Highlights
- 2XKO kicked off its anticipated Alpha Lab test, letting players try out the fighting game's online mode and tutorial.
- Game DIrector Shaun Rivera addresses some of the most pressing feedback from the community, including some of the lengthier combos which reduce player agency.
- Riot Games also plans to adjust Touch of Death mechanics to make instant kill combos rarer and more resource intensive while further improving the Tutorial.
2XKO game director Shaun Rivera addresses recent player questions and the top feedback that Riot Games received during the game's Alpha Lab test. Formerly known as Project L, the upcoming tag-based fighting game based inside of Riot Games' League of Legends universe has had a long road. After being announced back in November 2021, players have slowly gotten more and more information on the game, which's official title was set as 2XKO earlier this year.
Recently, news regarding 2XKO has been coming more often, with the game recently being featured at EVO 2024 in Las Vegas. These community events have been a way that Riot has been able to collect immediate feedback from players, though for this year's event, the studio revealed a d Alpha event, where players who signed up would have a chance to go hands on with the previously announced characters, a Tutorial Mode, as well as Casual Online matches. As expected, with a large portion of players getting their hands on the game, Riot has seen a ton of feedback and clips online for some staggering combos, which the team has decided to comment publicly on.
In a lengthy post on Twitter, game director Shaun Rivera listed out the top 3 pieces of feedback the Riot Games team received during the 2XKO d Alpha. Rivera indicated that players have seemingly used the tutorial mode well to discover opportunities and combos that the team hadn't seen before, though some of the discovered tech has gone beyond what the developers have considered reasonable. Specifically, some players have found that certain 2XKO characters like Braum are able to chain together large sweeping attacks, essentially juggling their opponent, while using tag mechanics to pull off extremely long combos, generating lengthy periods of zero agency. Naturally, this can be frustrating for players who are stuck for 10-15 seconds, unable to play while their characters are decimated.
Upcoming 2XKO Changes Based on Alpha Feedback
While a debate over how beneficial these combo issues are for the overall experience has broken out online, Rivera turned to two additional mechanics in the game, including Touch of Death, which is a term used to describe the ability to kill a character from full health. For ToD, Riot has purposely set the damage high as it wants matches to feel fast and explosive. While players have mainly found easy ToD techniques using 2XKO characters like Yasuo and Ahri, Rivera admitted that the studio doesn't want the game to focus on instant kill combo strings, making them a bit more rare and be more resource intensive to pull off.
As for the Tutorial Mode, it seems many fans wanted more from it to better onboard newer players to all of the mechanics and features that 2XKO has to offer. Rivera revealed that what players are seeing in the d alpha is just a "rough first pass" and that the studio has plans to improve it further along in development. The studio continues to listen to what fans want to see included within the tutorial and encourages continued feedback.
Outside of the combo concerns, it seems players are enjoying their time with 2XKO, though the tag fighter now may have a bit more pressure on its shoulders. Earlier this year, news about a canceled platform fighter known only as Pool Party surfaced online, a game that was originally meant to appeal to fans of games like Super Smash Bros and MultiVersus. Rumors seemed to indicate that leadership was worried over the risk of two fighting games, with 2XKO alot further along and already benefiting from plenty of excitement of fans behind it.
Date Founded September 1, 2006 Headquarters West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States Parent Company Tencent Subsidiaries Riot Forge Known For League of Legends
