What I Love About VALORANT

It’s a stressful game, but it’s SO MUCH FUN

Today, I want to introduce you to a groundbreaking and fun video game called VALORANT, created and launched by my favorite company, Riot Games.

As a kid, I was a video gamer playing Nintendo, the latest PlayStation back then, PSP (PlayStation Portable), Gameboy, etc. But I quit after high school only to find myself back in the gaming world years later.

My journey with gaming as an adult started with Riot Games’ first game, League of Legends, which is a multiplayer online battle arena game.

The rich characters, abilities these characters have, and the immense fantasy world-building of League of Legends impressed me a lot as a screenwriter myself, so I continued to explore this game further.

As a screenwriter, I aim to contribute my craft to Valorant, drawn in by its enthralling characters, captivating world-building, and masterful storytelling.

League of Legends was my favorite game until Riot Games released their second game, VALORANT.

Valorant is a tactical, first-person shooter game, FPS. Think of Call of Duty, Overwatch, PUBG, Apex Legends, or Counter-Strike as comparable games to Valorant.

The transition to an FPS game like Valorant was a big shift for me, demanding practice in precise aiming with my mouse. Remember, I wasn’t playing computer games as a gamer kid. I would play PlayStation, Gameboy, and Nintendo.

Yet, the challenges presented by Valorant outweighed the fun it offers, so I was willing to put the time, work, and effort into becoming good at it.

My fascination with this game goes beyond its tactical and shooting nature, as they don’t even make the cut to the top 5 reasons why I enjoy Valorant.

Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Valorant

1 — CHARACTERS & WORLD BUILDING

As a screenwriter, I’d first love to work for Valorant one day due to its fascinating characters, intriguing world-building, and fantastic storytelling. Both Riot Games video games have this in common.

Just watch one of their cinematic trailers, and you’ll see what this game is offering beyond just the game experience.

2 — AUTHENTIC REPRESENTATION

The trailer I shared above is for one of their newer characters named Fade, who is a Turkish character from Istanbul. That alone gives me goosebumps because I am originally from Istanbul, and we don’t see that much representation of our culture.

Other than that, we have Jett from Korea, Sova from Russia, Phoenix from UK, Sage from China, Killjoy from Germany, Reyna from Mexico, Viper from Alaska, Harbor from India, and so on.

Authentic representation from around the world brings relatability to gamers’ characters and inspires teamwork across cultures.

3 — COLLABORATION AND TEAM GAME

This brings me to collaboration and teamwork in Valorant. You can’t really solo your way to victory in Valorant unless you are Radiant, which is the top rank in the game.

Even if you’re a Radiant playing with lower ranks, you need your teammates to work in harmony to be able to win. They have different categories of characters, such as controller, duelist, initiator, and sentinels.

A controller has to smoke some crucial peak points for you to get on-site safely, while an initiator will either reveal the location of enemies or blind the enemies for the duelist to enter and get some kills. In the meantime, a sentinel will have to hold the site with their abilities, like Sage putting a wall up or Killjoy putting up her alarm bot, etc.

It’s a tactical game for a reason and heavily depends on teamwork, which is something I appreciate in a video game.

4 — GETTING A HEADSHOT

The feeling of “one-tapping” an enemy player on the head is euphoric, especially after you’ve practiced aiming for so long, like me.

Their headshot animation and sound also add a layer of excitement and fulfillment to the Valorant experience.

5 — CLUTCHING

It’s interesting how clutching in Valorant radiates a feeling of accomplishment. Especially when you’re the last person alive on your team, and there are 2 or 3 enemies alive for you to deal with if you want to win the round.

So, with that adrenaline and stress, somehow you win that round and “clutch.” I think it’s safe to say that many Valorant players seek this feeling of clutching in a match.

Downside of Valorant

From my experience, every game comes with pros and cons. In this section, I will highlight a few cons to inform new gamers who are considering this game.

1 — Toxic Environment

At times, you may match with toxic teammates, and you might have to mute them because they are yelling in your ears. But it’s crucial to mention that I’ve met more kinder people on Valorant than toxic, but they are there.

But remember that, especially as a woman playing Valorant, some of us would rather stay quiet than let people realize there’s a woman on their team. Here’s a video of that if you’re curious, but again, it's a big trigger warning.

2 — Crazy kids

The kids are great. Sometimes, they’re fun to play with when you end up matching with them. But some are definitely toxic, and it’s not even their fault.

It’s some of the adults in the game who encourage toxic behavior and inspire these kids to think “toxic is cool.”

3 — Competitive nature

Some of my friends stopped playing Valorant because they were so hard on themselves when they lost a match or screwed up. Valorant’s competitive nature might do that to you if you struggle with self-worth.

We talked about the feeling of clutching, right? But the feeling of not clutching might be devastating and even depressing. It’s important to take care of your mental health if you’re playing Valorant.

Conclusions

Valorant is a stressful but fun and intriguing game overall; it may become addictive, so be careful. For example, my relationship with Valorant has been on and off because once I start, I want to get to a good rank, so I end up practicing on Aim Lab and playing ranked matches for hours nonstop.

My rank was Diamond 1 when I stopped playing ranked games because it becomes way too stressful as you get to higher ranks.

These days, Valorant has become a good weekend activity for me from time to time when I’d rather stay at home and do a fun activity, and I’d recommend FPS gamers to try Valorant if you haven’t already.

Here’s me playing if you’re curious.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article! ❤

Happy reading and gaming!

Here is some info about my background.