Raid: Shadow Legends is a free-to-play RPG originally released by Plarium Games for mobile devices in 2018 and ported to PC in early 2020. Its graphics have been quite well received, but marketing is another matter: online promotions and influencer tie-ins have generated enough memes to create a Know Your Meme page.

Plarium announced today that Tyler "Ninja" Blevins will be a playable character in the game starting July 16.

"Ninja is more than just a great addition to Champions in terms of his positive impact on the gaming industry," said Norm Saggy, Plarium's Vice President of Marketing. Ninja will be taking his fans along with him as he explores RAID with his new character through a series of exciting live streams."

I took a quick peek at Twitch and Google, and as far as I can tell, Ninja has never played (or at least delivered) Raid: Shadow Legends before. Nonetheless, he said, "I am very excited to introduce my champion to RAID fans. As my fans know, I love the RPG genre, and to see myself as a fantasy character with my own special skills and attributes is awesome!" He said.

The announcement includes some images of the Ninja character, which I must say is a bit puzzling. With the katana and bow, they look somewhat (but not quite) ninja-like, but they also have wings - feathered, full-size wings. That in itself is not that odd in a fantasy game, but what is odd is that there is only one wing growing out of his right shoulder blade. There is absolutely nothing on the left. What in the world is he going to do with that? Hover three feet off the ground and frantically fly in circles to distract the enemy?

Ninja will reveal more about his character, including his design influences, statistics, and unique special abilities, during a Twitch live stream on July 19. Hopefully, he will also tell us about his wing business.

The Ninja character will be free to all players, but only for three months. To get the Ninja, players will need to log into the game for 7 days during the 3 month period beginning July 16.

If you want to try out what Raid: Shadow Legends is all about, you can purchase the game at the Microsoft Store or at plarium.com. If you want to see what a ninja looks like in the game, take a look at the images below.