League of Legends celebrates the start of season 2019 with 'Awaken' cinematic

League of Legends has released a new cinematic, Awaken, to celebrate the Ranked 2019 season, which kicks off on this week.

I'll be honest, I'm not particularly familiar with League of Legends—I did install it once but don't think I got as far as playing an actual game—but despite my ignorance, the cinematic looks absolutely stunning.

Following three separate stories, the cinematic delves into what can only be described as a fight to the death for each character portrayed, with pristine visuals and a whole handful of badassery thrown in. All of this is brought to life by the vocals of Valerie Broussard and violinist, Ray Chen.

While the music may not be quite as upbeat as the recent offerings from K/DA—you know, that K-Pop band that doesn't actually exist—it's upbeat and 'pop-y' enough to fit right in with the theme. But don't take my word for it; you can check out the full cinematic for yourself, above.

The League of Legends Ranked 2019 season kicks off on January 24.

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.