New Project L Details Emerge From Riot Games’ Undercity Nights

Riot Games’ League of Legends fighting game, still known only as Project L, was shown off in much greater detail during this weekend’s Undercity Nights event, solidifying its genre, a few characters, and even its plans for online infrastructure. 

The video features executive producer Tom Cannon and technical lead Tony Cannon unveiling a verticle slice of what Project L will eventually offer. The title will remain a 2D fighting game set in the world of Runeterra, as was initially hinted towards when the game was revealed, but now we know it’ll feature 2-on-2 battles, and character assists will factor into the gameplay. The executive producer says that this foundation is ideal for building a game that encourages strategic team building, quick decision-making and strong fighting fundamentals. Taking cues from games like Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, Project L will seemingly allow players to swap between their characters at will, making for fast, flowing combos between fighters and exciting moments to play out or even to watch as a fan. Tom Cannon spoke out about this concept, saying, “Like a lot you out there. We’re inspired to insane outplays. hard reads. And 200 IQ plays behind some the most memorable moments in fighting games history.”

The entire control scheme isn’t apparent quite yet, but the reintroduction video showed some moves and the mapped buttons to perform them. Project L, which is attempting to reduce the complexity of many fighters’ direction movements, is trying to make inputs simpler. For example, Project L can unleash special moves by pressing one button, or add a single direction with a press of a button. While this approach does make attack and combo execution a bit easier for players to grasp, the developers seem to still be leaving in plenty of complexity when it comes to each character’s capabilities. 

Ekko is a new character that was shown. He plays with time and fights. Ekko uses his attacks to create an image that shows him where he is in the following seconds. He can zip back to the point of that image in an instant and continue his onslaught or escape to safer territory. Ekko looks to have many exciting options at the player’s disposal and will surely be a tricky character to both learn to use and fight against. 

Tony Cannon presented the plan to Project L’s online game, which uses server technology Riot has already used. Rollback networking is used in Project L. This ensures “a consistent low input delay across many pings.” Riot Direct, which is the networking service used by Valorant and League of Legends, enhances this. Riot Direct uses multiple servers to maintain a connection between players and ensure fair play if one has issues with reliability or speed. Technical lead says that this ensures that a player with good connections will experience no problems, or worsening of their connection. Riot also takes measures to decide who wins the match if a fighter quits during a fight.

Jinx, Darius and Ahri were also shown in new artwork similar to that seen in the Netflix animated series. Arcane. Project L is still in its early stages. It doesn’t even yet have a name.However, the Cannons assure us that there will be more of Project L next year. Tom Cannon posted in blog that Project L won’t be out until 2021/22. So those who want to play with the champions will have to wait.

What’s Project L like to you? Did you expect to be able to fight in a tag team or another kind of fighter? Please comment!