Yesterday, we've notified you about Riot Games' Valorant - the first-person shooter that lived under the name 'Project A' since Riot's 10-year anniversary. This name change also went alongside with several screenshots showcasing some in-game features and characters, but today, Riot has decided to reveal even more!
To be more specific, the company behind League of Legends has released a gameplay preview video. Along with that, there is also some information on the specific concept as well as the system requirements. And finally, we can feel relieved now, as you can play Valorant quite smoothly in a low-end PC if the Riot Games can do what they've announced.
Before heading to the details, let's have a look at the gameplay preview trailer first:
What we can see from the trailer
Previously, we've known that Project A - or Valorant now is a first-person shooter with special characters, each with their unique abilities that might refer to League of Legends' character. However, Riot Games has immediately clarified the state, affirming that it will lean more toward Counter-Strike, and the abilities are not going to be out of the roof.
And now, we finally see what they meant at that time through the trailer and the information below:
The concept of Valorant
At the first look, Valorant looks extremely similar to CS:GO and Overwatch. Specifically, the overall gameplay feels like CS:GO, where 10 people are divided into two teams of five, and will have to complete certain objectives. The gunfights are quite identical as well, but its seems that the recoil is not that severe like Valve's FPS, which is more user-friendly.
However, the visuals of Valorant contains some futuristic vibes from Overwatch, including the HUDs and some ability indicators in the middle-bottom. From the trailer, we can see the testers perform spike-planting and defusing missions - which is similar to how CS:GO works now.
Another identical thing about Valorant and CS:GO is the equipment system. The guns are divided into several types, including knives, sidearms (pistols and shorties), SMGs, Rifles, Heavies and Snipers. At the same time, we also got two types of shiels and some utilities like blazing grenades and other things for unknown purposes. You can have a look at them below:
Valorant's characters
Nevertheless, the things that separate this game from CS:GO are the abilities and heroes. According to Riot Games, there will be a roster of heroes for you to choose, including 10 distinctive ones. At this moment, we've known about eight of them, including Brimstone, Cypher, Jett, Omen, Phoenix, Sage, Sova and Viper, and they have no relation to LoL's characters.
Each hero will have four distinctive abilities, including one normal ability, one ultimate and two purchasable ones. For example, Viper's normal ability - Snakebite shots a projectile that leaves an acidic pool on the ground. On the other hand - his two purchasable abilities are Poison Cloud - basically a poisonous smoke bomb and Toxic Screen - a poisonous wall. His ultimate is Viper's Pit - a smoke cloud that allows Viper to trap his enemies and pick them up.
The normal abilities are usable in every round, and the same goes for the ultimate, which requires charges from kills and objectives. Furthermore, the ultimate abilities will have insanely long cooldown times, which can even last for several rounds, so Valorant's gameplay will focus more on shooting rather than spamming abilities here and there.
Meanwhile, you'll have to purchase the other two at the beginning of each round, which provides you some utilities for the round. The costs of each ability will base on the nature of each champion, and we'll have more champions coming in the future.
The system requirements of Valorant
Summing up the reveals, Riot Games also announced the minimum as well as the recommended specs to play Valorant. And believe or not, it's much lighter than the modern games we have today like PUBG, Fortnite and even CS:GO!
Here is the specific information, which you can check if your PC meets the requirements or not:
Minimum Requirements:
- CPU: Intel I3-370M or higher
- GPU: Intel HD 3000 (1GB) or higher
- RAM: 4GB
- Operating system: Windows 7/8/10 (only 64-bit)
These specs often appear in the old low-end laptops, which can already run the game at 30FPS with no problems.
Recommended Specs:
In order to run the game with 60FPS, you will have to meet all of these requirements:
- CPU: Intel I3-4150 or higher
- GPU: GTX 730
- RAM: 4GB
- Operating system: Windows 7/8/10 (only 64-bit)
Running the game at 60FPS will allow you to have more favorable experiences with your aiming and overall performances.
High-end Specs:
If you have a modern PC that surpasses the following requirements, you can feel free to max out on the visual options for the best experiences. It will ramp your FPS to 144 and more, which is ideal to play a first-person shooter:
- CPU: Intel I5-4150 or higher
- GPU: GTX 1050Ti
- RAM: 4GB
- Operating system: Windows 7/8/10 (only 64-bit)
Open beta and release date of Valorant
As you can see, Valorant is very easy to access with its light system requirements. So, the only problem right now is when will Riot Games release Valorant. Unfortunately, there isn't any specific release date for both the official version and the open beta, which we will have to wait for a little longer to find out.
However, it will not be longer than this year, since Riot Games has announced that they'll release the full game around this Summer, which means the open-beta will come very soon. Gurugamer will provide you the latest updates on Valorant, so stay tuned with us to receive the notification on the newest information.
What do you think about Valorant? Do you think that it will threaten Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's crown in the first-person shooter genre? Let us know in the comment section below!