Valorant

 PC
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 42
  3. Negative: 1 out of 42
  1. Quarter to Three
    Jul 15, 2020
    40
    Valorant considers a standard match as best of thirteen rounds. Thirteen rounds! You don’t know which team is dominating in three rounds, Valorant? Because I sure do. It’s the team running rampant all over the map. Your Spike Rush mode is only slightly better at best of seven, but even that can drag. It’s all in service of the eSports focus. Anything quicker would be too fast for dramatic shows. Riot has made eSports their bread and butter, so it’s no surprise that Valorant is heavily skewed to that audience. Gone are the days of 1v1 arena fights in LAN tournaments with fullbright settings. One match. One result. One mistake and you were done. There were no upset wins or swings. You did a looping run from the railgun spawn and the keg of health and you didn’t dare deviate because it could all be over with one high-ping hit. Anyway, I’m old. Valorant has made me realize that I don’t recognize the landscape I grew up with. I’ll let the younger generation deal with Valorant’s sequel.
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Eurogamer
    Jun 29, 2020
    Riot Games delivers a masterclass in competitive integrity, soulless precision and zealous, life-consuming obsession. [Eurogamer Recommended]
  2. Polygon
    Jun 18, 2020
    Valorant may still be more promise than reality in some ways, but what already exists is strong enough to bring in players and keep them there while Riot refines the experience. Valorant, as of this writing, is at a fantastic starting point, and there’s every reason to believe it’s only going to get better from here.
  3. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Jun 3, 2020
    Valorant’s gunplay feels just as weighty and precise as CS:GO’s, with a structure that hits all the same highs and lows. Abilities sometimes let you outsmart people rather than simply outshoot them, and I’m excited about playing in a squad of friendly and coordinated pals. If and when they fall away, though, I expect I will too. Riot say they’re taking toxicity seriously, and this is good to see. But they acknowledge they’re fighting an uphill battle, and I’m not at all convinced they’ll be able to foster a competitive environment that doesn’t routinely make me miserable. This launch week, though? When my friends are playing, and the game isn’t dominated by people with far more experience than me? I’m going to have a blast.

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best PC Game of 2020
4
#4 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3892 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,501 out of 3892
  2. Mixed: 436 out of 3892
  3. Negative: 1,955 out of 3892
  1. time4b
    Jun 2, 2020
    0
    Slow, boring, smooth yet somehow clunky, the guns feel janky, honestly it could have been made better in Gary's mod... I hope they fix it.
  2. BoltarCavanaugh
    Jun 2, 2020
    0
    I was very confused in the first few matches: The game looks and feels completely unfinished, very raw. The animations are a joke, theI was very confused in the first few matches: The game looks and feels completely unfinished, very raw. The animations are a joke, the graphics, the movement, the shaders and textures.. everything reminds me strongly of freeware shooters from 2007.

    I expected a refined, fine tuned team based shooter. In reality this is nothing but a paid twitch hype.

    The games style is very childish, its a Team Fortress ripoff. The menus and settings are very nice and should be like this on every game. But the game itself.. wow. I cant believe people are playing this over ANY other current multiplayer shooter.

    I still am doubting that this is the finished product everyone was so hyped about. The maps are TINY, extremely simple, the whole thing feels like a first draft. A proof of concept, made by 3 dudes to show their boss some ideas, using dummy shooter game.    … Full Review »
  3. moondog255
    Jun 2, 2020
    0
    As a CSGO player with more than 3000 hours on the game that grew tired of the broken state of CSGO, I was excited for Valorant because it wasAs a CSGO player with more than 3000 hours on the game that grew tired of the broken state of CSGO, I was excited for Valorant because it was offering a cheater free experience. Sadly, Valorant is absolute garbage and it made me miss getting spin botted on CSGO.… Full Review »
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