Valorant is a hot topic in the last few weeks and everyone is excited about the shooter. As a result, we don’t hear much about the negatives of the title.
Riot Games are working hard on their new tactical shooter and it’s already paying off. Valorant entered closed beta, broke some viewership records, already has a couple of tournaments and pro players are considering a new career in it. Is it all good though?
Gameplay
We’ve already mentioned that Valorant is supposedly much closer to CS:GO than Overwatch. Riot stated that the game’s main focus will be gunplay, but characters like Raze put that to shame. Pro players have already expressed their concern about the agent, as each of her abilities makes her really hard to deal with. Furthermore, she can one-shot you with her ultimate even when it’s not a direct hit (armor and health don’t really matter either).
Another problematic ability is Sage’s Ice Wall which is just a bit too good when you’ve already planted the spike. The number of characters which can jump over it isn’t high enough and it absorbs a lot of damage. If you decide to break it you’ll be making your location known and the only other option is just going around, where you’ll most likely be expected.
Additionally, the game won't support custom maps and has no plans to do so in the near future. While this isn't what most players will join the game for, it will certainly impede modders, creativity and the overall fun of playing something different.
If Riot truly want to hold up to their promise that Valorant will be mainly focused around skilled gunplay and abilities will just serve as utility they still have some work to do.
Security concerns
In order to fight hackers effectively, Riot Games developed their own anti-cheat program called Vanguard. Hacks will often be loaded before a game is started allowing them to bypass other anti-cheat systems. That’s not the case with Vanguard as it becomes an inseparable part of your operating system since it launches on boot. Riot’s program is highly intrusive and we’ve already mentioned that raises some concerns about security. If Riot ever have a breach this will allow hackers to have direct unrestricted access to your PC without you even knowing. There’s also the fact that Riot Games are completely owned by Tencent, a Chinese mega-corporation which may not be officially state-owned, but is surely state overseen.
Essentially, playing Valorant will cause you to take a risk no matter how small. The question is are you willing? If the community isn’t happy with Vanguard, and a lot of people aren’t, Riot might have to come up with an alternative way to deal with cheaters.
Competitive future
Valorant has all the marking of an esports title – 128 tick servers, low latency worldwide, no mercy for cheaters with hardware bans, focus on gunplay (arguable in the closed beta). Despite that Riot haven’t announced their plans for the competitive scene. The only thing we found out recently were the Community Guidelines about third party events. Riot will surely make events themselves, but nothing is clear so far. In the meantime, big orgs like T1, Cloud9, and others have already started hiring players for their future Valorant teams. While the players hired by the organizations are safe, anyone who considers a career in Valorant will be wise to wait until Riot make the whole system clear. Sure it’s better to get into it early, but you should first know what you’re getting into.
The game is still in its closed beta and Riot have plenty of time to address all of the issues. But will they? Stay tuned for more Valorant news and updates.
