The scepter of the best competitive First Person Shooter has been held in Valve's hands for many, too many years. In 20 years his Counter-Strike has been able to renew its clothes, keep up with the very fast times of the videogame industry and even embrace the Free To Play strategy when its time has come.
Many have tried to dethrone the emperor, some competing for primacy following the traced path, some trying to renew the formula by inventing new mechanics and hybridizing the genre. This is the case with Blizzard's Overwatch, which it introduces heroes and skills in a shooter dedicated to attack and defense strategies for the domination of the map in progress. After all, for an important videogame giant, the desire to leave the genre in which one is strong and try to dictate its laws on the market is understandable.
This is the case of Riot Games, which during the celebrations of its XNUMXth anniversary revealed his hand, showing really very interesting cards. Starting from the teaser of Project A, the shooter that turned out to be the Valorant on which we will focus here, he showed us some footage of a fighting game and even the excellent Legends of Runeterra, the card game we are already playing in these days.
The shadow Riot has been able to cast on the competitive gaming world is so massive that it even extends to single player experiences, with two titles on the way: we're talking about Ruined King: a League of Legends Story and CONV / RGENCE: a League of Legends Story. If we add the reveal of the Arcane animated series to this lucky mix of elements, we have a recipe that will satisfy the most demanding palates. In these 10 years Riot has been able to create an incredible setting around his MOBA, which use it to give life to a series of parallel products set in Runeterra is the natural evolution of a brand that has stood out and be loved thanks to the incredible care and respect for its game world.
This is not the case with Valorant, a Riot Games shooter that we will be able to try firsthand during the summer of 2020 and which decide to narratively detach itself from the Runeterra setting, offering us a mysterious futuristic and dystopian world. This is a courageous choice, which effectively proposes a new IP, the only one to depart from the world of League, of which only the similarity with Valorant remains: the northern area of Runeterra.
From the teasers and gameplay trailers that we have seen it is clear that Valorant's main sources of inspiration are Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The influence of Overwatch (and similar titles, of course) is materialized by the presence of different heroes to choose from, each characterized by a park of passive and active skills and unique equipment, able to bring so much diversity to the battlefield.
We can assert that everything else is a direct child of the experience gained by Counter-Strike. Starting with the lethality of firearms, which promise to kill the opponent with very few bullets inflicted, distancing us enormously from the Hero Shooters who see avalanches of shells falling to the ground before a player is defeated, to move to the structure from the map featuring Bomb Sites.
The competitive mode of Counter-Strike sees two teams face off in an elaborate match of healers and thieves (in this case terrorists), where one side will have to try to reach one of the two available locations where to place an explosive, while the other will try with all his might to prevent the terrorists from finalizing the diabolical plan. At the best of 30 rounds and once 16 is reached, the sides are reversed.
In Valorant we have seen the same mode in action, with a very similar map structure, but with even three sites where to place the explosives. On balance, the increase in game space is more than normal if we consider the skills of the heroes, who from what we have been able to see will have a huge focus on Map Awareness and on the zoning of the enemy team. We've seen champions generate fog domes, walls of fire, and poison trails: having more options on the map is vital to propose dynamic and unpredictable strategies.
If we add to this formula the well-established system of purchasing weapons and armor at the beginning of the round, to which we add the economy and the purchase of skills, the enthusiasm to try a real spiritual heir of CS: GO with special powers and verticality can only give rise to an irrepressible enthusiasm. Valorant has all the credentials to establish itself on the competitive scenario and become a new reference point for the competitive FPS scenario. Stay with us and follow the official Riot Games channels to stay up to date.
► Valorant is a Shooter-Tactical type game developed and published by Riot Games for PC, the video game was released on 02/06/2020
Valorant is a beautiful game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 89%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Valorant Review
