After a community revolt, Riot has reverted planned Akali voiceover changes back to the original VA, satisfying concerns while keeping the new voiceover lines exclusively for Star Guardian Akali.
As part of LoL patch 12.14, Riot attempted to change Akali’s voiceover across all skins with a complete re-do of her base voices with a new artist. This resulted in backlash from the community as many had grown quite fond of the original voiceover lines.
But a quick look at the PBE now reveals Riot reverted Akali’s voiceover lines to the original — a decision undeniably influenced by the community’s criticism.
Krizia Bajos’s performance remains iconic for assassin, showcasing a rough edge that wonderfully highlights Akali’s nefarious personality. And it seems as of now, the community isn’t ready to let them go of the lines — at least not in exchange for the new ones.
The new lines, which were performed by Ashly Burch, were far more soft spoken — lacking the harsh edge many believed characterized the champion previously.
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Considering the general aesthetic and theme of Star Guardian Akali, the tone and direction of Ashly Burch’s performance fit rather well — and her lines are being kept on that specific skin.
When the initial changes dropped, many members banded together in revolt, vocalizing their concerns over this change. Developer NeoLexical publicly stated that there were two choices: Keep the changes and hope players change their tune, or revert the VO changes and rerecord down the line.
Evidently, they’re reverted the VO changes. However, don’t expect the changes to go away — as NeoLexical stated, a potential re-recording is down the line.
