Ruined King, the first singleplayer League of Legends game, will be out in early 2021
A new teaser showcases six League champions embarking on some nautical shenanigans.
Ruined King was announced in December 2019 as the first-ever singleplayer League of Legends game, and also the first game to come out of the Riot Forge publishing label. Today Riot announced that Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, as it's officially named, will go into full release on Steam and the Epic Games Store in early 2021.
The League of Legends spinoff is being developed by Airship Syndicate, whose previous releases including Battle Chasers: Nightwar and Darksiders Genesis, as part of Riot's effort to push beyond the mega-hit MOBA League of Legends. Riot Forge releases will be set in Runeterra and feature League characters, but will be "completable" games developed by external partner studios.
"Ruined King is a great way to expand the world of Runeterra for brand new players as well as our dedicated League of Legends fans," Riot Forge head Leanne Loombe said. "Ruined King will be the first singleplayer game to bring the LoL universe to both consoles and PC. We are excited to take this plunge into exploring stories and champions that players have enjoyed over the years, and can’t wait for our players to embark on this new adventure with us."
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story will be set in two regions of Runeterra: the port town of Bilgewater, home to monster hunters, dock gangs, and smugglers, and the Shadow Isles, shrouded in the deadly Black Mist that corrupts all it touches. Players will form a party including League of Legends characters Miss Fortune, Illaoi, Braum, Yasuo, Ahri, and Pyke, in order to defeat a mysterious common enemy.
That's a pretty thin as a synopsis goes, but Riot said that it will have more to say about the game in December. In the meantime, you can dive deeper into the lore underpinning the game (and there's plenty of it—this is League of Legends, after all) at ruinedking.com.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.