We want more from Project L!
Project L: New Combat Mechanic And Champions Teased
Riot Games is expanding the world of League of Legends and creating multiple new IPs with the iconic characters we love from the MOBA. Project L was announced 3-years ago during the 2019 10-year anniversary event and more and more information is slowly being revealed.
Recently, Riot held a Project L banquet in Japan, wherein multiple people were invited to check out some news on the game, one of which was none other than iconic Street Fighter pro Brian "GamerBee" Hsiang who shared some new details on the upcoming fighting game.
Project L Reveals Release Timeline
Unfortunately, for anyone hoping to play this game soon, you'll have to be a bit more patient. GamerBee revealed that Riot is currently a ways off from even releasing a closed Beta for the game and Riot even told everyone at the banquet that they were still working on some specific features.
For example, it was shown that players could only win if they managed to beat both opposing characters in two rounds (meaning each game would be a best of three) and that Riot was still working on figuring out a specific comeback mechanic for those players stuck with their final character alive.
Not too long ago Riot also revealed some more information on Project L:
New Champion Hinted At During Banquet
During the event GamerBee explained that Riot devs also took questions, with one person asking specifically about low height characters and how the fighting game community hates them. They specifically mentioned League of Legends champions like Teemo.
No concrete answer was given, but the person who asked was told that they were good at guessing. Does this mean that Teemo could be a champion coming to Project L?
- Need the perfect fighting game setup? Then you'll want a fighting game controller. The PXN Arcade Fight Stick is great for beginners to test out whether this type of gaming is for you!
Project L In-Game Mechanics
There were a few in-game mechanics that were also revealed and how they will differ from League of Legends. For example hard crowd control (CC) won't be available in Project L, but things like debuffs could be added into the fighting game. These could be applied or noted through the animation.
Riot also won't add a cooldown system like in the fighting game Rising Thunder, since they want players to be able to commit to their attacks and combos at all times. The devs believe that depriving players of their actions is a bad thing and leave a negative taste in players mouths.
The game will also feature a move called "Retreating Guard" which cancels back dash when a champion is playing defense. This move is basically an unstoppable force when executed at the right time according to GamerBee.
Recently, Tom Cannon, Senior Director and EP for Project L, also explained on Discord that the game will not feature a block button like we have on known games like Super Smash Bros.
Short Combo System Announced
Fighting games live off combos, but sometimes they feel way too long and like there is no way a player will be able to get out of one. Therefore, Riot is going to focus on shorter, but hard hitting combos, which will still give players the feeling that they can comeback after having been stuck in one.
When combos in fighting games are too long, losing players start to feel hopeless and lose interest in the game, hence why Riot wants to make combos that reward the difficulty of them, rather than the length.
Project L Will be Easy To Play And Hard To Master
The team behind Project L also wants this to be a great game for those who want to get into fighting games, meaning they'll have three buttons for light, medium and heavy attacks, as well as other combination and directional inputs which will determine the combos. All combos will be button and direction combination.
Riot also said they wanted this to be the game to pass the fighting game genre onto the next generation, hence why they want to make the level of entry easy, so anyone can enjoy the game, no matter how many fighting games they've played before.
It was also noted for pro players, that there will be depth to every character and combination for them to master and explore. Playing Project L should also not dissuade them from still playing other fighting games either according to Riot.
Multi-Platform Announced For Project L
In the event, it was also revealed that Riot is currently working together with PlayStation to make sure that the game works on multiple platforms with the same input lag across all of them to make for fair gameplay.
- Want to play Project L when it finally releases? Then you might want a PlayStation 5. Check if some are available in your region now!
Overall, it looks like Project L is slowly coming along, with more information going to be revealed soon, even a demo video in the works for fans of the game and genre to enjoy.