Valorant Brings a Much-Needed Twist to the

FPS Genre
By: Jeffrey Wang
Published: November 29th, 2021

Attackers peek the middle of “Split”, a map known for its exaggerated elevation changes.

Rating: 9/10
Whether you have been dabbling in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Overwatch, a veteran
player or even seasoned pro, or just want a virtual outlet for endless fun, you must check out the
masterfully and creatively curated video game, Valorant from Riot Games. Released on June 2,
2020, the 5v5 round-based competitive has become an instant hit in the FPS genre and famous
streamers just after one year after its beta. Despite its steep learning curve for FPS beginners,
once you get past aiming and the game’s logistics, everything starts clicking together and you
just want to keep playing. I, myself, have immeasurable hours on the video game and can attest
for it. Best of all, Riot does an amazing job with balancing and keeping the game fresh that each
update gives us players to experience that “ah-ha” experience over and over.

Valorant is a jab at Valve’s highly favored Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by borrowing its
key gunplay mechanics, map design, and economy but adding abilities like flashbangs, vision-
denying smoke grenades, and rocket launchers. But let’s say you’ve never even heard of phrases
like “he’s CT” or “swinging an angle”. Well, Valorant‘s objective revolves around a “spike” that
gets planted by the attackers. The defenders must defuse the spike or else they lose one of the
possible 13+ rounds. Each round can last anywhere between 30 seconds and 2.4 minutes but
pack a surprising volume of both intense clash and strategic plays. And both sides switch after 12
rounds so you get even footing and maybe even make a grand comeback from a devastating first
half.

Agents
Looking at what makes Valorant so special, its masterfully curated, healthy list of “agents”
ensure unique gameplay experiences each time you queue up for a match. All agents have
different appearances, voice lines, roles that they serve, and a set of abilities, or “kit”, that make
them, them. For instance, Phoenix is a United Kingdom based character that serves the duelist
role to secure kills or “frags” and make a plant site (which is where you plant the spike) safe for
your allies. He is equipped with “curved” flashbangs that can blind opponents for easier targets,
a firewall and mollies to clear areas safely or heal himself, and an ultimate ability that gives him
a second life at his disposal. Riot also brings in vision denying agents like Brimstone who has
three, spherical “smokes” that can be placed anywhere on the map to block off places where the
enemy can safely peek from and turn the tides into your team’s favor. He also has an ultimate
that does massive amounts of damage in an area for 10 seconds.

Gameplay footage of Phoenix with his firewall/ “Blaze”

Thankfully, the developers of Valorant have ensured that most of these abilities aren’t game-
breaking or useless. What I enjoy most about these powers is that they don’t serve a definite
purpose. What I mean by that is Phoenix’s molly can be used to damage enemies stuck in it or
prevent them from pushing onto a site, but it can also stop the spike from being planted with
“line-ups” or make your position a mystery. It is these little things that can elevate your play
style and reward those that master their preferred agent.

However, Riot does require balancing for some agents. Previously they’ve done great work with
adjusting “broken” characters like Raze, who, on release, had an unreasonable number of
grenades to start the round with. Riot, in less than two weeks, quickly adjusted Raze’s utility to
be fair. But the community could expect several months before their complaints get resolved. On
“Yoru’s” release, a new agent, the community was quick to point out how bad his kit was. The
developers quickly took notice of the outcries and promised huge buffs in June 2021 but as of
now, December 2021, we have not seen big changes.

Firearms
Enough about agents, let’s talk about guns because you won’t get good at the game unless you
can aim. At the start of each round, there is a buy menu with a healthy mix of arsenal including
secondary guns, SMGs, rifles, shotguns, snipers, and machine guns. Each have their own pros
and cons that have unique scenarios that make them shine above the rest. For instance, the two
most popular guns are the “phantom” and “vandal”. Both are rifles and do 160 damage on
headshots, but the phantom has damage drop-off versus the vandal, which does not, and shoots
faster than the vandal. They have tradeoffs that make them more useful than the other depending
on your desires. If you have good aim, you might prefer the vandal which can finish your foes
off with one, clean headshot. Personally, I use the vandal for long-distance engagements and the
phantom when I want to spray through smokes.

