The former League of Legends, Halo, Destiny, Overwatch, and Apex Legends developers at Theorycraft Games have revealed a first look at “Project Loki,” a hero sandbox action game and the studio’s debut title. The announcement arrives as part of a video from the studio that includes information from co-founder and CEO Joe Tung as well as first footage of the game in action. On the surface, it looks pretty similar to other MOBAs like League of Legends or Dota, but it sounds like its controls and gameplay will be very different. The Project Loki gameplay warns that today’s video showcases a “pre pre pre pre pre alpha” version, but all things considered, it still looks pretty good so far. You can see it for yourself in the video below.
Theorycraft says Project Loki is a “squad-based hero battleground” that blends multiple genres to create something new. Each session sees players assemble a squad to participate in free-flowing strategy battles. To be a little more specific, Tung said some playtesters describe it “in their own words as League meets Apex meets Smash.” It’s one hell of a comparison that signals an ambitious first outing from Theorycraft. Adding to the hype is the fact that the studio wants Project Loki to be “the world’s next 10,000-hour game.” Tung and the rest of the team at Theorycraft have their work cut out if they want to live up to expectations, so we’ll probably have quite a long wait before it becomes more widely available.
“As players and developers, we feel like it’s been a minute since there’s been something truly new and fun to play with your friends,” Tung said in a separate statement. “To make Project Loki, we took our collective experiences working on some of the biggest team-based PvP games like League, VALORANT, Apex, and Overwatch, and have been building with a group of hardcore playtesters out the gate. Now Project Loki has evolved into something fresh and unlike anything we’ve played so far, and we’re ready to take the next step. It might seem early but we became independent to take a big swing on behalf of players; to do that means involving them as soon as possible, showing our work, and building a community that we’ll listen to across every stage of development.”
Theorycraft reminds players that Project Loki is still very early in development. However, the developer is directing those interested to head over to the studio’s website to sign up for pre-alpha community playtests. The next test is scheduled to take place on PC from June 29 to June 30. Stay tuned for more details on when Project Loki will release to the public.