Project L Illaoi

Riot’s fighting game Project L will be free-to-play

And Illaoi will be one of the fighters on-board

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Evo 2022 kicks off this weekend. But before the fighting game festivities get underway, Riot Games is updating fans on the status of its own fighting game code-named Project L. It’s also confirming that Project L will be free-to-play.

A new dev diary for Project L was published this morning, with developer Tom Cannon talking a bit about where the project is at. The team has been hard at work on development over the months since its last showing, spotlighting its assist features.

As the team continues to grow both its roster and features, Cannon confirms that the new Riot game will be a free-to-play title.

“One of our goals is to remove as many barriers as possible from you enjoying Project L,” Cannon says in the video. “We want you to be able to play no matter where you live, what your skill level is, or how much money you have to spend on a game. To that, I’m happy to confirm Project L will be free-to-play.”

Cannon says the project team aims to be respectful of both players’ time and wallet when it comes to monetization. Considering League of Legends, as well as its Riot-developed spin-offs like Legends of Runeterra or the competitive shooter Valorant are all free-to-play, this isn’t really a surprise at all.

The wrath of the kraken

The Project L team also confirms that Illaoi will be joining the roster of League champions in the fighting game’s lineup. Illaoi is a great choice, in my opinion; she wields a massive golden idol and summons powerful tentacles from her kraken god. That’s a good fighting game design.

The Riot dev blog goes into deeper detail on how the team chose Illaoi and built out her design, from her moves to translating her look into the 2D-planed fighter world. After playing the Airship Syndicate-developed RPG Ruined King, Illaoi seems like a great choice for the roster alongside the likes of Darius, Ekko, Jinx, and Ahri.

Cannon teases we’ll hear from the Project L team again before the end of the year.


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Image of Eric Van Allen
Eric Van Allen
Senior Editor - While Eric's been writing about games since 2014, he's been playing them for a lot longer. Usually found grinding RPG battles, digging into an indie gem, or hanging out around the Limsa Aethryte.