Video Game / Valorant

VALORANT is a free to play competitive shooter multiplayer game created by League of Legends creators Riot Games. Originally announced as "Project A" in October of 2019, it was released on June 2, 2020.

Set 20 Minutes into the Future, the game's metaplot follows the exploits of the titular Valorant, a team of empowered individuals who fight for radium supplies in a radically changed Earth, following a mysterious Super-Empowering phenomenon known as the First Light. Members of Valorant include ex-military war heroes, criminals, and wanna-be superstars, all competing against each other to secure supplies of precious Radianite.

The gameplay is set up as a 5v5 shooter, borrowing gameplay elements from the Counter-Strike games, with its game modes of Unrated, Competetive, and Spike Rush revolving around the planting of radium spikes on specific bomb sites. One team tries to plant the spike, while the other tries to either capture the spike or defuse it after it's planted, with each team also trying to eliminate the other. Where VALORANT sets itself apart from Counter-Strike is with its Hero Shooter elements. The Agents are unique characters who bring their own abilities to the table, which shakes up any given match a player has. Like in Counter-Strike, the player's weapons and equipment are all bought in a store menu, adding an economy management layer to the game.

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Tropes planted!

• An Adventurer Is You: Each Agent belongs to one of four categories, roughly describing their role in the team.
  • Initiators specialize in setting up fights by gathering intel and disrupting enemies.
  • Controllers focus on area denial, blocking opponents' vision and using attacks with a wide area of effect.
  • Sentinels are defensive specialists, equipped to support allies and deny enemy pushes.
  • Duelists sacrifice utility for pure combat power, with abilities designed to help them survive and deal as much damage as possible.
• A.K.A.-47: The Vandal has the profile to match the AK-47 down to its characteristic curved magazine.
• Alternate Universe: This sort of explains why the Agents can have a fight against themselves, as revealed in "Duality". What we know about the difference between the main ("Alpha") and the alternate ("Omega") worlds are on how some groups of people behave and are perceived in each, plus a few other stuff:
  • The VALORANT Protocol of Alpha is a covert, shadowy organization, while the VALORANT Legion of Omega is an open, celebrated one.
  • Little is currently known about Omega's Kingdom Industries and whether they have any significant difference with Alpha's Kingdom. What we know, according to Fracture, is Omega's Kingdom tends to be secretive and cautious, while Alpha's tends to be inquisitive and enthusiastic.
  • There are also notable differences in some locations of both earths, for instance, Omega's Lisbon has suffered a catastrophic disaster that requires an underwater habituation facility, like Pearl.
• Anti-Hero:
  • Phoenix is a hotheaded and showboating narcissist.
  • Viper is a venomous and bitter woman with a hunger for revenge towards an implied Dark and Troubled Past.
  • Breach is a dangerous ex-con who seems to be Only in It for the Money.
  • Jett is an Arrogant Kung Fu Girl who, like Phoenix, has a penchant for rather crude Trash Talk and Unsportsmanlike Gloating, with a hint of some kind of Inferiority Superiority Complex.
    [after killing the last enemy agent] There you are, you little shit.
    [winning the match as the MVP] Oh, my back hurts, everyone's so heavy.
    [when heavily losing a map] They're not better than me.
  • Omen appears to be a Reaper Expy, what with the shadowy theme to his abilities, his hooded Grim Reaper-esque getup and his overall Darker and Edgier persona.
  • Even Sova, the Cold Sniper with rather kind lines to his allies, has a few comments that hint at a darker side.
    The wounded dog bites hard...
  • Cypher defies this trope; sometimes during the beginning of a match, he considers using the enemy's children against them, but then stops himself.
    Let's see what I have to use. Pictures of their children? Wow, way too dark.
    • However, he plays it straight with a voiceline at the end of some matches, stating "(The enemy team is) lucky (he's) nice, or their families would be next."
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sage is perhaps the most openly heroic of the Agents, with most of her voice lines mainly motivating her allies and painting her as committed to the cause of righteousness. She is also the game's token Combat Medic, dedicating herself to ensuring her teammates' well-being, but at the same time very determined to defeat her enemy whatever it takes.
  I am both shield and sword.
  I will soothe this turmoil... with fire if I must.
