Keep an Eye on 2XKO

Riot Games’ venture into the world of fighting games

Image Credit: Riot Games

2XKO is the newest fighting game from Riot Games. Recently, Riot gave people the chance to register for a demo code to take part in a week-long alpha test of the game. And I was fortunate enough to get a chance to play in this alpha test. Aside from having to create a Riot account for the first time ever, this alpha test was an overall positive experience.

In this article, I’m going to be talking about what this game will have on offer, and why you should care about it. Now before we start, I just want to remind you all that this is an alpha build of the game. Because of that, I’m going to be a lot more forgiving of things like visual and audio glitches that I experienced. It’s very cool that Riot has given people a chance to try this game out, and it’s a miracle that something like this is even possible for us to try.

Lastly, I want to mention that my experience will be based on playing the PS5 version. I’m not sure how it runs on anything else, or if any glitches occur on specific versions.

Overview

2 Times Knockout is a 2-vs-2, 2D fighting game, featuring characters from the game that put Riot games on the map; League of Legends. My knowledge of League is that I had a roommate in my first year of college that played it, and saw how toxic it made him whenever he played it.

There was exactly one time on our podcast back in 2021 where we talked about this game, back when it was still called Project L, and we knew very little about it beyond the basic premise. For a while, this was one of the most popular episodes of our podcast. I went back and watched some parts of that episode, and I realized two things. One: our audio quality was shit. Seriously, how did y’all put up with us back then? And two: this game has been in the oven for a LONG time!

As far as a known proof of concept, we’ve been aware of this game since 2019, around the same time that Valorant was announced (funnily enough, Valorant was known under the name Project A).

So I’ll cut right to the quick on this article. Why should you care about this? If you don’t like fighting games, or you don’t have a history with League, it probably won’t mean anything to you. But, Riot’s games are free to play, so when the full game finally does come out, it could be fun for you to try out with some friends. The game itself is very easy for anyone to pick up and play, and I think that anyone can have a good time with it.

Image Credit: Riot Games

Gameplay

Like I said previously, The game formally known as Project L is a 2-vs-2 tag fighter, meaning that you control two different characters that can be switched out at any time. That premise is what caught my attention because I just think that tag fighters are a ton of fun. I got my start with fighting games by putting in way too much time into Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle. There’s a certain joy to how hectic tag fighters can get, and I think that it’s fun to learn how to play two characters, and find good synergy within the roster.

In the alpha, we were given six characters to play as: Ekko, Barum, Yasuo, Darius, Ahri, and Illaoi. I of course tried all the characters, but ended up settling on Yasuo and Ahri, as I found them the most fun to play.

This game also does something interesting, that I haven’t seen done in any modern fighting game. There are no command inputs. The special moves are done with directional inputs, and one of two special buttons. This removes what could be a massive barrier to entry for a lot of people when it comes to trying fighting games.

On character select, you also get to pick the Fuse that your team uses. Basically, a Fuse is like picking a playstyle for your team. One lets you use two assists in a combo. One lets you use two super moves in a combo. Then, there’s Pulse. 

Pulse is the game’s built in training wheels. By using this, it will enable auto combos just from mashing one of the attack buttons. This is how Riot can onboard their League players who have next to no experience with fighting games.

This game is honestly just a ton of fun. In just the week that I had to play this alpha test, I was putting in a ton of hours.

Now, League of Legends is famously a game where it’s never your fault if you lose, and it’s always your teammates’ fault. Thankfully, Riot was kind enough to add that into this game as well! Not only can you play this game solo, but you can also queue in with a friend, where you each play one of the characters on your team.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to try this in the alpha. After getting my download code, I was also given a referral code to give to a friend, which I naturally passed along to my good buddy, and podcast co-host, Hunter. Sadly, his version was kind of buggy, where every time he would load into a match, his game would crash. But, given all of the Twitter clips I’ve seen of co-op play, I don’t doubt that it would be a fun game night with a friend.

Image Credit: Riot Games

Cons | Worries

So, I’d say that my experience with Project Luigi was very positive. That being said, there are still some issues that I had, as well as some things that I’d like to see in the final release. 

First off, the Fuses. I think that it’s a cool idea, in theory, but I’d rather they just be a part of the actual gameplay, rather than choosing what you want. This is mostly for using two super attacks with your teammate. Meter dumping with supers is a staple of tag fighters. Taking a full bar, and using all your characters in a DHC combo (delayed hyper combo) is such a satisfying moment. 

I also think that auto combos should be built into characters’ movesets, rather than having to waste your Fuse on it. Yes, Pulse is just training wheels, and you’re meant to eventually outgrow it. But then that just begs the question of why not just bake it into the movesets?

So in this alpha, there were only casual matches where you had to go into a lobby, sit at a cabinet, then wait for someone to show up. I’m not really worried by this, because I’m certain that in the full version, there will be some kind of a ranked queue to play.

Lastly, this game has some crazy high damage. So much so, that within 48 hours of the alpha being out, people were already finding Touch of Death combos. This is all thanks to a glitch with Ahri’s assist that screws up the scaling. This game is still in alpha, things will be patched from this playtest for the full version.

There’s a reason why I’m not really worried about bugs or glitches. This game is still in its early state, but any weird visual or audio glitches in this alpha will certainly be taken care of.

Image Credit: Riot Games

Closing Thoughts

Overall, Ultimate League of Legends: Cross Tag Fighterz Alpha Test Lab was a very fun experience. After knowing about this game for so long, and seeing that Riot had been bringing the test build to large fighting game tournaments, I wanted to try the game out for myself. The full game is slated to be released in 2025, but we’ll see how that ends up panning out.

Thanks again to Riot Games for providing me with a playtest code for this game. I’m very grateful to have been a part of this alpha test.