Riot Games will release the tactical shooter Valorant in the summer and on April 7, some of those interested will get access to the closed beta. The game will eventually be completely free to play; the revenue model revolves around the voluntary purchase of cosmetic items.
Riot Games reports on a special website that interested parties can win a place in the closed beta by connecting a Riot account to a Twitch account. Next, it is necessary to watch some Valorant streams on Twitch. Then there is a chance of an invite, but it is unclear how big that chance is and how long the closed beta will last. In any case, this beta will be available from April 7 in Canada, the US, Turkey, Russia and Europe.
A closed alpha is now behind us. Several sources with knowledge of last weekend’s playtest inform Dot Esports that there are nine different characters playable, although this number may be higher with the final release. The ninth character, named Breach, turns out to have four unique abilities of his own, which will also apply to the other playable characters.
Furthermore, the alpha play session reveals that the cosmetic system is similar to that of League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. During the play session there were no skins for the characters, but for example for the weapons. During an earlier game session in February, it appeared that the game has many similarities with CS:GO.
Riot Games previously announced that Valorant will be released in the summer, although an exact release date is still not known. Each of the characters has unique, supernatural powers that can be used in addition to and complement regular shooting. The maker reiterates its promise of 128-tick servers and high frame rates without the need for powerful hardware. There should also be a ping of under 35ms, although Riot Games does not want to give any guarantees on that point. In addition, the network code would have been worked on for years and, according to the developer, anti-cheat measures have also been on the retina from day one.