I tried out League of Legends on PC many years ago, and try as I might I just couldn’t get into it for whatever reason. So when after years of speculation it was announced that League of Legends would be coming to mobile in an official capacity under the subtitle of Wild Rift, I looked at it as my second chance to give it another try. While still technically in beta, League of Legends: Wild Rift expanded to the Americas this week, and I gave it that second try, and… I totally bounced off it again.

So what the heck are we doing here in the Game of the Week, then? Well, as someone who can admit that League of Legends just isn’t for me, I’ve also been covering mobile games for over a decade now and have in fact tried out every single LoL knockoff that has come out, and I can confidently say that Wild Rift is head and shoulders above all of them and is the kind of effort that deserves to be highlighted… even if it’s not my cup of tea personally. (Not yet at least, I’m going to keep on trying though, at Eli’s request!)

Speaking of Eli, you may recall him as the Editor in Chief of TouchArcade for a decade until leaving to start GameClub in early 2019, but he has made a triumphant return as a guest writer specifically for League of Legends: Wild Rift. Eli has been playing LoL on PC since the very beginning, and is the perfect person to give an informed opinion about Wild Rift, so be sure to give his lengthy write-up a read if you haven’t done so already for all the nitty gritty details.

So, despite not “clicking" for me personally, I can’t help but be impressed with League of Legends: Wild Rift in every possible way. Its visuals and performance are top-notch, the controls are fantastic, and the onboarding process is excellent. Even as a total LoL noob the tutorial gets you right up to speed, and from very early on you are very frequently being showered with cool new unlocks and items. This is one of the very best examples of a free to play game you never feel the need to spend money in, but actually want to spend money in because you enjoy it. That should be no surprise since LoL on PC has been a shining example of free to play done right for more than a decade now.

If you’re an existing fan, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll love having the LoL experience built from the ground up for your mobile device and in your pocket ready to be played at a moment’s notice. It’s not a replacement for the PC version, it’s a compliment to it. If you’re a complete beginner to LoL or MOBAs in general, Wild Rift does a wonderful job of explaining the ins and outs of the genre and is a great place to start if you’re looking to get into this type of game. Whether free or paid, if every mobile game had the level of polish and thoughtfulness that League of Legends: Wild Rift has we’d be living in a veritable gaming utopia.