Valorant lead dev talks agents and maps, system requirements revealed

Olivia Richman Published 05/03/2020

Valorant lead game designer Trevor “Classick” Romleski answered fan questions about the new title in an AMA session on Discord earlier this week. Fans gathered to ask him about the game’s agents, weapons, gameplay, and everything in between.

Inspired by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s realistic take on weaponry, Valorant will have a variety of guns, all with different recoil and accuracy. Like CSGO, player movement impacts accuracy, but one weapon, the Kunai, will preserve its accuracy regardless. Each weapon has a different reload speed and one-bullet headshot kills are possible, but not with every gun.

Just like CSGO, there are buy rounds. While Classick didn’t answer one fan’s question about a forced pistol round, Classick said that you have a “set amount of money” during the first round that will determine what you can afford.

Classick revealed that one of the agents will have the ability to heal themselves. But he explained that abilities should be used as an “intentional choice” since it will “take commitment.” Basically, while using your ability, you will be left unarmed.

“Knowing when to have your gun out versus your abilities is important,” he said.

In response, someone asked if abilities were crucial to succeed in the game.

“We want abilities and gunplay to complement each other. So they’ll both be important for success,” he answered.

Another fan asked why the developers decided to make every agent have the same hitbox and health. Classick had a lot to say about this, noting he would write something up later that went into a bit more detail.

“The simple answer is we’ve focused on tight, lethal tactical gameplay. Changing HP or hitbox has significant impact on gameplay and we want agents to be chosen for their toolkits, not passive stats like this,” he explained.

There is also no single-player mode, but other game modes are in the works. At the moment, Classick said, the developers are focusing on the main mode for the beta. That’s the mode they’ve been developing for the past six years or more.

There will also be four maps available upon release, each with different looks and ideal strategies.

As of this writing, developers are “not ready” to discuss unlockable skins and weapon skins.

Valorant system requirements, beta date

Fans looking to get their hands on Valorant might not have to wait long. They also probably won’t need to worry about whether their PC can handle the new tactical shooter.

Valorant publisher Riot Games revealed the system requirements for the game in an interview with PC Gamer. Much like League of Legends, Riot is going through great pains to make the game as accessible as possible.

Valorant minimum system requirements, running at 30 FPS

OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel i3-370M
GPU: Intel HD 3000 (1GB VRAM)

Valorant high-end system requirements, running at 144+ FPS

OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2Ghz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti (1GB VRAM)

Apart from this detailed Q&A session, Riot has been pretty quiet about Valorant. They have yet to reveal a date for the upcoming beta, but esports journalist Rod “Slasher” Breslau seems to believe it’s coming quite soon.

“There is going to be a beta to be coming out in most likely the next few weeks,” Slasher said in an interview with Cheddar Esports.

The beta will most likely not be released to the general public if it were to come out this month. An open beta could be in the works for the next few months, which is still sooner than people initially believed.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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