Project L: Riot Games goes into fighting games
Project L
We have heard the mantra of "money equals quality" repeated over and over in video games, as if almost unlimited monetary resources guaranteed the production of a great product. Let's be clear, being able to spend abominable amounts certainly represents an extraordinarily solid starting point for the creation of an ambitious project, but in an unpredictable and complicated world like that of development, approaching a new project with a lot of gold and little talent is usually the way easier to throw any investment to the winds.Sometimes, however, a team with behind them figures from Scrooge Scrooge manages to combine expenses with a sufficient mixture of competence and passion to actually churn out something great quality. In particular, Riot Games, while maintaining a fairly predictable focus on competitive online titles, has been able to stand out to the point of being defined by some as "the new Blizzard" (and the projection of hope is not surprising, given the current state of that historic software. house). Now, without indulging in too much hype, we believe the Californian studio still has a bit to prove to get to Blizzard's level of recognition of the good old days, yet it would be foolish not to acknowledge its recent achievements, amidst the exceptional quality of Arcane ( television series rightly acclaimed almost everywhere) and the excellent experiments in multiple fields such as Valorant and Legends of Runeterra.
There is an industry of competitive online where however Riot has not yet entered; a complex field, never really capable of guaranteeing the figures seen in the MOBA championships, and now almost doomed to be perceived as a niche for players with superhuman skills (and constancy): fighting games. To break through this barrier, the American team has hired some of the best known veterans of the environment and after years of silence has finally managed to show the first gameplay of its Project L.
We have looked at it carefully, and today we want to analyze it in your company.
Marvel? Not this time
Project L: Ekko in combination with assists has the potential to confuse anyone. Seriously, if you still doubt Riot's goodwill, the presence of the Cannon brothers at the reins of the project should dispel all your doubts. For those who do not know who they are, the two are considered godfathers of sorts of the "fighting game community", and Tony Cannon is none other than the inventor of the netcode rollback, today the paradigm when it comes to fighting on the net. Their presence, combined with that of other well-known figures (Seth Killian, a well-known producer of Capcom, worked on Riot until a couple of years ago) could suggest that a path similar to that of "Marvel versus" has been undertaken, but in reality, the path chosen for Project L is slightly different.The game, in fact, is indeed an "assist fighter", that is a fighting game in which you can call your companions to perform additional actions during attacks or make substitutions in battle, yet it does not follow the classic structure with a team of three fighters, but rather a more peculiar "in pairs" management. Set in the world of Runeterra, the game can also count on a possibly huge roster of characters, although it is absolutely impossible that it can contain all the protagonists of League of Legends at launch. What is certain is that in League there is no shortage of charismatic and stylish warriors to use, least of all those with enormous potential once translated into a fighting game.
Project L: Ahri already gives the impression to be a monster in the air For example, Jinx and Ekko have already been confirmed by the first gameplay trailer (after Arcane it would have been strange not to include them). While Jinx is clearly a zoner with various weapons, Ekko already demonstrates Riot's willingness to offer extremely diverse warriors, as she can use her ability to rewind time to create afterimages that she can return to during combos to vary the rhythm of attacks or take the opponent by surprise with mixups and sudden changes of position.
The wealth offered by the world of League of Legends does not automatically lead to an exponential increase in the complexity of the systems: Project L at the base wants being a brawler understandable by anyone, and therefore eliminates complex directional inputs in favor of a dedicated button for special moves (which change with basic directions), a three-attack system with relaxed timing combinations plausibly close to those of many Asian fighting games modern and probably super activated with the pressure of a single trigger. To be clear, imagine a system close to Granblue Fantasy Versus, but without reload times for the moves, without the directional version of the same, and significantly richer and faster. This choice could make veterans turn up their noses, but perhaps this time there is no need to worry about the excessive simplification of the systems.
Big brain plays
Project L: Jinx is a zoner ... obviously The words of the Cannon brothers related to this aspect on the other hand are crystal clear: "Project L is not designed so that a rookie can accidentally defeat a pro". Although it is therefore impossible at the moment to thoroughly analyze the combat system, at the base Riot seems to want to create a balanced, easy-to-use fighting game, equipped with stratified mechanics that can be mastered at various levels. The intent is to allow the strongest players to field elaborate strategies anyway, and we would not be surprised if the most difficult maneuvers required considerable timing or in any case the general speed of the game significantly favored reflexes and foresight.Already the management of the assists suggests the direction taken: it is clear from the video that the characters can select which assist to use - Ahri uses three different ones during the trailer - and if that were not enough, it seems there is even a way to perform aerial substitutions, particularly indicated in the case of characters capable of performing complex combos in flight. In addition, the emphasis seems to be on the series of spectacular shots with rebounds in the area; the game clearly includes moves that throw the opponent (Ekko even has a mid-range projectile that hurls into the sky and slows the fall if it hits), and the use of crafty assists or well-calculated substitutions could lead to offensive actions. to say the least out of my mind. Sure, balancing a fast-paced system with tags involved isn't a health walk, but if nothing else the team inspires confidence.
Project L: Darius prepares to hurt anyone who stands in front of him. technical view Project L surprises. Compared to the first images shown Riot seems to have abandoned the "painted" look (closer to LoL) for a style more similar to the cel shading of Arc System products. The gameplay video shown still belonged to a raw version of the game, yet the level of detail of the arenas and characters already seemed very remarkable, so it is appropriate to expect a considerable technical sector in the final version of the game. Finally, we have very few doubts about the quality of the netcode given the people involved and the general power of Riot Games' online infrastructure.
It will be a long time before we see Project L (it seems that this is not the case for the 'next year, so to speak), but what is shown is nothing short of promising, and it's clear that Riot hasn't underestimated the feat in the least, building a team of veterans and investing the right resources to create a fighting game with the potential to really deal with the most acclaimed of the genre. We like the development philosophy of the Cannon brothers, and the foundations on which they want to build are very interesting. Now we just have to wait, and hope that everything fits together.
