2XKO's controls throw even veteran fighting game players for a loop despite 'simple inputs' (2024)

While PC input issues continue to frustrate

After 5 years since it was first teased at Evo 2019, 2XKO is finally in the hands of players at home with the closed Alpha Lab test that's now underway.

Prior to this test, many in the fighting game community were worried Riot may be aiming too much at "casual players" for their League of Legends spin-off with the simple controls and 2v2 systems, but now that it's here... impressions are kinda looking like the exact opposite of that.

We've witnessed quite a bit of discussion going on in the FGC these past few days regarding 2XKO's controls, and now that we've gotten to put some hours into the alpha test too, trying to get a sense of full control over the game has proved a bit more challenging than expected.

So let's talk about why it feels that way.

Riot may have lessened the overall input barrier by using directional inputs instead of motions as well as dedicated buttons for specials, but what they've come up with so far is still very complex and also a bit of an oddity.

This also hasn't been helped by the ongoing pad / arcade stick issues going on with the PC version of the alpha though we'll get into that more a little later.

I personally wouldn't call 2XKO's controls unintuitive (or really bad either), but there's just something that did not click for me even after sitting in the lab and working out some longer combos.

Having a really bizarre experience as 2XKO discourse during the alpha rapidly mutates from “controls simple, game will be boring” to “game is way too hard.” Oh, so difficulty doesn’t only come from complex inputs? OH REALLY? SAY IT LOUDER!!!

— SGF | Fem!Shep (@FemShepFGC) August 9, 2024

You've got a light, medium and heavy attack button for each plus two special buttons and one dedicated to tag systems, essentially giving you a six-button fighter, though it doesn't feel that way.

There's just something that feels imbalanced with the amount of normal and special buttons, which is hard to shake even after multiple hours.

And you know there's something going on when even a former Marvel vs. Capcom Evo champion is confused by the controls at the start too.

First thoughts on 2xko. This game was not meant for -everyone-. 6 buttons that confuse even me. Gameplay that feels like a more complex mvci/powerrangers/bbtag. Super ham and oppressive, but also kinda lame that makes it seem easy to timeout someone. This is a game of all time!!!

— Chris G (@NYChrisG) August 9, 2024

It's weird because these controls are pretty darn close to DNF Duel's, especially using the Pad A configuration, and I never really had any issues with that game.

DNF also used two special buttons with directions instead of motions, but two normal buttons as well.

The difference are those additional heavy and tag buttons along with a lot more to memorize in terms of universal and system mechanics.

It feels as though part of the issue is in the button layouts themselves, especially when playing on pad.

No matter which of the main or even custom control schemes I've used, something always feels imbalanced.

been thinking about 2XKO's controls (note: I have not played the game) and: is there any sort of commonality between all specials that are mapped to S1 or all specials that are mapped to S2? if not I feel like them being arbitrary distinctions could be contributing to awkwardness

— K'eeg (@armormodechang) August 11, 2024

What also doesn't help is there seems to be no clear distinction for what makes a move to be put on the Special 1 button vs. Special 2, and there's nothing like a Shoryuken or half-circle motion to help intuit which attack does / is useful for what from the jump.

That could also be a thing when learning a similar game like Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, but it only uses one special button instead of two.

There's obviously a lot of intricacies to the game, and players are starting to really figure things out with touch of death combos now being discovered though that initial learning curve is not what most of us were expecting — and especially from a controller sense.

Now, let's talk a little more about what the experience has been like trying to play 2XKO's alpha on PC thus far.

I began my 2XKO journey like many others with the PC version and a DualShock 4 controller where I quickly ran into a similar wall.

The game detected my pad and the left control stick would work, but none of the buttons did anything.

Resetting the client a few times didn't help, so I'd have to navigate the menus with the mouse and keyboard where I encountered some other odd bugs like the avatar creator wigging out when clicking on hairstyles.

I attempted to use a supposed fix by adding 2XKO to my Steam library and use Steam inputs after launching from there, but it didn't help me any.

While the DS4 wouldn't work on the menus, it would be fine in actual gameplay strangely, so I just had to deal with going back and forth to my keyboard.

