2XKO Review

Seven years after it was announced as Project L, Riot's fighting game arrived on consoles in the shape it always promised: two champions a side, a handshake tag that turns an assist into the point fighter mid combo, and a Fuse system that decides what a given pair can do together. The fundamentals are excellent. Parries and pushblocks give defence real choices rather than one button, the dash and air dash movement is quick without being slippery, and the rollback netcode holds up in ranked play.

Every critic who reviewed it recommended it, which almost never happens, and the combo trials teach a newcomer more than most tutorials in the genre manage. The champions are rebuilt as heavy, hand painted models that stay readable at speed, which matters more in a tag fighter than in any other kind.

What it does not have is content. The launch roster is small for a 2026 fighting game, there is no campaign and no single player mode worth the name, and the free to play structure means progression is a battle pass rather than something the game gives back. Season 1 arrived alongside the console release and added Caitlyn, which says plainly how much of this is still to come. As a set of mechanics it is the most interesting fighting game in years. As a product it is a beginning.