Valorant

Valorant is a free-to-play online first-person shooter that focuses on tactics, proper selection of characters in a team and skilful use of their special abilities. The development and release of Valorant was done by Riot Games.

Plot

Valorant is set in the near future. During the game, we play the role of one of the agents from different parts of the world, who fight against a threat that could have serious consequences for humanity.

Mechanics

Valorant is an online shooter where the player takes part in 5 vs 5 matches on a variety of maps designed for this purpose. The player has at his disposal a pool of characters representing various classes with different fighting styles. Each hero has skills - the basic one, available in each match for free, two optional ones, which can be purchased at the beginning of the round, and a fourth special one, which is obtained after making a sufficient number of killings or collecting power spheres available on the map. However, these, in most cases, only serve to tactically surprise opponents, and the most important role in duels is played by the player's good aiming and knowledge of maps.

Players have access to a full arsenal of weapons from the beginning of the game. In order to be active during a match, a weapon must be purchased for the virtual currency that you get during the game. An important aspect of the game is proper budget management. Saving money in one round may contribute to winning the next two. Constant purchases, when you can't afford the best weapons, may mean that you never even buy the weapon of your dreams.

An important part of the Valorant experience is tactics and communication with team members. Each map is designed in such a way that many different strategies can be used.

Game modes

In Valorant, only multiplayer is available, where two teams of five players each battle it out in quick rounds. The team that manages to win 13 rounds wins the match. Teams are divided into Attackers and Defenders. The former's task is to plant a spike (bomb) in one of the designated places on the map or eliminate their opponents. The defenders, on the other hand, have to disarm a spike that has already been planted or prevent it from being planted at all. Teams are randomly assigned to one side at the start of the game, and are switched after 12 rounds.

With the official launch of the game, the developers have added another mode to the game - Spike Rush - which primarily aims to provide players with a faster form of gameplay. In it, you win after just four winning rounds, and each Attacker carries a spike (and not just one of them as in the normal mode). In addition, all players get randomly the same weapon, and bullets appear in selected spots on the map to provide powerful bonuses. A match in Spike Rush mode lasts between 8 and 12 minutes.

A training mode was also made available to the player, where it is possible to practice, for example, accuracy.

Technical aspects

Valorant is based on the popular Unreal Engine 4 - the graphic design is maintained in a slightly comic book-like style, reminiscent of Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch.

Riot Games also made sure that Valorant was as accessible as possible. The game has been developed in such a way that its system requirements are as low as possible. Apart from this, players experience only minor lags during gameplay. This effect was obtained thanks to the studio's network infrastructure and cooperation with internet providers.

Other information

Developers of Valorant has also focused on the fight against cheaters. The game has been designed to minimize the risk of potential cheating - a fog of war has been used to make it impossible to read the positions of players out of sight, and traffic and shooting calculations are made on servers. Valorant uses a proprietary anti-cheat software called Vanguard to quickly detect cheaters and make it difficult to return to a game after being banned. Riot Games did not elaborate on how exactly cheaters are banned, although the developers have assured that circumventing the block is much more difficult than the most common "hardware bans" used in this type of games.

Last updated on June 6, 2020