After spending years under the working title of Project L, Riot Games’ expansion into the fighting game genre has officially been dubbed 2XKO. Hailing from the makers of the massively popular League of Legends, this fighter will feature a cast pulled right from that MOBA, but now using far different mechanics. This genre was once notorious for how hard it was for newcomers to get into, but recent examples like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 have proven that it is possible to make the genre accessible to more players. Considering the popularity of the source material here, and the fact that it will be free to play, we expect a lot of players who normally don’t touch fighters to at least be curious. Whoever you are, let’s start at round one and go over everything we know so far about 2XKO.
Release date window
Along with the reveal of the title’s full name, we also learned that 2XKO is set to arrive sometime in 2025. That leaves a lot of room, so odds are the team is giving itself plenty of time to iron out any issues.
Platforms
Riot Games’ 2XKO will arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PCs when it launches as a free to play title.
Trailers
The only real trailer 2XKO has comes from its name announcement. This trailer is all action, but also showcases a few of the cast members we can look forward to playing as.
Gameplay
Gameplay is king in a fighter, and 2XKO takes a unique approach. The name itself references what kind of fighter the game is, and its focus is on 2v2 matches in a tag-style system similar to a Marvel vs. Capcom game. Combat will have three main buttons for light, medium, and heavy attacks, but special moves are all tied to simply pressing a single button while holding it in s specific direction rather than requiring players to memorize and execute complex combos. We’ve seen this type of system before with Street Fighter 6’s modern control scheme. You will also have basic blocks, parries, dashes, anti-airs, and all the fighting game staples.
While you could play traditionally where you fight one opponent and each controls both of their characters as they tag them in and out, 2XKO also features a team option where you partner up with someone, and each only controls one character. Each character, when acting as an assist, will have two possible attacks to pick from when called in, both of which can be charged, plus a Last Stand mechanic. This only becomes available when your assist is KO’d and serves as a comeback mechanic.
Characters
Only a select few characters are confirmed to be in 2XKO at the moment. They are:
- Ahri
- Darius
- Ekko
- Illaoi
- Jinx
- Katarina
- Yasuo
Preorder
While there’s no need to preorder 2XKO since it will be free to play when it launches, you can sign up for upcoming playtests via the official website. There’s no word on when any tests may run, only that the team hopes to start letting players try it out before the end of 2024.
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