The “buy menu” features a broad range of weaponry to choose from.

Some issues with the guns that have happened in the past were run-and-gun, where you could
full sprint and still be unreasonably accurate, operator (the sniper rifle and most expensive gun in
the game) balancing crisis, and shotgun abuse. They’ve all been luckily fixed to a degree, but I
believe there still are issues to fix. For instance, the “spectre”, an SMG, can be completely
accurate when you run which is not what Valorant is, a tactical FPS. A lot of the community and
pro players agree that the spectre is broken but it has been like this since beta so one can assume
that this is Riot’s intention. In my opinion, the current state of guns is balanced and fair but there
are some that I do not agree with.

Map Pool
Riot has many visually stunning and uniquely distinct maps all thematically based on real
locations on Earth, interesting gigs like ziplines and teleporters, and their own lore. So far, there
are seven destinations in the map pool: Ascent, Split, Haven, Bind, Icebox, Breeze, and more
recently, Fracture. All of them have at least two sites to plant the bomb and an attacker’s spawn
and defender’s spawn. Everything else is up for grabs which causes players to slowly create their
own go-to list of maps. Bind is my personal favorite because of its two sets of teleporters that
really enhanced my creative gameplay and experience. You’re able to both transport yourself and
your abilities across the map for some insane outplays.

The agent Sage is throwing a slow orb through a teleporter on “Bind”.

New maps are added every 6 months which keeps the game feeling fresh. I can 100% attest to
the notion that Riot does a great job with giving the players enough time to learn and get
comfortable with the maps. Not only that but they push out map balances the week after its
release so that we’re able to enjoy the map for what it should be. This made my Valorant journey
far from lackluster and I can’t wait to see what they add next.

However, they are not perfect. One map stands out above the rest in its bad way. Icebox. A
guaranteed victory for few, a disastrous experience for many. There is something about the map
design of Icebox that makes it so repetitive. In many ranks and pro play, you’ll notice scenarios
being played over and over. The same area players peek and fight happen at the same time
almost. The redundancies all point to the same notion: Icebox needs tweaks.
 Final Verdict
I started Valorant having never touched an FPS game, but now, I cannot get enough of it. It has
become my top pick for fun and a media where I can express my creative plays that I daydream
about. Each time I play a game, there is something to learn and master your own way. Having
played other games in its genre, I am telling you that Valorant is the one to beat. It has
revolutionized the way players coordinate plays in the field of FPS games. Though it is not
perfect, Riot has proven to everyone that they’re willing to obtain the impossible. This is a free-
to-play game that demands and deserves a go with your friends.

Works Cited

"Blog." Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Valve, blog.counter-strike.net/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

Goslin, Austen. "Valorant Guide: How to Play as Phoenix." Polygon, Vox Media, 7 Apr. 2020,

www.polygon.com/2020/4/7/21211295/how-to-play-phoenix-blaze-curveball-hot-hands-run-it-

back. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

Macabasco, Agilo. "All Valorant Guns (+Shop Details)." Mobalytics, Gamers Net,

mobalytics.gg/blog/valorant-guns-shop-details/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

"Overwatch." Play Overwatch, Blizzard Entertainment, playoverwatch.com/en-us/. Accessed 8 Dec.

2021.

"Riot Games." Riot Games, www.riotgames.com/en. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

"Valorant." Play Valorant, Riot Games, playvalorant.com/en-us/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.

"Valorant: Portals - Map, Tips and Tricks." Game Pressure Game Guides, Webedia,

guides.gamepressure.com/valorant/guide.asp?ID=54164. Accessed 8 Dec. 2021.