Ruined King: A League Of Legends Story - What We Know So Far

Riot Games' debut single-player narrative title, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, which takes place in the universe established by its flagship multiplayer League of Legends franchise, was first announced during The Game Awards in 2019. At that time, all that was shown was a story trailer comprised entirely of lightly-animated scenery, exclusively establishing its setting and some loose story threads.

Now, roughly a year later, a trailer shown during The Game Awards 2020 has revealed gameplay from Ruined King for the first time, showcasing a turn-based RPG combat system only hinted at before in comments made by the game's developers.

Last year's Game Awards also included the announcement of a League of Legends fighting game, which has yet to be detailed beyond its initial reveal. This suggests, therefore, that of the two games announced last year, Ruined King is the company's priority. However, virtually the entirety of what is currently known about the game comes to fans in this latest trailer.

Though this marks the second year in a row that Ruind King: A League of Legends Story has been showcased at The Game Awards, a specific release date has yet to materialize. Its latest trailer simply concludes with a general 2021 timeframe.

Considering the likelihood of complications either directly related to the ongoing pandemic, or other unforeseen circumstances that can otherwise hinder a game's development, a vague release schedule like this one could very well end up meaning the game may not release until the latter half of next year.

That said, since more information is now available about Ruined King than Riot's unnamed fighting game, the development team does appear to be comfortable enough with what's been finished so far to share direct gameplay footage. Its latest trailer has even been reposted by PlayStation and Xbox, along with its 2021 release date, suggesting that sticking to whatever Riot's internal schedule may be likely remains a priority.

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story's Game Awards showcase consisted entirely of a new trailer, the details from which have now been compiled on the game's official website.

This trailer begins with a cinematic that resembles a comic book brought to life. Characters are drawn in two dimensions and only move in directions parallel to the camera. Since this style is similar to that of the previous teaser for the game, this is likely to be the style used for some of if not all of its cutscenes.

Then gameplay becomes the focus for the majority of the rest of its runtime, as the narrator runs down its cast of playable characters. These are, in total, Miss Fortune, Illaoi, Braum, Pike, Ahri and Yasuo. Theoretically, more playable characters could be revealed or added at a future date.

Its turn-based combat system is then revealed to pit three player-controlled heroes against up to three enemies. Progression through the overworld, meanwhile, more closely resembles Diablo, utilizing a top-down, isometric point of view.

Fortunately for fans of Riot's ever-expanding League of Legends franchise (for those not paying attention, it even includes pop groups now), Ruined King: A League of Legends Story will be released on just about every platform at the time of its 2021 release. This list of platforms includes PS5, PS4, Xbox Seires X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC (on which it will be available through both Steam and the Epic Games Store).

This ultimately means that Ruined King may be on a larger list of platforms than its predecessor in League of Legends.

As will be the case with most multi-platform releases in the current console landscape, Ruined King likely won't include too many next-gen bells and whistles to accommodate for less powerful consoles, but is nevertheless likely to perform the best on PS5, Series X, or a powerful gaming PC.