2XKO is finally running its early access program, allowing players to hop in and play the game as it develops and matures into a full title. It brings a new perspective on League‘s established universe, and a satisfying approach to fighting games, but it just doesn’t have enough characters.
2XKO has been in development for a while now, and is the only game to have come out of the Riot Games kitchen since Valorant‘s 2020 release. Though other projects were at work in the company, 2XKO is the only one for a while to actually make the cut, and boy, does the effort show.
It’s immensely satisfying in its combat, with each hit visceral and flashy, while connecting combos is much easier and more intuitive than the average FGC experience. Each of the characters feels fresh, with the roster generally varied. With the 2v2 format, there’s a lot of synergy between each pair of characters, leading to a massive skill ceiling that’ll reward the most talented and dedicated of players.
But the roster’s size is exactly the issue: only 11 characters are in the game as of right now, with more to come down the line. Given that the game is formatted as a 2v2 experience, you’ll meet most of the characters in only a few matches, experiencing almost all of the combinations in the game within a dozen hours at most.
While 11 characters would be fine in a primarily 1v1 experience (though, even then, it’d be a small roster), it just feels too tight in 2XKO, with Riot certainly having the pool to draw from. With over 180 champions in League of Legends, it’s quite unclear as to why 2XKO is swinging the doors open with just a handful of them.
The gameplay lends itself to keeping you occupied for a very long time, given how complex the characters are and how high their skill cap is, but I still feel like Riot should have done more with the roster. Being in early access means the game will almost certainly receive more characters in the future, but given that 2XKO has been in development for six years or more, it should have more already.
I’m excited to see where Riot will take the game, and I will probably pour in many hours as I did into League and its many modes, but I do hope the roster is expanded as soon as possible. However, I would rather they were slow and methodical about it by adding in well-developed characters rather than dropping them for the sake of roster size, so rushing things isn’t always the answer.
Still, 2XKO remains a tight, satisfying, and ultimately very fun experience that I’m enjoying way more than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to see more fun spins on League‘s characters added to its selection.
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The post 2XKO could be the perfect fighting game if Riot fixed this one glaring issue appeared first on Destructoid.
