Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a tactical role-playing game featuring League of Legends characters, set in the rich world of Runeterrra, and infused with the gorgeous art of developer Airship Syndicate and comic book artist Joe Madureira. 

The idea was born out of a place of mutual fandom, said Madureira, CEO and creative director of Airship Syndicate.

“Riot initially approached us with the idea based on the success of our other turn-based RPG, Battle Chasers: Nightwar,” he said. “It turns out we had mutual fans: they had folks who loved Nightwar, and we had folks who loved playing League. So when they suggested they were interested, we figured it was a long shot to happen… but were certainly hopeful it would. Now here we are.”

While Ruined King and Battle Chasers: Nightwar share common threads in their turn-based combat, and Madureira’s art style, the two ended up being vastly different, he said.

“Ruined King is very much a story-first game, with a great twist on combat and an exciting world to explore,” Madureira said. “Those were the two things that appealed to us the most: getting to tell rich stories about beloved League champs, while simultaneously giving players their first-ever chance to run through the world of Runeterra.”

A big element of Ruined King—actually of all of the Riot Forge published games—is the chance to not just see the League of Legends characters in new settings and play with them in new ways, but to explore their backstories and allow them to interact with a fantasy world so briefly examined in the past.

In Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, players take control of a clutch of League champions as they explore the city of Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles. Players new to the League of Legends universe will be introduced to the rich lore of Runeterra and longtime fans will learn more about Viego, the Ruined King, who is the big bad of the game. They’ll also dive a bit into the backstories of the playable champions: Ahri, Braum, Illaoi, Miss Fortune, Pyke, and Yasuo. Of course, the game doesn’t feature just one bad guy, there’s also Gangplank, the former king of Bilgewater, and Thresh, who is the puppet master of the game.

“We worked very closely with Riot Forge to create a compelling story that not only fit within existing canon but also felt important,” Madureira said. “Every character is impacted by the events of Ruined King in some way. By having some outsiders to Bilgewater like Braum, Yasuo, and Ahri, we were able to touch on other areas of Runeterra beyond Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles. We also made sure to include lots of surprises and Easter eggs for hardcore League fans.”

Madureira said the process of breathing life into Bilgewater involved a lot of feedback and discussion with Riot Forge to make sure the team at Airship Syndicate captured the intended tone and spirit of the city.

Rowan Parker, Riot Forge Creative Director, notes that this game tells the origin store of Viego and how he came to manifest in Runeterra, so it’s integral to the League of Legends lore and existing canon.

“Throughout the game, we reveal Viego’s story as well as exploring the other champions featured in Ruined King,” Parker said. “Players will be able to experience each of the Champions’ personal stories which move the League universe forward in a meaningful way. Ruined King offers an opportunity to tell stories with our champs and zoom in to a level only possible in these types of games. Our partners add their creative style and DNA into the game whilst ensuring that each champion and area of the world is true to the Universe.”

Deciding which characters, beyond Viego, to include in the game came down to locking in a setting and narrowing the focus to local champs and visiting champs who could provide an outsider’s perspective on what was going on. There were also a few other factors that played a role, Madureira said.

“We factored in their roles in combat, sizes and silhouettes, even personalities and potential fun character moments that could arise between them,” he said. “As for the villains, Riot shared their plans to introduce the ruined king as a playable champ, so that felt like the perfect big bad to build our story around. The rest kind of fell into place.”

Fortunately, Airship’s art style is very in line with the style of League of Legends, so the visual translation was very natural, Madureira said.

“We definitely wanted to respect the established look of the characters and stay true to the IP,” he said. “The designs were awesome already, so it was more of an interpretation than a redesign. Though, making everything bigger and chunkier is always a general rule at Airship.

“Capturing a sense of vastness and scale was definitely a challenge given our camera angle, but the team did a phenomenal job building the city around massive vistas that help tell the story of how big Bilgewater really is.”

Ruined King is a tactical role-playing game, with a twist built around something the designers at Airship Syndicate call the Lane Initiative System.

Madureira explains:

“The Lane Initiative System adds an extra layer of strategy to combat, allowing players to modify the speed and power of abilities by casting them in the Speed, Balance, or Power Lanes. You can use the Speed Lane to get a heal off before an incoming creature attack would finish off your ally, or take a little extra time to cast a powerful attack in the Power Lane in order to multiply all the buffs you’ve been building up on that character.”

Added to the mix is the fact that some abilities get special interactions when used in certain lanes through ability upgrades.

Take, for instance, Illaoi’s Grace of Nagakabouros ability, which heals a single target normally.  If you cast it in the Speed Lane it will also cleanse debuffs off the target. Casting it in the Power Lane allows it to resurrect a fallen ally.

“Players will also be playing around Hazards, Boons and Wildcards that can appear on the initiative bar,” he said. “These are zones on the initiative bar that bestow beneficial or harmful effects to fighters that land in their regions. Using the Speed and Power lanes allows players to manipulate positions on the initiative bar in order to maneuver into beneficial regions or evade harmful ones.”

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story hits the Epic Games Store for Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on Nov. 16.

“We know there are tons of players who love single-player games and games with immersive stories,” Riot Forge’s Parker said. “That’s one of the reasons why Riot Forge exists. Riot Forge will help bring new League of Legends experiences to a variety of players who love completable games.”