There are a lot of great competitive shooters available to gamers today. One of the most popular has to be Overwatch. It has dominated the space for a long time, featuring a bevvy of characters and addicting shooting mechanics. Now, Valorant is looking to compete head to head with it and others in this genre.
Riot Games is pretty excited about this upcoming hardcore FPS and so far, it seems like the community is too. The game has similar elements of other competitive shooters, such as the defending and attacking 5v5 design and various maps to play on. We’ve been treated to a couple of map reveals already, which seem unique in their own ways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1DaJSkMbhw
The developer also plans on setting Valorant apart from the competition with its loot box strategy. More specifically, it won’t have any according to reports. That has been a hot-button issue in the gaming industry for the longest time. So many times do these boxes rear their ugly heads. They entice gamers to purchase with the promise of getting some amazing gear. However, there isn’t any candid strategy with purchasing them, a design that has been likened to gambling.
It’s great to see Riot Games taking this stance on loot boxes. It should attract a lot of competitive shooter fans right out of the gate. Instead of loot boxes, Valorant will have cosmetics for sale. However, players will be able to see exactly what they’re buying. That’s very important for Valorant at launch. Players don’t have to spend their money frivolously hoping to get an awesome costume or weapon skin.
In addition to players being able to buy cosmetics with their own money, they can also be earned through the game’s battle pass system. That’s another great thing to see. There are those that are completely okay with a little bit of a grind so long as it pays off in some way down the line.
These latest details are being received well for the most part from the competitive shooter community. There will always be those fully against microtransactions, but if you take a developer’s perspective, they’re necessary to keep the income stream coming in. They may still be considered a necessary evil, but as long as these practices are not taken advantage of, then there isn’t that much of a reason to be up in arms.
Valorant is currently scheduled to release this year, and thus far, it has the potential to blow the doors down in the competitive shooter space.
