Believe it or not, it’s been about five years since Riot Games released early development footage of 2XKO, previously known as Project L. The game has undergone many changes over the years and has even been playable at multiple events. Despite going to many major fighting game tournaments, I never had the chance to try out the game until now. After playing the Alpha Lab Playtest for many hours, I have a lot I want to say. While some of my impressions are criticisms, most of them are praises for the most part! Without further ado, let’s talk about my impressions of the 2XKO Alpha Lab Playtest!
A Brand New Look and Sound!
2XKO does an excellent job of making the colors and character models stand out. The art style is vastly different from when the game was previously called Project L. At first, it seemed like the developers wanted to replicate the color tone of League of Legends (LoL), making it familiar to fans. However, with the newly added cel-shaded character models and vibrant colors, the game makes itself look unique. I think this is a great way to attract fighting game fans and League of Legends players because it is a fresh new take on the LoL characters while also having some of those vibrant visuals that many fighting games are known for.
Additionally, the characters’ voice actors are fantastic. In the languages of English, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Portuguese, you can hear all of your favorite champions rage in battle. Most notably, lots of characters in the game have catchy phrases and one-liners. I found myself saying Yasuo’s intro quote, “I wander, but you are lost!” so much!
Lastly, the main menu design is simple yet very effective. The menu color scheme is light green mixed with black and gray, making it easy on the eyes. From the menu, you can enter online or offline modes, track your progress on the current battle pass to see how close you are to gaining rewards, and explore champion descriptions to learn about them and their playstyle. Moreover, you can also customize your avatar and change the game settings. All of these menus are based on one tab where you can switch left or right to quickly go where you need to go without any loading. I’ll also admit that it’s pretty cool to see your Riot Games friend list, speaking as an old League of Legends player myself. Regarding menu options, let’s talk about the training and tutorial modes.
Robust Training Mode, But Tutorial Could Use Some Work
2XKO has one of the best training modes I’ve ever seen in a fighting game. From the training mode, you can turn on hitbox display, change the speed of the game, make the CPU do specific actions after particular situations, and much more. Additionally, the training mode also had a frame data display. However, some of the frame data on certain moves were wrong. Thankfully, the developers have taken note of this and will correct it in the future.
It can’t be stressed enough how important it is for a fighting game training mode to be as good as this. It is important to give players the freedom to explore their characters and develop counterplay to other characters. Games like Guilty Gear Strive and Street Fighter 6 have helped push for better training modes, so it’s refreshing to see that 2XKO seeks to do the same. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the beta’s tutorial.
The tutorial mode for 2XKO is very…weird. Essentially, the mode just takes you through a series of drills it wants you to do. There is no in-depth explanation for each drill, nor do they teach you all the important mechanics. It would make the game a lot better if the developers put more effort into the tutorial so that new players can fully grasp things. UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes is an excellent example of a game with a fantastic tutorial. I’m hoping that the developers can look at a game like that for reference when improving the tutorial.
Combo Trials
I really think this game would benefit a lot by having combo trials for each character. It would be a great way to understand the character’s fundamental combo structure so that players can easily execute combos that other players pull off. I’m sure this is something that the developers will put into the game on release, but it’s still worth noting. Having said that, I’m sure that many players just went straight to online lobbies to play, despite not having the craziest combos.
Innovative Online Lobbies and Great Netcode
This 2XKO online lobby honestly shocked me. While having a relatively small lobby, many features are easily accessible without having to go through menus. There is a big screen on the wall that showcases the match being played on the main setup. To the left of it, you can see who has the most win-streaks and total wins in the lobby. There’s also a store to the right of the lobby that teases purchasing for avatar gear.
Having said all of that, my favorite feature in this lobby is the fact that you can spectate games without having to press anything. If you just simply stand near a setup where people are playing, the match footage will pop up in a hologram style. This is really cool because not many fighting games allow you to spectate matches in the lobby. 2XKO saw this as a good idea to innovate, so I hope other developers follow suit.
Alright, let’s get this out of the way: the netcode was fantastic. 2XKO utilizes rollback netcode, and I’ve experienced flawless connections against everyone I played. The netcode will be less of your worries with this game, but I think the gameplay might have some issues for you.
Addictive Gameplay, but Could Use Some More Time in the Oven
2XKO is a 2v2 tag-team game that can be played by yourself or with a partner. It’s a pretty grounded game, but you’re allowed to move around freely. You have light, medium, and heavy attacks, with two special move buttons that will input a different special move depending on which direction you press. Additionally, you can use assists to help continue combos, keep pressure going, or help you combat the opponent in neutral. Lastly, you can use some nice defensive mechanics, such as pushblock, parries, and retreating guard. Having said all of that, I think the control scheme in this game could be a lot better.
Simply put, I wish 2XKO gave you the option to do motion controls to input special moves alongside directional controls. At the moment, you can only input special moves by doing directional controls. Understandably, this is so that it’s simple for players to do special moves. However, other players are more comfortable doing motion inputs. For example, during a fight in Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, you can input special moves by doing directional controls or motion controls. In Granblue, I like doing motion controls to do fireballs, but I also feel more comfortable doing directional inputs for invincible reversals. This is fantastic because sometimes I feel it’s more comfortable to do certain special moves on motion controls rather than directional controls. Overall, I think it’s one thing to make controls easier and another thing to not have multiple control customizations. I understand that developers want to make games more accessible, but making it so that different kinds of players can enjoy the game is an infinitely better goal.
Fuse System
But hey, I really like the Fuse System this game has! Essentially, you can pick five strategies for your team after you select your two characters. “2X Assist” is a fuse that allows you to use two assist actions with one call. The scary “Fury” fuse increases a player’s damage if their health is 40% or below. There is also a fuse called “Double Down” that gives players the ability to chain multiple super attacks together in a combo. “Freestyle” is a fuse where you can handshake tag twice in one sequence to create exciting mixups. Lastly, the “Pulse” fuse is an autocombo system, recommended for beginner players.
I like the idea of having different team strategies, making player expression a huge thing. As a side note though, I would like to see some innovation done with the Pulse fuse. Autocombos are great, but I wish there was more to the fuse than just simply autocombos.
2XKO Alpha Lab Playtest Impressions – Promising Future
I had a super fun time playing this 2XKO Alpha Lab Playtest, and it left a great impression on me. While I think some gameplay elements could use more time in the oven, everything else is fantastic! I’m looking forward to seeing which other LoL characters make the final roster and other betas planned for the future. The developers have been very vocal with the community, even doing patches during the beta! The development team has many competitive fighting game players, so I trust that the end product will be excellent.
2XKO will release as a free-to-play game in 2025 for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
