It's been just over two weeks since the limited-time experimental League of Legends meets Vampire Survivors mash-up mode titled Swarm came to an end. Even though the mode didn't become a full-fledged game like Teamfight Tactics did when it joined the auto-battler scene, Swarm still had more legs to stand on than I expected from an experiment that at least further built on the legacy and worldbuilding of the world of Runeterra. And, more than anything, it made me hopeful for the future Riot MMORPG.
Many years in the making, and many more to come
Yes, you heard me right, a Riot MMORPG is on the way. Well, eventually. Rumblings of the project first hit the gaming stratosphere back in 2020 when Lead Designer at Riot Games and former World of Warcraft Lead Systems Designer Greg 'Ghostcrawler' Street confirmed on Twitter that he was working on an MMO. A League of Legends-inspired MMORPG certainly made sense, but did Riot really just casually reveal what could easily be perceived as one of the biggest announcements in MMORPG or even gaming history?
We'd later discover that the tweet was somewhat of a red herring. It wasn't an accident by any means, but rather a strategically planned low-key announcement to get ahead of potential early leaks while also creating some much-needed hype to recruit for the project. A couple of years later, Riot would more formally announce the MMO, while once again revealing they were recruiting developers for the project.
A year later in 2023, Street revealed he was leaving Riot Games to head his own development company, Fantastic Pixel Castle, to work on a new MMORPG. For a while, fans panicked, assuming the project was dead in the water. Then earlier this year, Marc 'Tryndamere' Merill, one of the co-founders of Riot, posted a long thread on Twitter confirming that the MMO was still in the works, but had recently undergone a reset with the project now heading in a different direction, with fabled ex-BioWare developer Fabrice Condominas at the helm.
And that's sort of where we are in terms of public knowledge of the Riot MMO. Merrill indicated that Riot really wanted to develop an innovative MMO based in the world of Runeterra, rather than just a standard MMO with a coat of Runeterran paint. MMORPGs aren't easy—or cheap—to develop, which means we've likely got some more years to go before we get a look at what the Riot MMO actually is.
Runeterrific
The biggest takeaway I have after spending about a dozen hours or so in Swarm is that the League of Legends and overall world of Runeterra that Riot has created is ripe for an MMO. While the classic hit MOBA isn't exactly known for its storyline or anything, the characters themselves and their backstories have created some rather intriguing lore that would fit well in an MMORPG environment.
In fact, the recently shuttered Riot Forge proved this theory time and time again. The publishing label was literally created to help push the narrative of the Runeterra forward, as League of Legends itself isn't exactly designed for that sort of thing. Riot Forge was founded in late 2019, and after just over four years in operation would partner with six amazing development studios including Airship Syndicate, Tequila Works, and Lazy Bear games to create narrative-driven games set in the world of Runeterra.
Riot Forge's debut title, Ruined King explored the bustling pirate city of Bilgewater and the surrounding cursed Shadow Isles as a turn-based RPG. Along the way players would interact with staple League of Legends characters like Miss Fortune, Gangplank, and Viego, further exploring the characters' backstory.
In 2023, Riot Forge and Tequila Works released Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story, an adventure platformer that told the endearing story of Nunu and Willump as they explored the Freljord with fan-favorite character Braum. It is a roughly 8-hour experience that if nothing else absolutely immerses you in the frosty tundra of the Freljord, which could act as just one of many potential biomes in the Riot MMORPG.
A Swarmsong of sorts
Returning to Swarm, it once again came to life with its characters. In total, there were nine playable characters in Swarm; just a fraction of the over 150 currently playable in League of Legends. But it was a lineup of classic LoL characters: Jinx, Seraphine, Leona, Illaoi, Briar, Yasuo, Riven, Aurora, and Xayah.
We'd seen these characters in League of Legends with their unique kits tailored to the MOBA playstyle. We even got a glimpse of their personality with their voice lines, emotes, and brief quips between other characters. But having them transposed into another gameplay style, this time a fast-paced bullet-hell and Vampire Survivors-style game offered a more interesting and downright fun way of exploring the characters.
Jinx played similarly to your classic bullet-hell type character, quickly firing her weapons at nearby enemies while quickly traversing the map. The powerful and tanky Illaoi, however, played much differently, utilizing her well-known tentacles to cover the map and deal massive slam damage to enemies that encroached on her turf. Similar to her playstyle in League of Legends, but also oh so different.
In the end, despite enjoying my time with Swarm, I found myself instead thinking of the possibility. If these characters could easily be settled into a completely different game and still maintain their overall playstyle, just imagine the possibilities with an MMORPG. There's not a single character in all of Runeterra, or League of Legends, that I couldn't see made into a playable, supporting, or even enemy character in an MMORPG.
Truth be told, the Riot MMO could even play very similarly to League of Legends except with a more MMORPG-style approach and I think many fans would be happy with just that. Sort of like what the upcoming sci-fi open-world MMORPG Corepunk is aiming to do.
But either way, the Runeterra universe and its characters are simply ripe for an MMORPG world, and I trust Riot to do it just right. Swarm proved it could be great. All of the Riot Forge titles proved it could be great. Hell, in some ways, even Arcane proves it could be great. All I can hope is that I live to see the day it comes to fruition.
