In April of this year, Riot games launched a beta version of its flagship first-person shooter VALORANT. While none of its parts are new per se, its method of assembling said parts amounts to a more-or-less unique style of FPS that manages to fit snugly among numerous other shooter games that are popular in the current moment. On June 2, VALORANT will officially launch, with many lessons its development team learned from the beta period fully implemented, in addition to a few entirely new features. Here's what to expect once the full version of the game is released.
A New Agent and a New Map
The two biggest additions to be made to VALORANT upon its release are a new agent and a new map. Both were revealed in a short teaser trailer shared to VALORANT's social media channels.
Reyna is to be the game's newest agent. Her kit of abilities is designed around the ability of those playing as her to secure kills. VALORANT's lead character designer, Morello, explained her abilities in a Twitter thread; they all revolve around a resource unique to her called "Soul Orbs." These spawn upon killing an enemy, and can then be converted into health/shields and increased attack power. This means that after securing a kill Reyna can convert that into increased momentum. If she's picked off before managing to do so, however, her impact is effectively neutralized.
Details are more scarce about the new map. The only details released so far are that it's called "Ascent" and designed to resemble Italy.
Unique Rewards
As other free-to-play multiplayer games before it have done successfully before it, VALORANT will include a battle pass system to distribute cosmetic rewards. Riot has yet to reveal the contents of VALORANT's first Battle Pass, but it can be assumed to include a method for obtaining most if not all of its various types of cosmetic rewards, meaning player profile cards, weapon skins, sprays and charms.
Radiante Points (RP) are also rumored to be a significant factor in the Battle Pass. These can be used to "level up" weapon skins, which in essence makes them more stylish, from their appearance to effects when fired. Like with battle passes in Fortnite et al., while these can be obtained slowly through routine gameplay, spending real money offers a speedier alternative to obtaining them.
VALORANT's first season, or "episode" in the game's parlance, is called "Ignition," and was first revealed in a Portuguese-language trailer shared to the game's official YouTube channel. The addition of Reyna, from Mexico, in addition to the trailer's Brazilian theme, hints at a story element tied to the unique episode that could take place in Mexico and/or South America. The Italy-inspired Ascent map could either expand the premise of the first season's content internationally, or simply have nothing to do with the story elements of the episode.
The content of VALORANT's first season will all be revealed when it's released on June 2nd.