Featuring champions from League of Legends, Riot’s Project L promises to be an easy to learn, hard to master 2D fighting game.
Following up on the resounding success of its Arcane series, Riot has finally released a bit more information about its elusive fighting game project in the form of a six-minute video. Dubbed Project L, the game is a 2D fighting game set in Runeterra.
It is, however, worth noting that the gameplay clip is a “vertical slice”, meant to showcase what the planned final look of the game is. The developers have stated that the game is far from ready, and that they should have more information for us by the second half of 2022.
Project L gameplay
At a glance, Project L looks like a pretty standard 2D fighting game, with powerful, flashy moves that combo in a variety of ways in order to suppress and overwhelm your opponents. What distinguishes Project L from the crowd is the ability for players fight with a tag team of two champions.
The devs have confirmed that the game’s mechanics will not be too complicated, and players already familiar with League of Legends will find that most of the Project L champions’ moves will mirror those of their MOBA counterparts, making it easier for them to make the transition. The simplicity of the game’s basic controls will also make it beginner friendly.
“For characters, our goal is to deliver on the iconic moves that League champions are known for, but adapted to work in a fighting game,” Tom and Tony Cannon, the game’s executive producer and technical lead respectively, said.
“We want our champs to have powerful, flexible kits that give you the freedom to play your character your way.”
Characters
So far, four characters have been featured in Project L media, including the fan favourites Ahri and Ekko, the first champion to have his base kit revealed. While not much is known about their skills and moves as of now, the devs have gone into a bit more detail about Ekko’s kit.
Staying true to his motif, Ekko will possess time manipulation abilities, with his main melee attack being Chrono Strike, a forward slash attack. It is not as straightforward as it looks, because using Chrono Strike will generate an afterimage of Ekko that players can ‘rewind’ back to.
Of course, they can choose not to rewind back to the afterimage and use it as a feint instead, keeping their opponents on their toes in a battle of prediction and diversion. To rewind or not to rewind… that is the question.
Time Winder is Ekko’s ranged attack, a bomb-like charged attack that slows opponents down. It appears that timing (pun unintended) is key when using this move, as the few precious seconds it buys you can either help you or your teammate out of a pinch, allowing you to pull a reversal.
The two other characters revealed in the trailer were Jinx and Darius – the latter receiving a brief demo of his basic combos.
And how about a Project L release date?
There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news is that Riot is being very transparent about where Project L is at, development-wise. Which is refreshing, to say the least. The bad news is that the game is still a long way off, and Riot aren’t afraid to say it.
In their video, they mention not to expect a Project L release date in 2021 or even 2022, and that they’re doing everything they can to ensure it’s as polished as possible on release.
Considering they want it to be a game that will be played for “decades” not “years” (like League of Legends likely will be), we’re on their side. A fantastic game should always be the priority.
Keep watching this space for the latest updates on the game as more information is released! For now, you can find out more via Riot Games.
