League Of Legends Announces New Experimental Game Modes

Riot Games was one of the first developers to get into the mainstream MOBA genre with League of Legends. The game exploded when it first launched back in 2009. The game has steadily grown and expanded since then, even spawning plenty of clones that have all tried to cash in on the popularity of the MOBA genre, a genre that is now being succeeded by the Battle Royale genre. Riot Games, however, is not content with letting League of Legends fall by the wayside, and has decided to refresh and reinvigorate the playerbase by adding some brand new modes to the game that are quite experimental.

Over on the League of Legends website, there's a post from the developers talking about brand new experimental modes and the Nexus Blitz. The Blitz will be entering into the public beta environment soon, with gamers being able to playtest the mode and give some feedback to Riot Games on what works and what doesn't. The mode will go live in alpha playtests starting with patch 8.16, and then it will be iterated into the game slowly from there.

The experimental modes will be part of the new development cycle for Riot Games as the company continues to add new gameplay mechanisms and prototypes to the gameplay environment. These experimental modes are also going to be completely separate from things like the Doom Bots, One For All, or URF, according to the blog post.

The experimental modes will be prototyped and tried, and if they work out well they may become permanent additions to the game. If not? Well, Riot will go back to the drawing board and try something new.

The experimental modes won't be a constant thing, but they will appear infrequently, modifying some existing modes and providing gamers with something different.

The first of these experimental modes is called the Nexus Blitz. This mode is designed to be "low pressure fun." So, you hopefully won't pop blood vessels trying to compete in the mode and win.

Nexus Blitz matches will last for around 15 minutes, and are designed to be fast and intense. Each team starts in the jungle as a duo and will do so in close proximity to what Riot describes as three laners. The small size and miniature map layout is designed to keep the action fresh and constant.

But, it doesn't end there.

Nexus Blitz will also introduce League of Legends gamers to "events." These events can canvass the entire map and completely change the outcome of a match. According to the post, they will be completely random and some of them are unexpected, while some of them may be familiar to players who have been playing the game for a long time. Some of these events will pull from other game modes such as King of the Hill, Push the Payload, and even take certain elements from Battle Royale games such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, like the enclosing circle of death that forces players into PvP.

There will also be special rewards handed out for those who successfully complete the Nexus Blitz. It's expected to make its way through the playtest phase over the course of the next four weeks. Those who sign up to be a part of the test through the PBE will be able to participate with the arrival of patch 8.16.