Earlier this month, Riot Games announced Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story, a beat-matching game with some serious side-scrolling/platforming gameplay. Riot calls it a “fast-paced rhythm runner,” and that phrase was personified in Hextech Mayhem’s explosive (literally) launch trailer that premiered during today’s Riot Forge Showcase with Nintendo Switch. You can watch the gameplay footage below.

Piltover, Valoran’s cultural center with a gorgeous steampunk aesthetic, serves as the primary backdrop for Hextech Mayhem. You star as Ziggs, a zany yordle (a spirit that takes the form of a mammal) with a deep love and appreciation for big bombs. Instead of using his explosives to take down other champions in the arena, this time around, Ziggs embarks on a journey to build the one bomb to rule them all while avoiding his strict and rigid nemesis Heimerdinger. 

As Ziggs, you’ll “bomb to the beat,” running over floating icons that change your orientation (e.g., launch you in the air, drop you back down to the ground, etc.) across a horizontal map of Piltover while simultaneously decimating waves of foes and large-scale bosses with fiery explosions. Heimerdinger is the resident party pooper and his armed troopers and weaponized machinations stand between you and your musical escapades. 

It seems as if the challenge of Hextech Mayhem derives from its utilization of sensory overload. You’ll be moving in tandem with the music, but balls of fire emitted after hitting enemies and objects alike with bombs fill the screen and make navigation a disorienting activity. You’ll have to pay attention and try your best to disregard the colorful carnage to stay alive. 

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

If this gameplay loop excites you, then you’re in luck. Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story launches today on Nintendo Switch and PC. 

Are you excited to sprint down the streets of Piltover, laying waste to everything and everyone you encounter?