Project L is the temporary name for a Fighting Game by the developers of League of Legends. Here is everything we could learn about Riot Games’ upcoming title.
Project L is a title not just the Fighting Game Community but also fans of Riot Games’ output has an eye on. This free-2-play title might exactly be what Riot Game needs now that League of Legends and other MOBA’s are starting to lose their shine.
And why not make a fighting game based on the rich lore of League of Legends? Riot already has an incredibly diverse roster to pick from and thanks to the success of its TV adaptation Arcane and other spin-off games a guaranteed audience.
Updates have been sparse, but after many years of development, we now have an idea of where the Riot Games fighting game is heading. Here is everything we could learn.
What is Project L?
Project L is a Fighting Game by Riot Games, set in the Runeterra universe you know from games such as League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Ruined King, and the popular TV adaptation Arcane. Why the champions of the League of Legends are throwing down for fisticuffs is everyone’s guess at this point.
We don’t even know yet what the full scope of the roster will look like. Since League of Legends features a nearly limitless selection of heroes, villains, and everything in between. And there are some faces we would love to see like everyone’s favorite ruffian Sett or someone a bit more out pocket like Heimerdinger.
But we do know however that Project L will be a Tag Fighter similar to titles such as Dragon Ball FighterZ or BlazeBlue: Cross Tag Battle. With its own twist mind you, up to 4 players can go up against each other. Two players fighting while their partners can either jump in to assist, extend a combo or simply switch out.
There were Tag Fighters out before, but we’ve never seen one that lets other players seamlessly jump in and out of matches. Some were even joking that Riot Games was making the first Fighting Game in which you can blame your teammates for losing, which is a League of Legends tradition after all!
Previews so far have been very positive and glowing. This is no surprise considering the serious talent behind it.
Who’s Making Project L?
Project L is the successor of now canceled free-to-play Fighting Game Rising Thunder. Which was helmed by none other than Tom and Tony Cannon as well as Seth Killian who Fighting Game enthusiasts might know for kickstarting and running Battle at the Bay, not known as the Evolution Championship Series, the biggest Fighting Game tournament in the world.
Tony Cannon is also the brilliant mind that brought us Rollback Netcode, one of the biggest and most important features within the Fighting Game genre. Which allows players to play games almost lag-free despite the distance. Which is very important for the health of a fighting game.
Is Project L Free to Play?
Just like most of Riot Games’ output, Project L will also be free to play. It is however up in the air how the game will end up monetizing itself, even if Riot isn’t exactly hurting for money at the moment.
Games like Killer Instinct financed themselves by simply selling new characters every now and then while featuring a rotating free-to-play roster. Project L might follow a similar structure. It would probably be the best though if the game adopted a similar structure to League of Legends with premium skins or colors.
Is there Project L Release Date?
As of writing, there is no release date nor release window for Project L. The game is still in active development and the footage we’ve seen so far might be a very early build.
But you can expect a Closed and perhaps Open Beta sometime later this year or early next year. As it’s popular with this kind of game, Project L might launch into an extended Open Beta just to get enough player data to balance the game properly for the eventual release.
And that sums up everything we managed to find out about Project L. For more about it and your favorite esports, stick with us here on ESTNN.
