Dota may have loosely coined the term massive onlinebattle arena or MOBA, but Riot Games is stepping it up a notch – or atleast the online arena element to it. The developers behind the popular gaminghit and canonical esports title League of Legends are moving forth witha massive new project, a multiplayer arena game.
Sommer 2020
2020 여름
Лето 2020 pic.twitter.com/A7BnCpGhFV— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) March 2, 2020
Valorant or Project A as the game has beenlaconically referred to prior to this announcement is a team-based shooter forPC, which remains the dominant platform so far as Riot Games’ latest releasesare concerned. Forget ApexLegends, Riot seem to have their cross-hair on a cataclysmic future wheredifferent fractions are scraping to establish a new geopolitical order.
Valorant’s Free to Download and Competitive Enough
The plot is straightforward enough – pick from one ofeight characters, each with their own unique ability. Free to download,Project A will be arriving in Summer 2020. Exploring the F2P business model,Riot Games will once again release a ton of additional content in the formof skins and guns.
Players are advised to not let good looks distract them asthe attacking team will have to successfully plant a bomb with the defenders repealingthe oncoming offense. In setup, the game is a pleasant visual feast that seemsto draw from a number of popular titles out there.
Whether you second-guess kagame Valorant as Fortnite, ApexLegends, or Valve’s cartoonish Team Fortress 2 mirror, the gameseems to come with its own original artwork and great gameplay dynamics. And ifRiot Games are to be trusted, and they should be, Valorant could be quite thegame.
Speaking outside of esports terms, Valorant has the physicsof a game that could easily allow player skill determine the outcome of amatch-up. Riot already has an impressive track record when it comes to esports,though.
League of Legends’ Twitch channel was the first to break the breath-taking one billion views and the game itself draws around 100 million players every month.
An Impressive Array of Guns to Explore
Riot has already vowed to introduce a great arsenal to itsupcoming title paired with numerous customization options. You will enjoy arange of cool abilities to help you spearhead your offensive or fortify well-chosenspots to build up a bulwark against the enemy’s incursions.
Here is what Anna Donlon, executive producer for Valorantsaid in an official statement:
“Throughout Valorant’s development, we wanted to uphold the fundamental values of a competitive tactical shooter: precise shooting, lethal gunplay and strategic execution.”
The game also reminds of other popular titles such as Overwatch and Rainbow Six Siege. Overwatch is the first shooter to go big on a massive scale as a franchised title, so Riot Games, who also have a franchised league, getting into the First-Person Shooter space could be an interesting way to excited healthy competition.
Overall, though, Riot will go ahead and allow characters to actually use in-game currency to purchase their gear, making the game somewhat akin to Counter-Strike, but still teeming with those fantasy elements and dynamic gameplay we see from so many successful shooters these days.
As of the time of publishing this writing, the game’s garnered 170,000+ social followers on Twitter and the video introduction to the game has been watched 2.3 million times.
