Valorant

Its world is quiet and eerie, and its language, through weapon skins and end-of-round finishers and maybe a little yippee from your agent when landing a headshot, is an unnervingly celebratory one in its obsession with death. But that's the thrill. It's the exhilaration of the hunt, for kills yes but more so for progress, for skill and mastery and cold efficiency. By design Valorant is a severe, soulless and uncompromising experience. That's often to its detriment, but it's more often to its success.

Valorant leans heavily on its predecessors, but makes use of established schools of thought and the unique novelties of its Agents to create a fresh take on tactical shooters, even if its launch is a little slim. For years, there hasn't been a fight for Counter-Strike's throne; but in Valorant, Riot Games has found a valiant contender.

Valorant is not original. Rather, it's a successful interpretation of and expansion on its inspirations, with impeccable gameplay, well-designed maps, and a dev team eager to refine it further.

Valorant has already won over many esports and live-streaming stars and their millions of teen fans. If it can do what Fortnite and Overwatch have done and bring in more casual players as well, we will be talking about it for years to come.

It offers a meaningful iteration of the formula and gives solid reasons to keep playing in spite of its early state. If this is what players can expect from Riot's other ventures into different genres, then fans will have a lot to look forward to. Valorant is a convincing argument for greater competition in the esports shooter landscape, and could very well be the company's next international success.

Valorant doesn't stray too far from Riot Games' plethora of hero-focused titles. With the fusion of high-level gunplay and hero mechanics, Valorant is both highly competitive and unfortunately too highly skill focused for casual players to...

Although it doesn't break new ground, the dynamic of sharp gunplay and Agent abilities would make Counter-Strike and Overwatch proud. Valorant easily captures the competitive highs of a good, intense match at the risk of pigeonholing you in a bad one. But outside of the standard demolition-style mode and the modified Spike Rush, it's quite barebones. It is important to note that these types of games are always evolving. Regardless, Valorant's in a good state--it's not great, but it certainly can be.

Right now, in its current state, Valorant is in a great spot for a free to play game. Sure, the lack of maps and grindy progression system can be off-putting, but the core gameplay here is phenomenal. A great twist on the Counter-Strike formula.