With 30 seconds left on the clock, the attacking team starts to sit up in their seats. The game only has 3 rounds left, and the defending team only needs to win one of them to take the whole match. The pressure is on, and the battle has only just begun. The attackers throw all of their focus into the game in order to take back the win.  

“Valorant” is a 5v5 team based game that includes an attacking team and a defending team. The attacking side’s goal is to make it to the “Spike Site” and plant a bomb called the Spike. The defending side’s job is to prevent them from doing this. Once the spike is planted, the defending team has a limited amount of time to diffuse the spike, otherwise they lose the round. In unrated and competitive games, players start off on one side, after 12 rounds the teams switch objectives and the first team to win 13 rounds wins the match. 

“Valorant” is a relatively new game, having only come out in June of 2020. The game gained popularity after it entered the competitive Esports scene, pulling in pro players like Tenz and ShahZaM, who both play on the Sentinels competitive team, which was undefeated until September 2021 when they lost to G2 on Icebox, ending the game at 8-13. 

The game’s rise in popularity is no surprise. The game has both casual and competitive game modes for every type of player, not only this but it has agents that can work with anyone’s playing style.

There are four categories of agents. Duelists are designed to be aggressive, self-sufficient, and pick off enemies one by one. Initiators challenge angles and clear out contested land. Sentinels are more defensive players, who help to maintain the site. Finally, Controllers often use smokes or flashes to slow down enemy pushes and give their team an advantage. These categories can help players find agents that work well with their specific style of play, though it’s always good to know how to play one of each type of agent. 

“I do like Killjoy the most because I just like how her whole kit is based around just holding a site.” says Chris Schoder, a senior at MCHS. “I just like being able to chill and wait for them to come to me,” he says. 

Schoder says he likes the sense of community the game builds. He says, “I feel like there’s just a lot of like a wide, diverse amount of people who play it. I feel like everyone kind of comes together to play as a whole.” 

“Valorant” has drawn in many players from across the world, as well as a larger female audience than many people would have expected. Riot Games has reported that 30-40 percent of “Valorant” players are female, which is very different from other popular games such as “CS:GO” which has about a 24 percent female player base. 

Zach LoBue, a sophomore at MCHS, states, “It’s basically just modern ‘CS:GO,’ and I found ‘CS:GO’ to be pretty fun considering it’s simple. ‘Valorant’ is that but easier, and it has good team composition.” 

“Valorant” is a great game to play with a group or solo. It provides a mission that’s easy to understand and easy to complete if your team has good communication. It can be a fun casual game that only lasts a few minutes, or it can get competitive and more difficult with its longer gamemodes. 

The game’s versatility and diverse player base is what makes it so exciting and fun to play. “Valorant” is free to download on Riot Games and would make a great addition to your game library if you haven’t already started playing it.