be its settling-in period, and we should know if it’s going to become a staple for more players by then.

Also, check out how tall you all made him on Twitter!

Fabulous Shogun

While I’m in love with Grim.exe’s Hotrod skin, the rest of the Predecessor community is enjoying Wraith’s Shogun outfit. The skin is being hailed as one of the best we’ve ever had in the game, and I have to agree. While I think pretty much every skin in Predecessor is high-quality, this one goes above and beyond.

It transforms Wraith from a faceless futuristic soldier into something much more deadly. Some players don’t like that it’s pink, and I’d argue it’s more purple, but really, does the color matter? This is a future soldier wearing actual Shogun armor. You couldn’t ask for something more sci-fi if you tried.

There’s also some discussion of the skin’s price, and I want to add my view to say that at 800 Platinum, roughly £8/$10, it’s not bad at all. Omeda Studios’ recent pricing structure change makes Predecessor skins feel at just the right price for what you get.

I may be off the mark, but when I buy a skin like Grux’s phenomenal Ruby Scarab, I’m buying it because I’ve put dozens of hours into a character, and I know I’m going to see this skin for dozens more. I wouldn’t consider buying a skin if not, so the price, especially considering this is a free-to-play game, seems fair to me.

Predecessor On the Rise

Last but not least, this week is concurrent player count in Predecessor. As user SimonDN25 pointed out on Reddit, Predecessor’s player count has been steadily rising since the release of the Open Beta version of the game.

The Open Beta is the free-to-play across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. While it launched last week on Xbox consoles, the growth didn’t seem immediate. The total player count hit 750,000 people last week, but I think there’s been a slow uptake in new fans getting stuck into the game.

I think people are grabbing and downloading the game because they know it’s fresh and something they can be a part of as it grows. Then, as time permits, they jump into play and realize this is something they could spend a lot more time in than they first thought.

This is exactly how Paragon felt. It looked like a quick and easy action game if you didn’t read its description. Then, once you got into it, you were hooked. The close-up third-person camera just holds you and doesn’t let you go. I keep thinking about playing while I work, and it’s very distracting.

A steady incline in player numbers is better than a steady decline, and given how Omeda Studios has slowly rolled out every new version, carefully keeping its workload small, I can’t see anything major going wrong anytime soon.

At the time of writing, Steam concurrent players are showing a big spike, which I think is the combination of Grim.exe’s release, the Open Beta news, and the fact that we’re a couple of weeks away from Dragon’s Dogma 2. That game soaked up a lot of time, but now it’s time to get into something old or new and invest in what Predecessor has to offer. Sure, this pattern likely means there will be drop-offs, but it’s always going to be here for us to come back to.

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About the Author

Laura Gray

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Laura Gray, known as Ezra when not putting pen to paper, is a D&D enthusiast with a love of all things written. They are a collector of fantasy and sci-fi novels, a lover of cooking weird food, and a player of farming sims and Pokémon games. When not engrossed in a re-read of Anne McCaffrey or a deep dive into the Adventure Zone: Balance, they can be found sniffing the cats and napping in half-finished crochet projects.

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