Valorant Overview: An Amazing FPS from the Makers of League

What is Valorant

It is an FPS game made by Riot Games, the publishers of League of Legends. League of Legends helped define the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) genre and established eSports as a global phenomenon.

In the last two years, Riot has started branching out from the MOBA genre with their own auto-battler, FPS, and even an upcoming television show on Netflix. Thus far, they have been very successful.

Valorant doesn’t break Riot’s tradition of success. Earlier this year, they hit a milestone of 14 million players. Furthermore, there was an active player count in Valorant of over 500k simultaneous online players in March 2022. While that is only a fraction of the success of LoL, it is nothing to balk at.

The game is successful in large part because it is fast, action-packed, and highly competitive. It’s a perfect addition to the eSports space. Not only that, but Valorant is also a completely free-to-play game.

Valorant's Gameplay

Valorant plays a lot like other FPS games, but with some definite differences. The most significant of these differences occurs in the format of each match.

Valorant plays a lot like other FPS games, but with some definite differences. The most significant of these differences occurs in the format of each match.

A game of Valorant takes place over many short rounds. Within each round, every player has their one life and cannot respawn. This makes each round very short and frantic. Most rounds take approximately 100 seconds to finish.

Valorant matches may go for up to 25 rounds, but they usually end after approximately 15-20 rounds.

This fast-paced gameplay without respawns makes quick decision-making and fast reflexes valuable, yet with short rounds, players who die often aren’t left bored for too long. Killed players can also continue to watch the action unfold while they wait for the next round to begin.

Many call Valorant’s unique format a “continuous battle royale.” The continuous nature of Valorant distinguishes it from other traditional battle royale games where terminated players have to wait much longer for the action to begin again.

The Valorant Shop

In Valorant, you can visit the eShop to buy in-game skins. Before you buy any video game items, you should always check to see if there are any video game codes available for you to use!

Valorant Agents

Each player chooses one agent to play at the start of each game. Agents are unique characters with very different abilities. Agents are in many ways inspired by the champions of games like League of Legends and DOTA 2.

As in League of Legends, each player-controlled character has four unique abilities. Also, like LoL, each agent has an Ultimate ability. With so many agents to choose from and so many different player combat styles, no two games are alike.

All agents start out on equal footing each match. This is different from some other FPS games, like Destiny 2, where player characters continue to grow in power as the player progresses.

How Can I Start Playing Valorant?

If Valorant sounds like a great game that you’d like to start playing, you can download the game’s client directly from Riot Games at playvalorant.com. Valorant is easy to install and can be played on a Windows PC with console support planned for a future release.

Valorant is an online game. Its game client will automatically update, so when new versions of the game come out, you’ll be ready.

Final Thoughts on Valorant

We think you should definitely give Valorant a try if you are looking for something new to play this season. It is a completely free-to-play first-person shooter with exciting gameplay and a developing player community.

It’s great for FPS, MOBA, and eSports fans alike!

Images Courtesy of Riot Games.