I still remember the day Riot dropped that Project L vertical slice on November 21. It was 2021, the fighting game was announced back in 2019, and all we had was a name, a promise, and a bunch of League of Legends champions. I watched the footage like a kid staring at an arcade cabinet. Ekko, Jinx, Darius, Ahri — they were moving, hitting, dashing, and tagging. It looked like a dream. But here's the thing: a vertical slice is not a finished game. It's a high-value montage, a 'look what we can do' letter to investors and fans. It shows from A to Z what the team wants the game to become. It is not, and I cannot stress this enough, actual playable gameplay.
Tom Cannon, senior director and executive producer, basically said: don't believe the game is done. They still had a long way to go. And he was right. Project L was being built by the team behind Rising Thunder, a brand-new project with old-school fighting game DNA. Back then, Cannon gave an earliest release estimate of 2023, and said we'd hear more in the early part of the second half of 2022. That feels like a lifetime ago. Now it's 2026, and the game has a real name: 2XKO. It has been in early access since late 2025, and the conversation has shifted from 'will this ever come out?' to 'how do I fit this into my ranked grind?'
So let's rewind and then fast-forward. The 2021 vertical slice showed a tag-team or assist system. You could call in your partner for a prolonged combo, or switch to them mid-pressure. It felt like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the mainstream, or Umineko no Naku Koro ni Ougon Musou Kyouku Cross for the niche fighting game historians. There were guards and jumps, obviously, but also dashes and something like EX moves. The bones were classic Japanese 2D fighting game bones, wrapped in Riot's polished art and League IP. I remember pausing the video just to watch Jinx's animations. The vertical slice was doing its job: it made me feel something.
But it also made me ask questions. Would the netcode hold up? Riot said it planned to use its expertise from Valorant and League of Legends for Project L's netplay. That was a big deal. Fighting games live and die on online play, and Riot had already proven it could run competitive infrastructure at scale. If anyone could make rollback netcode feel like a local match, it was them.
Now, in 2026, I can look back with a bit more clarity. The tag system didn't disappear. It evolved. 2XKO's 2v2 format, its Fuse system, and its duo play options all trace back to that first vertical slice. The champions from 2021 — Ekko, Jinx, Darius, Ahri — are still part of the roster conversation, though the full lineup has grown. The game is not just a montage anymore. It's something I can actually queue into, complain about, and love. You know what I mean?
Here's a quick table of what we knew then vs. what we know now:
| Topic | 2021 Project L vertical slice | 2026 2XKO reality |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Project L | 2XKO |
| Status | Early development, not playable | Early access since late 2025 |
| Core system | Tag/assist, switch, prolonged combos | 2v2 tag, Fuse, duo play |
| Champions shown | Ekko, Jinx, Darius, Ahri | Expanded roster, more LoL faces |
| Netcode plan | Use Valorant and LoL expertise | Rollback netcode, online-first design |
| Release estimate | Earliest 2023 | Early access now, full launch TBD |
That table is my way of saying: the wait was long, but the DNA was there. The 2021 vertical slice was never a demo. It was a promise. And promises in game development are tricky little creatures. They can grow into something beautiful, or they can wither. Project L grew into 2XKO.
If you're a fighting game player who came in during the 2XKO early access era, you might not care about the old Project L drama. That's fair. But as someone who watched that November 21 update, I think the history matters. It explains why the game feels both familiar and strange. It explains why the team took their time. It explains why Riot kept talking about netcode like it was a character select screen. The vertical slice was a love letter to fighting game fans, but it was also a warning: don't get too attached to what you see. Games change. They have to.
So what's my take in 2026? I'm glad Riot didn't rush. I'm glad Project L became 2XKO instead of a forgotten vertical slice. I'm glad Ekko and Jinx got their chance to throw hands. And I'm still waiting for that perfect online match where the netcode feels invisible, the combo timing feels right, and the tag switch lands exactly how I imagined it back in 2021. Maybe that's the dream. Maybe that's the point.
Look, I'm just a player. I don't have insider info. But I've been around enough fighting game launches to know that a vertical slice is not a release date. It's a mood board with punches. And Riot's mood board had good punches. Now, in 2026, I can finally press buttons instead of just watching them. That's a win. Don't @ me.