• Boring, but Practical: Brimstone's abilities in contrast to the other Agents. He brings nothing particularly special to the table, but in exchange each of his gadgets has strong offensive and defensive utility and are very safe to use. His smokes in particular are some of the best in the game, being dropped in aerially and lasting for quite some time. Even his most unique gadget, the Combat Stim, simply increases rate of fire.
• The Captain: Brimstone is described as a "commander". Any agent even has the chance of saying "Captain down" after taking him out.
• Colorblind Mode: There are four options for enemy color highlights: Red (Default), Purple (Tritanopia), Yellow (Deuteranopia), and Yellow (Protanopia).
• Combat Medic:
  • Sage is the only Agent thus far with the ability to heal her teammates and resurrect them with the help of her ultimate. She has quickly become a key component of most rosters considering how potent these abilities are in a Counter-Strike-esque game, where the ability to survive a few more shots and eliminate a numbers disadvantage could spell the difference between victory and defeat.
  • Skye is considered a ghetto healer, as she can heal her teammates but not herself. Unlike Sage, her healing is meter-based/finite and not a signature ability that can recharge.
  • Phoenix and Reyna are the opposite of Skye, as they can only heal themselves. Phoenix heals with his Heating Up passive while standing inside his abilities, and Reyna heals with her Devour ability.
• Conveyor Belt of Doom: Ziplines are a feature in a number of maps. Fracture's is a special case. One cannot leave the Zipline while using it and they are forced to move forward on it. Taking it would be risky if there is an enemy on the other end, especially if they have a steady aim, since you have no means to move back or step away. In extreme cases, this can lead to circumstances like this
• Differently Powered Individual: The First Light, in addition to bringing about another technological revolution, also caused several people to develop superpowers; these individuals would eventually become known as Radiants. The Agents in the game are made up of Radiants and Badass Normals who utilize Radiant-derived technology that resulted from the First Light. Known Radiants so far include Phoenix, Sage, Reyna and Jett.
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Sheriff. It is a one-shot head-shot weapon at ranges under 30 meters to even fully armored opponents, but its slow rate of fire and high recoil mean that typically those who choose to purchase it are putting high faith in their aiming skills.
• Expendable Clone: The agents are quick to point out if they have a counterpart on the opposing team, as they all express dislike and derision towards their clones. Ultimately subverted, as it is revealed in "Duality" that they are fighting against their mirror counterparts from a mirror universe, whose goal apparently is to take Radianite from this world using the Spike and bring it to theirs.
• Expy: It would be quicker to name all of the weapons that are not closely based on a Counter-Strike counterpart.
  • The Classic is the Glock, complete with the three round burst fire. The Ghost closely matches the damage profile and suppressed nature of the USP-S. The Frenzy both looks and feels very similar to the CZ75-Auto. The Sheriff matches both the high recoil and incredible damage of the Desert Eagle of Counter-Strike infamy.
  • The Bulldog has a cousin in the FAMAS, as both are cheaper, relatively weaker assault rifles with both fully automatic and burst-fire capabilities. The Vandal and the Phantom are almost entirely based on their counterparts in CSGO, the AK-47 and the M4A1-S. The Vandal inherits its one-shot headshot damage profile from the AK-47 and the Phantom has the M4A1-S's lower recoil and silenced capabilities. Crucially, however, in Valorant both sides have access to either weapon, while the ability to buy the AK-47 was considered an inherent Terrorist side perk.
  • The Marshall retains the one-shot headshot and two-shot body shot damage profile of the Scout, while the Operator has the same destructive power as the AWP as any hit that's not in the legs is a kill even on a fully armored opponent. It is likely the Operator's name is also inspired by that weapon.
  • Because Valorant was conceived by Riot staff members that were fans of CS:GO's tactical gameplay, but disliked higher play relying on specific bounce patterns for grenades, a majority of the characters have abilities that mimic the 4 grenades (HE, Flash, Smoke, Firebomb/Molotov) in one or multiple ways, but fundamentally work differently. For example, many characters share a Flash-bang grenade variant ability, but they all throw them differently. Phoenix's flash is thrown in a straight curve around corners, Breach's flash has to move through a wall to activate, Skye's flies forward like a bird and can be steered with the mouse, and Yoru's has to bounce off a surface before activating. To help with clarity, each flash also has unique colors and sound effects when they blind, to better determine who sent them out in the heat of the moment.
