Riot Games has confirmed today that its upcoming 2D fighting game, currently codenamed Project L, will be free to play.
This announcement was made in a video from executive producer Tom Cannon in a video posted to Twitter, where he also promised that whatever monetization the team ultimately implemented would be "respectful of both your time and your wallet."
About to head off to Vegas for Evo, but before I do… pic.twitter.com/bQ9QoSwvpK
— Tom Cannon (@ProtomCannon) August 1, 2022
In the same video, Cannon confirmed that the team is currently finishing work on the game's core mechanics, and much of the team has already moved onto features like competitive play and social systems, or designing champions.
One such champion was shown off briefly during the video, as well as in more detail in a subsequent blog post from associate game director Shaun Rivera. We got a closer look at concept art for Illaoi – a prophet of the Great Kraken – in Project L.
Illaoi was released in League of Legends nearly seven years ago, where she uses an artifact called the Eye of God to tear souls from the bodies of her opponents and judge their worthiness. Illaoi in Project L is a "powerful and charimatic spiritual leader" with a dominating physical presence that gives her a large hitbox, big and powerful attacks, and slower movement. She fights with her giant totem, but also is assisted by her tentacled god, Nagakabouros. There are lots of detailed tidbits about her design and gameplay in the blog.
Project L is an upcoming 2D assist-based fighter where each team has two champions. It was first announced back in 2019, and has reemerged more frequently in the last year with gameplay updates, including one more update promised later this year by Cannon.
Project L isn't expected to release this year, but perhaps we'll see it in 2023.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.