The impact of COVID-19 hasn’t gone unnoticed. People worldwide are affected by this pandemic on a daily basis; jobs were lost, lives were in danger and the flow of normality was thrown into disarray.
But when it comes to video games, not everything is looking so bad.
In June of 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 chaos, Riot Games officially released their new game, an FPS called “Valorant.” Supporters of Riot weren’t exactly surprised; this new game—initially advertised as “Project A” during Riot’s 10th Anniversary edition of their “Riot Pls” blog—has been teased since October of 2019, and was in the makings since 2013. Players are typically familiar with Riot’s MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), “League of Legends,” and to see that the game company is developing a new game was thrilling.
Tyler Kim, a senior at Freedom High School, was definitely excited about the new game.
“Personally, I was excited to try out the new [game], even though I’m not that proficient at them since I played Riot’s other game, League of Legends,” Kim said. “Project A was also announced among other new initiatives by Riot that were also related to League, such as Wild Rift and Clash.”
Wild Rift is the mobile version of League of Legends, and Clash is the new game mode where players form their own five-man teams to battle against others.
“Overall, my friends and I had high expectations for the franchise,” Kim said. “However, with Riot essentially combining League and CSGO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), I went into the [game] with an open mind. I wasn’t expecting too much since I don’t have experience with many [games like this], but overall, the experience in the beta with my friends was [enjoyable].”
Kyle Phan agreed. Throughout his early high school, Phan played CSGO and Rainbow 6 Siege with his friends, and was familiar with the FPS play style.
“I was expecting Valorant to be a cartoon-y version of CSGO, a more beginner friendly version that is mechanically easier, but more thinking included with the implementation of abilities,” Phan said. “I got into Valorant with a lot of friends which made the learning experience a lot more fun, and easier as we got to come up with strategies together.”