  • Comparisons have been drawn between some agents and Overwatch heroes. Omen is Reaper's counterpart, as both utilize teleportation and are edgy reaper inspired designs; Sova and Hanzo both base their kit around bow and arrows, sharing abilities like radar darts and Ultimates; and Jett shares similarities with Tracer, being speedster action girls that work around their mobility, engaging more in gunfights and being respective "faces" of their franchise.
  • Averted with the shotguns. While the Bucky and the Judge map closely to the Nova and the XM1014 respectively at first glance, the Bucky's unique alternative fire that extends its range and the Judge's much more affordable price tag in comparison to the XM1014 set them apart.
• Flashy Teleportation:
  • Portals are scattered around in the "Bind" map. They can get you past considerable distances, but the loud sound cues they make when someone goes through them should really make you think twice about using them.
  • Omen's ultimate teleports him after a few seconds to any place he chooses on the map and disables his opponents' mini maps during those few seconds. The catch is, it also releases a sound cue that can be heard in close distances, and the destination is marked, which forces the player to cancel the ultimate if they see that it's being watched.
  • Yoru's Gatecrash ability involves him setting or sending a teleportation beacon, which is hard to ignore in its own right because it can be seen and heard by the enemy team, and even after it turns invisible it emits its distinct noise. The teleportation itself is very loud and bright.
• Friendly Fireproof: Played straight with firearms, but averted with abilities—all offensive skills will deal damage to allies and enemies alike. Most of the time, this also includes their user.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Unlike many other multiplayer games that ignore or brush off the fact that characters can potentially fight duplicates of themselves, this is actually a plot point here; the agents are battling their alternate universe counterparts.
• Hero Shooter: You have a game with a cast of unique characters with special powers. One thing that differentiates this from others is that all characters have access to the same guns.
• Humanoid Abomination: Whatever is hiding underneath Omen's hood isn't quite human. He often mumbles about falling apart and needing to keep himself together. One line even has him trying to reassure himself by saying "I am still human..." Another has him mockingly ask Cypher if he can see under his hood and if what he sees scares him.
• Limit Break: Each agent has a unique "ultimate" ability that needs to be charged by scoring kills, planting Spikes, or collecting special orbs scattered around the maps. True to their name, each of them is powerful enough to turn the round around by itself.
• Living Weapon: The Elderflame collection replaces selected weapons with gun sized dragons that fire bullets out of their mouths. They also have an unlockable Finisher animation that triggers when the user kills the final remaining enemy in a round, summoning a dragon that burns their corpse to ashes.
• Magic Versus Science: A running theme in the game is the divide between the super-powered Radiants and those without such powers. Characters like Phoenix and Sage quite clearly have magical powers from their exposure to Radianite. The line is blurred quite a bit for others such as Viper, as it's unclear just how much of her poison abilities is actual technology versus some kind of power, which may overlap with Clarke's Third Law. On the science side, most technology is implied to utilize Radianite in some way, shape or form, which makes sense given how capable are the non-radiants' tech is against the radiants.
• MegaCorp:
  • Kingdom Corporation fills the role of the one company nobody in the story has a good opinion of, including those related to it. Being one after their discovery of Radianite, eventually they become the provider of three-quarters of the earth's power. They have since branched out of the energy sector to fields such as research and armory (as noted by their logo being included in many of the Agents' weapons and gear). However, their growing influence has also brought them to numerous controversy, stirring rebellions in places they wished to expand to. This, alongside with the Venice incident (as portrayed in "Duelists", with the map "Ascent" as its aftermath) causing the public to speculate the involvement of Radianite with said incident resulting in the Corporation's biggest stock drop, and the Everett-Linde research lab incident having Kingdom being asked questions by the family members of those deceased.
  • Upon the reveal of Omega Earth, along with Fracture, Kingdom is shown to have an Omega counterpart as well: Kingdom Industries. Whether this Kingdom is as or more ominous than the Alpha one is not really known, although it should be considered that their apparently benevolent endeavors (including their underwater habituation facility built after a climate catastrophe which may or may not involve radianite) are as of recent fueled by radianite stolen from the mirror world.
  • All the maps in the game are related to Kingdom in some way:
    • Fracture is the Everett-Linde research lab, post Large Radian Collider incident. This is where the two Kingdoms would work together to create the Large Radian Collider. This would be foiled by the hands of Chamber and his mirror counterpart.
    • Breeze is the crash site of a Kingdom container ship, located somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle. A teleporter can be sighted here, where KAY/O made his first encounter to this world.
