Despite tearing up the lore, Arcane may just have saved League of Legends

League of Legends has been in a somewhat confusing state since 2021, but the influence of Arcane means 2025 could be a return to form.

It’s been three years since Jinx and Vi’s saga of strife began; since Jinx murdered Silco, sending her Super Mega Death Rocket hurtling towards Piltover’s council chambers, intent on bringing the city of progress to its knees. But, for me, it’s also been three years since I really felt like League of Legends was good. In 2021 there was the much-maligned Sentinels of Light event which, while it introduced Akshan, absolutely obliterated half of the game’s lore. After 15 years there’s still several champions who have nothing more than a single paragraph of story (poor Shaco), and in the wake of Arcane Season 2’s conclusion, there are more questions on the table than answers. But, for perhaps the first time in a while, I think LoL might be able to rectify its somewhat confusing lore state, and Season 2025 will be the catalyst.

I’ve got a full breakdown of everything that’s coming with League of Legends Season 2025, but I want to really focus on the rotating, thematic seasons. The MOBA’s calendar will be split into three unique seasons per year, each with their own themes. These initially seem to be focused around various regions, but I feel like they could expand out into universes like Star Guardian, High Noon, or Project, too. Each season will see the debut of a new champion from the spotlighted region, various Rift changes to reflect the overarching theme, and existing characters from the area will also get some TLC. As someone who’s a big fan of the game’s lore and its regions (especially Shurima), this all sounds great.

While I enjoyed Swarm earlier this year, and Arenas before that, they felt more like disparate modes than fully integrated elements of the LoL experience. An Anima Squad-themed season and the addition of Swarm would have felt more cohesive, and that’s something Riot agrees with. “In the past we’ve had these big releases like Swarm or Spirit of the Hearth Home that are super memorable and fun, but they’re not connected to a larger, integrated moment,” product lead Chad ‘Makivor’ Ballard says in League of Legends’ November 25 dev update. “In [the new] seasons we want everything to connect together.” It’s music to my ears, really – for three years League has felt somewhat disjointed; this new approach is a must.

But then I watched the end of Arcane Season 2. While I’m not going to put any spoilers here, the lore implications are huge and even nix existing lore in some places. It’s made even more perplexing by Riot’s confirmation that Arcane is canon because, in the wake of the finale, several elements of the MOBA’s actual gameplay simply cease to exist. I’ve watched various lore-focused YouTubers’ heads explode over the course of this weekend, and it’s certainly put us back in a pretty confusing situation.

While some have heralded it as Riot struggling to maintain cohesion, I think the fallout could actually be positive. Of course, I’m not okaying blowing up 15 years worth of storytelling – the reason I fell in love with LoL in the first place was Amumu’s tragic little tale – but I do believe that Arcane has prompted this renewed focus on the game’s lore. It’s certainly proven there’s quite the appetite for it, and I think that’s reflected in the new seasonal model.

It’s a question I ask game director Pu ‘Pupulasers’ Liu during a Season 2025 roundtable: has Arcane’s success prompted 2025’s narrative-focused direction? “Arcane certainly is awesome, but for a very long time – since the beginning of League of Legends – players have demonstrated their passion and love [for the game] through cosplays, events, fanships, and so on,” he tells me. “Every time we had a big summer event, players always told us they wanted more depth and color in those spaces. So, [renewing the focus on lore] is something we’ve been really interested in for a while now, and I think Arcane is a result of that as well.

“It starts and ends with players for us, but I do think the timing for us was really opportunistic with Arcane ending,” he continues. “Personally, I think a lot of us felt like ‘hey, we’re going to be hungry for more, and players probably will too.’” As a result, in order to “satisfy the sadness of the ending of Arcane,” Liu notes that “taking some of that over in the game was definitely a strategic timing for us.”

It’s an exciting answer to what is a big question. While some avid loresmiths will have been burnt by the concluding segment of Arcane, I see this as a much-needed switch in mindset. As mentioned, I don’t want Runeterra’s entire 15 years of lore confined to the annals of history, but what I do want to see is a reintegration of those stories into League of Legends’ gameplay. It’s what I’ve been hoping to see for the past three years, and if it took Arcane to be the catalyst, I’m alright with that.

In my opinion, the new seasonal model is the perfect way to do this. While everyone and their Poro knows about Zaun and Piltover now, Runeterra is a huge, complex place. I want to venture out to The Shadow Isles – and maybe even Helia, if we’re going that far back. I want to cry with Amumu in a tomb in Shurima. The seasonal model shines a light on all of these exciting places and makes them fun and rewarding to engage with. By changing up the Rift and dropping new, themed champions, it’s like you’re actually interacting with that region. There’s no disparity between the new mode or character and the overarching theme anymore – everything’s wrapped up in a Re-gifted Amumu-style bow.

But it’s not just about looks. Season 1 forces players to play aggressively, channeling Noxus’ very essence. Again, it’s a clever spin on the region’s lore, while simultaneously forcing you to change up your gameplay. As an enchanter support player, I’m not exactly renowned for flashing onto the front lines, but in order to score Atakhan or the Feats of Strength objectives, I can see myself doing it – the reward, in this case, is worth it. In future, an Ionian-themed map could see a shift towards magic, whereas Demacia could punish mages instead – the possibilities feel endless. Conceptually, Riot’s hit the nail on the head here; we’ll just have to see if it can stick the landing.

We’ve seen flickers of greatness this year. Jinx Fixes Everything is an easy highlight, and Swarm proves that Riot can get it right. Having all of these great ideas combined and streamlined is a genuinely exciting prospect, and it feels different from the mindset we’ve become accustomed to. So yes, Arcane has its bombshells, but it has reinvigorated Riot’s interest in the lore that forms the building blocks of League’s success. My standards have been pretty low since Sentinels of Light, and I want to be proven wrong. For the first time since 2021, I think I just might be.