Riot Games introduces Project L, new ‘assist-based’ fighting game
Riot Games has been mainly under the radar about its upcoming fighting game, Project L. But now, Evo Championship founders and Project L project leaders Tom and Tony Cannon have finally released an update on the project as they prepare to “reintroduce” the game to League of Legends fans.
Originally announced at Evo 2019, Project L is still “too far out” for an official release date. Still, the team is willing to update the fans with more gameplay and show how they are creating a 2D, assist-based fighter behind the scenes.
“One of the delights of fighting games is seeing top players move and fight in a way that is inspiring and distinct from lesser skilled players,” Tom said. “We want to set that aspirational summit and build a steadily increasing difficulty curve to get you there.”
They added: “This isn’t about building a game where new players have a chance to beat the pros. It’s about unlocking the fun at all skill levels.”
Players will have a chance to control two different champions from the world of Runeterra. For LoL players, it will feel familiar, but Project L will also have a tag-in and assist mechanics in making this fighting game more interesting and boost quick decision-making from the players.
The main goal is to provide a solid base for players by adding gameplay mechanics that will help players decide how creative they want to be in combat.
To achieve that goal, Project L will “embrace” a control style that is simple to pick up and learn but also keeps depth to cater to dedicated players with plenty of layers to explore and master.
First look at Ekko in Project L
One of the visions that the developer teams take into account is capturing the champions’ iconic moves and abilities from League of Legends, then designing them to fit at its core to accommodate a fighting game. The player’s flexibility while playing is also put into consideration.
For example, Ekko’s ability to manipulate time to turn the table on his opponent to his advantage during a game — Ekko’s main ability, the Chronos Strike, is a forward-moving slash, working as a poking tool and a forward-moving ender at the same time.
Ekko can create an after-image after deploying specific moves, which he can then turn back the time to at any point over a small window of time. This move provides the players to mix up combos and more.
Ekko also has his classic Timewinder grenade, which can be thrown from a distance and slow down opponents’ movements for a few seconds upon exploding. Timewinder can be used for basic zoning and combos.
Other confirmed champions so far
Since Project L is based on the League of Legends universe, the game will use various LoL characters for players to choose from. The players can select two characters at once that synchronize with each other to gain maximum efficiency in battle.
Hence, players can expect a large selection of characters in the future to diversify the gameplay. As of now, there are five characters that have been confirmed by the developers.
Ahri, Darius, Ekko, Katarina, and Jinx have been shown on the presentation video and are almost 100 percent confirmed. Ahri and Jinx are ranged characters, while Darius, Katarina, and Ekko are melee.