    • Icebox is a Radianite transportation port in Russia owned by Kingdom. Yoru has a special connection to this facility.
    • Bind is a Kingdom-owned Radianite refinery, located in Cypher's hometown of Rabat, Morocco.
    • Haven is a temple located in Bhutan, repurposed by Kingdom as a storage facility.
    • Split is Kingdom's headquarters, located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.
    • Ascent is the aftermath of the Venice incident.
    • Pearl, from Omega Earth, is a section of an underwater shelter constructed by Kingdom Industries.
• Microtransactions: Valorant, being free-to-play, has an in-game store where you can spend real-world money on Valorant Points, which can be used to buy various weapon skins, gun buddies, player cards, and sprays. You can also pay for Radianite using Valorant Points, which is used to unlock advanced animations, finishers, and kill screens for the more expensive weapons. None of these affect the in-game stats of the weapons in any way.
• Mirror Self: It is revealed in "Duality" that the agents are fighting against their mirror counterparts from an Alternate Universe, whose goal apparently is to take Radianite from this world using the Spike and bring it to theirs.
• Noodle Incident: One of the in-universe stories has Phoenix asking Brimstone to allow him, Killjoy and Raze attend a concert in Berlin. The following voices lines from the latter two reveal that afterwards the trio went on a partying binge and somehow lost Raze, who calls to say she wound up in Breeze in the Caribbean.
• One-Hit Kill:
  • Headshot required:
    • The Sheriff, the Guardian, the Vandal, the Marshall, and Jett's Ultimate (a barrage of throwing knives) are all capable of instant kills regardless of shields or distance.
    • The Phantom is also capable of this, but must either be closer to the enemy to overcome damage falloff, or the enemy must have light or no shields.
    • The Bulldog has the same potential to instakill, but the enemy must have no shields.
    • The Ghost is also able to do this, but only against unshielded enemies who are close enough.
  • No headshot required:
    • The Operator sniper rifle, as the counterpart to Counter-Strike's AWP, is guaranteed to kill with one shot to the body or head, and leg shots will still kill anyone not using shields.
    • Chamber's Ultimate (a custom sniper rifle that fires just as fast as a Marshal) is fatal if it hits an enemy in the head or torso, and even kills lightly shielded opponents with a shot to the leg.
    • In the "Spike Rush" game mode, activating a special orb will give the player who activated it a "Golden Gun" that one shots anything it strikes. Sound familiar?
• One-Man Army: Comes in two variations.
  • Eliminating the entire opposition yourself nets you an "Ace".
  • Eliminating the opposing team as the last agent of your team nets you a "Clutch".
• Power Echoes: When an enemy uses their Ultimate Ability, their voice permeates the entire map. When your ally uses their ultimate, you hear their voice normally. Just like in Overwatch, the voice lines between ally ultimate and enemy ultimate are different.
  Ally Killjoy, using Lockdown: Initiating!
  Enemy Killjoy, using Lockdown: You should run.
• Role Swap Plot: Normally, being an attacker, a.k.a. stealing radianite using the spike, is the role of the Omega agents. If it's done in the map Pearl, which is already in Omega Earth, it would be the Alpha's turn.
• Smoke Out: Jett, Brimstone, Omen, Astra, and Viper have abilities that function like smoke grenades.
• Sphere of Destruction: The spike's explosion creates a pitch-black sphere of energy that instantly kills anyone caught in its blast, but leaves buildings intact and collapses a few seconds later.
• Stat Overflow: When playing as Reyna, whenever she kills an opponent it leaves behind a Soul Orb. She can consume these with her Devour ability to heal, potentially boosting her health to 150 HP, which is the same as being fully healed and equipped with the strongest body armor.
• Stealth Pun: Viper, whose abilities are all poison-based, is one of the biggest Jerkasses in the cast... so she's toxic.
• Wrench Wench: Killjoy building her deadly turrets makes her one of these.
• You Shall Not Pass!:
  • Sage can pull this off with her wall, barring entrance at most chokepoints. To a slighter degree, long-lasting smokes will make opponents think twice before rushing through them to meet your Agent.
  • Viper and Phoenix have a wall of poison and fire respectively as abilities that can provide cover for allies and prevent enemies from crossing lest they take heavy damage. Unlike Sage's ability, the poison and fire walls cannot block shots or other projectiles.

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