Riot Games has taken the chance to unveil its first single-player turn-based RPG at The Game Awards, titled Ruined King: A League Of Legends Story. The game is in development by Airship Syndicate, an independent dev studio best known for Darksiders Genesis, with Riot's new publishing brand called Riot Forge, which will create more games set in the League of Legends universe.
A trailer, available on YouTube, shows the champion Thresh - who hails from the Shadow Isles - seemingly releasing some sort of green tendrils into the world, promising "a harrowing across all Runeterra." According to the description of the video, the game is set after the events of Burning Tides, which was used to introduce Bilgewater lore into the new canon back in 2015. The trailer itself stops at a night shot of Bilgewater, with Thresh's narration promising to his king that, "They will know your name."
The champion, described as "sadistic and cunning" in the lore, used to be "the custodian of countless arcane secrets" who imprisons his victims in his lanterns to torture them for all eternity - one of those victims being Senna, the recently released champion, and the first to escape him. According to the lore, Thresh was the one who led an invading, unnamed mad king to the fabled Waters of Life so he could resurrect his dead queen, an event called the Ruination which would turn the Blessed Isles into what is now known as the Shadow Isles, and made Thresh into the vengeful spirit he is today.
The king is only known as the king of The Argent Throne of south-western Valoran - and also Kalista's uncle - who gave his blade to his champion before the Ruination. The game will most likely center around upcoming events that may even transform Runeterra slightly and drive the story forward. In it, players will be able to take control of LoL champions and explore both "the bustling city of Bilgewater and the mysterious Shadow Isles," as the trailer's description puts it.
Riot will most likely be revealing more information about the game as time goes on, but it's safe to say that everyone's attention was well and truly piqued. As TheGamer previously reported, Riot Forge has several titles in development, featuring Freljord, Piltover, and Zaun, and it is safe to assume that each will have their own game similar to Bilgewater. Meanwhile, we'll just have to wait to learn anything more - including a launch date.
Well, you could kill time by trying Aphelios.