Riot’s League of Legends fighting game, 2XKO, won’t receive a big March playtest as originally planned. Instead, it will receive a “much smaller one” while the team looks to “build out the infrastructure” for a much larger test “later this year.”
The news comes from 2XKO game director Shaun Rivera on X, whose response came after leaks regarding the cancelation of the March playtest and new features began circulating on the 2XKO subreddit, prompting the team to “clear up some misinformation.”
2XKO – Official Jinx Gameplay Reveal Trailer
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Although a big playtest similar to the 2XKO Alpha Lab 1 playtest now won’t be coming until later this year, the update isn’t all bad news. Rivera also officially revealed some new features coming to 2XKO. One major change will see the game’s Pulse Fuse (which enables beginner-friendly autocombos) removed. However, autocombo functionality will instead be added as a toggleable option in the game’s settings.
Rivera said this was done for two reasons. The first was so players could take advantage of the game’s powerful Fuses while still using autocombos. The other reason is so that when playing as a team, each player could go with their own autocombo preference instead of being locked into using them or not via the Pulse Fuse.
There is also an entirely new Fuse coming, Sidekick, that will actually remove the tag functionality from Riot’s tag-based fighter. Sidekick makes it so a team’s point and assist character can’t swap places, with the point character gaining bonus health to make up for the fact that they can’t be tagged out. It essentially turns one character, or one player if playing co-op, into a support character only capable of using assist attacks, in a way channeling one of the core roles from League of Legends itself.
“We received a ton of feedback from players who wanted an experience that felt like more of a support role where they could learn the game at their own pace, and we are excited to hear what you all think when you get a chance to check it out in the future,” Rivera said.
2XKO, which will be free-to-play, is slated to release sometime in 2025 but does not have an official release date. Players got their first major hands-on with 2XKO as part of its Alpha Lab playtest in August 2024, which was live for a little over a week. At the time, Riot warned players the playtest would have a “decent amount of jank” and work-in-progress elements. Those interested in joining future playtests can sign-up on the 2XKO website.