Riot Games has finally launched Valorant. After a round of closed beta, this new 5v5, character-based first-person tactical shooter (FPS) is now available to download all over the world including India.
HIGHLIGHTS —
♦ Riot Games’s Valorant for PC launched worldwide
♦ Valorant is eventually expected to find its way to smartphones and consoles
♦ Valorant is a round-based, attackers vs defenders multiplayyer FPS title
♦ The game servers are not yet available in India yet but Riot Games says the servers will become available soon
Billed as a game of precise skill, high stakes and lethal gameplay, Riot Games’ Valorant is all set to notch up the thrill quotient in the gaming landscape. Valorant requires players to lock in their agent for the entire duration of the match and then try to win a round-based, attackers vs defenders, best-of-24 rounds fight.
The fight’s just getting started. VALORANT is out in the world and free to play now. Watch the full launch cinematic trailer at https://t.co/1ktCermuMv pic.twitter.com/miSwVTFJKE
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) June 2, 2020
The official description of the game reads — Valorant is your global competitive stage. It’s a 5v5 tac-shooter matchup to plant or defuse the Spike in a one-life-per-round, first to 13 series. More than guns and bullets, you’ll choose an Agent armed with adaptive, swift, and lethal abilities that create opportunities to let your gunplay shine.
Set on a near-future Earth, in Valorant, players choose from a global cast of agents, all hailing from a real-world location and culture. Each agent brings a unique set of tactical abilities they can use to gather information, fortify locations, scout for enemy intel, breach defensive sites, control territory, and more.
Speaking about the launch of their newest offering, Riot Games publishing head (South Asia) Sukamal Pegu, “Riot Games is highly committed to providing the India and rest of the South Asia region with an excellent gaming experience. While you’ll be joining the worldwide launch on 2 June 2020, the official servers which will support Middle East & South Asia will come later in the year.”
Although the game has been launched globally, it will only be available in select regions for now. Countries such as India initially have to settle for remote servers for gameplay as of now.
Shedding light on the regions and servers where the game is playable, he added, “Players in South Asia will be playing on the South East Asia servers (for now), and though you will experience a higher ping, you’ll still be able to engage in enjoyable competitive battles. Make sure you register with your actual home country and original Riot ID to make your future server transition easier! Our ِِregional social handles will soon be launched. Keep an eye out to get the latest updates.”
Valorant remains available only on PC. But conjecture is that the company will eventually branch out to consoles and even smartphones in the future. Riot Games has announced that it will be releasing more information about Valorant in the coming days.
For the fans who wish to download the game, the game is not available on Steam – like other Riot Games titles. So players have to go on Valorant’s official website and click on ‘Play Now’. You then log in to your existing Riot account or create one. Once the process is over, you will be taken to the Valorant download page. The game has launched with 11 agents and 4 maps and a new game mode called “Spike Rush”
Before you start playing the game, we will recommend making sure if you have the latest graphics drivers. Nvidia recently released a “Valorant Game Ready Driver” last week which has been numbered as the GeForce Game Ready 446.14 WHQL driver. The game driver brings support for Windows 10 May 2020 update which has been rolling out globally.