2XKO, the League of Legends-based combating recreation, simply received a brand new drop of data forward of its subsequent Alpha Lab. Among the many information is affirmation that its launch roster is perhaps somewhat smaller than you’d count on.
In a number of Q&As following a recent video update, each with fighting game content creator Sajam and within the 2XKO Discord (by way of VG247), Riot confirmed there might be 10 playable champions — characters — at launch. In response to recreation director Shaun Rivera, it sounds just like the decrease quantity may assist get 2XKO in gamers’ fingers quicker.
“I do know it looks like a low quantity. I do know. Belief me, y’know, we hear it,” Rivera mentioned in Sajam’s stream. “Truthfully, we might fairly simply get the sport out to y’all to play ASAP, as a substitute of holding it within the oven till we’ve some quantity increased of champions.”
Rivera went on to notice that, with techniques just like the completely different Fuses and Solo/Duo play, there are “quite a bit of methods” to play the characters on the roster. Plus, this would possibly not be a static recreation post-launch.
“On prime of that too, we’re a reside service recreation,” Rivera mentioned. “So [the] champion practice is gonna begin as soon as we’re out the door and in your guys’ fingers, so we’re gonna begin releasing these champions. We would fairly get it to you and do this, as a substitute of simply maintain it for longer.”
As govt producer Tom Cannon identified on the stream, these characters have additionally seen some modifications all through growth. He referenced Jinx, who simply received a gameplay showcase in yesterday’s video replace: “Return to the very first announce trailer, which had Jinx in it, and you’ll see how a lot effort our inventive division and the entire crew has put into persevering with to make the sport nearly as good as it may be. After which when it will get to that time, that is once we’ll launch it.”
Nonetheless, it is a notably smaller launch roster than most combating video games. For reference, Road Fighter 6 launched with 18 characters, and fellow tag fighter Dragon Ball FighterZ arrived with 24 at launch. On the smaller aspect, Granblue Fantasy Versus’ unique launch had 11 characters, and the arcade model of Responsible Gear Xrd had 13.
League of Legends 2XKO launch roster of playable characters confirmed thus far:
- Ahri
- Ekko
- Yasuo
- Darius
- Illaoi
- Braum
- Jinx
Katarina was additionally seen in some footage at one level, however has been cut from the launch roster. So there are three champions left to disclose earlier than launch, from League of Legends’ titanic 170 champion lineup (as of January 2025).
Whereas it is a surprisingly low quantity, 2XKO has additionally impressed many gamers in its public showings. A new Alpha Lab preview is deliberate for April 18 by way of 20 for america, Canada, and Brazil, however no official launch date has been set but.
Eric is a contract author for IGN.