Riot’s Valorant has finally been released after two months in closed beta. Valorant is a 5v5 multiplayer character-based tactical FPS game. We’ve seen a lot of these “character-based” things pop in and out these past few years, but Riot is in it for the long haul.
If you’re the type to enjoy multiplayer tactical FPS games with a high skill cap, you should definitely play the game.
Closed Beta
The closed beta period started on April 7th and went on until the end of May. People who wanted to play the game had to watch streamers on Twitch.tv to get a beta key. I eventually got mine and played for a good chunk of the closed beta, enough to receive all the closed beta rewards.
Throughout this beta period, Riot responded quickly to many of the playerbase’s concerns with blog posts and patches. Riot’s reputation for feedback review has given players much trust in the company. So believe that Valorant will most definitely get better in the future.
Game Feel
How does the game feel? This is the most important question for most any FPS game, especially one whose spiritual successor is Counter Strike. Shooting guns feel good (this mostly comes from the sound design which I go over later). Using abilities feels good. Hitting your headshots feels good.
One thing that’s hotly debated are the spray patterns. A spray pattern is the recoil path your bullets take when holding down fire. They are a little more random than some would like, but the developers have said that this is necessary for the game they’re trying to make—a more tactical shooter.
It’s possible to just be mechanically decent to be good at the game. You will, however, need to think about strategy. Positioning, ability usage, and timing are all incredibly critical. This sort of balancing between mechanics and analytics is what will keep players playing.
Art Style
The game is not the most graphically intense, but it does have style. The screenshot above is on low quality for optimization reasons (higher FPS), but even then, the game looks pretty. Each map’s set pieces fit well and don’t distract from the main goal, to defeat your enemies.
Some players have speculated that this low graphical fidelity is due to the fact that Riot wanted this game to have a wider appeal.
Your allies and enemies, the different Agents that you can choose from, each have a unique design. Their designs reflect their personalities well. One example: Sage, a peace-loving healer, appears very spiritual with her robe and jade orbs.
Like CS:GO, Valorant has gun skins for players to purchase. Often these gun skins add a slightly different feel to your play, but each gun remains the same function-wise. Some players have complained about the high prices of skins, but that’s a wholly different discussion.
Sound
For a tactical FPS game, it’s important to have good sounding guns. Valorant pulls this off nicely. Each gun has a distinct sound. Sound is usually crucial for strategy. For instance, an enemy player might have an Operator (a very powerful sniper rifle) in a certain site holding a certain angle. Your team might then choose to proceed with a different strategy.
Other things like voice lines from each Agent bring them to life. You’ll appreciate your favorite Agents more and more throughout your play. Also, There’s enough variation in each voice line and each character that it never becomes too repetitive.
There’s not much to say about the soundtrack as it’s very subtle. This isn’t to say, however, that it’s a bad thing. The subtlety of the music improves the whole experience. The intensity of each piece increases as necessary for moments of impact—slow steady rise from lobby into game, eventually into bombastic victory or subdued loss.
Multiplayer
A big part of the game is the multiplayer functionality. The hit registration of each bullet is usually pretty good. Riot boasts 128 tick servers, and justifiably so. There were rarely any times where I felt things were unfair. Servers run well. At least for me, I always had less than 30 ping, but I may be one of the more fortunate. I’ve seen players with over 100.
As a close aside, community is what will essentially drive this game forward. If the community is toxic, it will turn away many players. If there are players using underhanded methods to win (cheaters) they will need to be dealt with. Riot does a decent job of controlling this in their League of Legends, however, like any competitive game, it will certainly be inevitable. Time will tell.
Verdict
Give this game a try if you want an FPS game that will challenge you. There will definitely be times where you’ll get crushed in a devastating 13-0 loss, but there may also be moments where you manage to get a clutch Ace and feel like you’re at the top of your game. Be valiant, be Valorant.