Somehow, a combination of League of Legends and Vampire Survivors has produced something strangely relaxing. The infamously intense MOBA is getting a new mode this summer – just temporarily, at least for now – called Swarm, taking characters from League and design elements of the recently formed “bullet heaven” wave survival genre. But the big twist is that for all the on-screen carnage – and there is a of on-screen carnage – the result is something strangely chilled out.
League of Legends: Swarm modeDeveloper: Riot GamesPublisher: Riot GamesPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Available 17th July to 19th August on PC (Riot Games)
Like all things League of Legends these days, Swarm has been fleshed out with reams of worldbuilding backstory. The mode is set within the alternate universe world of Anima Squad – for those understandably not in the know, Riot Games themes its many of its paid-for character skins in League of Legends around alternate realities or short fictional stories, like the cyberpunk-themed PROJEKT skin line, or the K/DA skins that tied champions to Riot’s virtual pop group of the same name.
The vibe with Anima Squad is a kind of peppy, futuristic anime-sci-fi, where a group of heroes – with animal-enhanced abilities – defend the remnants of earth from an alien invasion. For the new mode, Riot has built out that universe further, with a range of enemy types introduced from the invading Primordians – purple, shark-like grunts and their bosses of various sizes, who believe themselves to be the “white blood cells” wiping out the virus of humanity – and the mode’s various maps set in different parts of a post-apocalyptic Runeterra.
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Lore is fun, but naturally the magic of course is in the gameplay with Swarm. The basics work the same as any other roguelite wave survival game. You begin, after choosing your character, as a bit of a weakling, before gradually gaining power and fending off greater and greater numbers of enemies, until your screen is not just full but of the giant, armoured automatons you were terrified off just a few minutes earlier. Where Swarm stands out however is in Riot’s signature ability to vary playstyles within the confines of a single game.