League of Legends' art studio is making its own soulslike, but it's a striking antithesis to Dark Souls

For all of League of Legends’ faults, its vibes are absolutely immaculate. LoL’s artwork is unparalleled: it’s consistently beautiful, absolutely desktop wallpaper worthy, and, perhaps most important of all, truly unique. While Riot has its own internal splash art team, it works with a lot of studios to bring Runeterra’s champions to life. SixMoreVodka is one of those, and you’ve probably seen their work in League of Legends itself and its new TCG spinoff Riftbound, as well as Legends of Runeterra. They’re the masterminds behind Cho’Gath, Darius, Renekton, Singed, and OG Viktor’s (RIP) splash art, and now they’re making Orken, their first videogame.

Working in tandem with Demagog Studio, best known for indie puzzler Golf Club Nostalgia, SixMoreVodka is spearheading Orken, a soulslike ARPG that it describes as a “Neanderthal Western.” You are Coltec, a young Khar warrior whose friend has gone missing, likely at the hands of the various armor-clad humans that roam the lands. Your quest is simple: find your comrade and free them from their kidnappers. Easy, right?

Wrong. You’ll have to venture into the heart of Edom, a primordial kingdom that’s brought to life with stunning, Hi-Fi Rush-esque visuals. Where most soulslikes lean on the dark fantasy tropes that inspired the likes of Bloodlborne and the original Dark Souls trilogy, Orken is vibrant, comic book, and colorful; a twist that initially put me off slightly, but I’ve now found myself intrigued by.

As you’ve likely guessed, Orken champions perfect parries and slick dodging, describing itself as a hybrid between the likes of Dragon’s Dogma and FromSoft’s aforementioned epics. You’ll have to manage your stamina, build up poise, then stun your enemies and land a finisher using the various skills you learn from your Atman.

Said Atman is effectively a native American totem pole, which you can rotate to obtain different abilities. It’s all in the luck of the draw: sometimes you’ll find two powers that synergize perfectly, but at the cost of deactivating one of your favorites. Or, you might get the one you’ve been waiting for, only for something else to nullify it entirely. It’s a step away from the traditional ‘max points, get the best weapon’ build pathway, adding a bit of a roguelike feel, and I’m intrigued to see how it works in practice.

But the thing that’s piqued my interest is the promise of a narrative-driven story where decisions heavily impact the overall plot. SixMoreVodka compares it to Mass Effect: your choices can either forge new alliances or tear down friendships, earning you powerful new friends or vengeful enemies. I love a good story-focused game, so if the team can pull this off, it may be on to a winner.

But Orken is just the beginning. SixMoreVodka says that the game is one part of a “lasting narrative universe composed of serialized fiction, to be delivered through carefully planned rollouts of books and graphic storytelling.” There are plans for everything from graphic novels to field and world guides, which is certainly ambitious, but as a sucker for pretty books, I hope it works out.

Orken doesn’t have a release date at the moment, but a new Steam demo and its Kickstarter campaign will go live on Thursday, February 26. You can wishlist the game here, or check out the Kickstarter here.

While I’m not great at soulslikes, the promise of Orken’s world has certainly lured me in. I do hope they trade out some of the voices in the trailer for something a little more rough and ready, but overall the world feels exciting, and is a welcome step away from the darkness and dreariness that’s come to inadvertently define the soulslike genre.