Upon my last time trying to play tonight, 2XKO wouldn't register my DS4 anymore, so I finally hooked up my DualSense.

This seemed to work as I could finally move through the menus, but then getting into Training Mode, none of the buttons would work — and attempting to change them made them all register as the right stick being moved up.

And then the game crashed, so I'll probably be switching to PlayStation 5 for the time being.

As for actually playing the game, I ended up going with the Pad A controls since they were closest to other titles I have experience with like DNF and Persona 4 Arena.

I would consistently forget all the time that there was even a hard attack button along with messing up the specials all the time.

This was especially exacerbated by moves like Yasuo's stance, which has a sizable list of follow-ups you can do out of them that you just kinda have to drill into your head.

After practicing for over an hour, things finally started to click a bit more though the heavy and specials would still sometimes trip me up along with the different uses for the tag button.

That was compounded when starting to play actual matches, but I was still having quite a bit of fun and learning more on the fly.

I don't think playing 2XKO on pad is the hardest thing in the world or anything, but it's been a lot harder to get used to than expected.

More time will be required to see how I ultimately feel about how Riot is handling their control scheme.

Trying to get a Razer arcade stick to work on 2XKO on the Riot Client has thus far proved to be a massive pain.

Initially, the joystick and none of the buttons seemed to do anything. I eventually made my way into the controls setting and switched between "Arcade Stick 1" and "Arcade Stick 2," but my arcade stick remained unresponsive.

Disgruntled by the lack of progress, I decided to hop into the training room with the keyboard. Again, the game just didn't accept any inputs from my arcade stick.

After some time had passed, pressing buttons on my arcade stick randomly seemed to work. Let me place emphasis on "randomly." For seemingly no reason, the game just started accepting button inputs in the middle of my training room sessions without me doing anything special.

I could finally do attacks with my character, but I still wasn't able to move with my joystick. However, this part of the problem at least had a solution that could be replicated.

I eventually figured out that I had to switch my Razer arcade stick from the left stick to the directional pad setting via a switch on the device. Needless to say, I can safely say that I've never had to do this for any other game before this.

Of course, it should be mentioned that I'm still unable to press the pause button with my arcade stick to access the move list. After what felt like pressing every single key on my keyboard, I did eventually figure out that "F" paused the game.

The "Arcade Stick 1" setting made it so that the top three buttons inputted special 1, special 2, and assist while the bottom three buttons were my light, medium, and heavy buttons. Since this felt bizarre, I switched to "Arcade Stick 2" to swap the positions of these buttons.

In terms of the controls, 2XKO is far more simple than I expected, though it makes sense considering that these are also the developers behind Rising Thunder. Still, something about there being two dedicated special buttons has been throwing me off.

Despite 2XKO's intended simplicity, there's quite a learning curve involved with the inputs that left me confused after I left the Training Mode. More specifically, I kept confusing which actions were performed by pressing each of the special buttons.

Overall, 2XKO feels like the type of game you really have to spend some time on to get comfortable with, but that has to come after any bizarre technical issues that might come your way when trying to get your input device to work.

2XKO has certainly beaten the allegations of being a tag-based fighting game toned down for the general audience, which makes us even more curious to dig into how those outside the FGC are feeling about this alpha test.

The game's control scheme feels awkwardly imbalanced when trying to pick it up and start learning, and it just seems like something you'll have to get used to for now and get good.

Despite this, we're not really sure what we'd do to fully alleviate the situation without removing functions besides maybe having a more clear vision why special moves are placed where they are.

And the ongoing controller issues on PC aren't really helping either, but that should at least be addressed at some point.

Players will need to carefully pick which button layout feels most natural to them, but even at that point there's going to be some growing pains to drill down.

It is nice to play a new tag game that has a lot going on to piece together and grow with though there's certainly more room for improvement to make the experience feel more consistent.

We'll be putting together a full impressions breakdown for 2XKO's alpha test in the near future and more coverage for the game, so stay tuned for that.

Contributions to this story were made Justin "AdaptiveTrigger" Gordon.