Valorant Review

A new FPS game that drags a lot of attention because of its highly publicized pre-release access on Twitch, is finally here. The free-to-play competitive FPS game just launches its full release on June 2, 2020, by Riot Games, a game developer who created League of Legends. For simple explanation, it is a CS:GO gameplay with a remastered Overwatch character, which is surprisingly fun to play.

There’s not much to talk about the story and lore since the game focuses on the gameplay of the game, but the agent's design is amazing. Each agent in Valorant has its own unique ability like deal massive damage or teleport any location on the map. The unique ability categories into control, sentinel, duelist, and initiator, different from common FPS roles like a tank, healer, or DPS. The ability itself reflects the character’s personality and Riot did it well.

The gameplay is what makes Valorant. You need to strategize as a team to defend the bomb site or defending the bomb site. It is interesting how Riot decided to hybrid every map, so you need to adapt for every map, like using 3 bomb sites or teleporter. Every 17 guns in the game have a recoil pattern and some of them are adopted from CS:GO guns like AK-47 is Vandal and Operator id AWP. Currently, the game’s not balanced but the game is in a good place for now.

Valorant is different from other high graphic games where you need to buy a high-end PC to play the game, it uses simple color and minimalist art style. Every character’s ability contrasted well with the ground and wall and you can easily recognize each character’s ability. Every kill, you’ll be awarded a beautiful musical note that feels satisfying. A circle around your agents on the map indicates how far the sound you make, and it is a good addition to the game.

I have been playing Valorant with my friend every night since the release. I also feel that Valorant will compete for player to CS:GO since both games are pretty much similar. It is not a perfect FPS shooter, but the developer will update the game to improve and balance the game. From the accessibility and explainable UI, Valorant will be easy to understand for a new player to adapt the new FPS game from Riot.