Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • (water gurgling)

  • (gunshots)

  • - Oh, that's how you wanna play it!

  • - [Hammy] Hey, and welcome.

  • I'm Hammy, and Valorant has entered the world,

  • previously known as Project A,

  • Riot Games's 5V5 Team tactical shooter

  • has now been officially announced with a reveal,

  • namely a teaser as well as some brand new gameplay

  • and a whole deluge of articles from various press

  • who have got to play the game a little early.

  • In this video I'm going to talk

  • a little bit about what's announced,

  • but with a focus on the lore and the storytelling

  • and what we know about them so far,

  • as well as the cast of heroes or agents

  • that have been announced.

  • So if you enjoy this video,

  • throw a like and subscribe.

  • I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below,

  • and time codes in the description

  • if you want to skip to various agents or topics.

  • Okay, time to dive into the world of Valorant.

  • So firstly is a quick summary, what is Valorant.

  • Well we now know it's going to be a 5V5,

  • first to 12 or 24 round in a match, team tactical shooter.

  • It's attack versus defence

  • in a similar sense to Counterstrike

  • in that there are bomb defuse objectives,

  • one team tries to plant the bomb

  • the other tries to stop them.

  • Weapons and charges for two of your four

  • abilities that you have are bought with currency

  • that you earn round by round in a match.

  • Now if you're interested in the technicalities

  • I'll do a separate gameplay video,

  • throw a sub to see that.

  • Now whether you're a loyal sub of this channel,

  • thank you very much for being here,

  • or if you're brand new,

  • I love my lore story and world building behind video games

  • as much as I do playing them, if not more so.

  • Riot with League of Legends

  • and their lore and world building

  • over the last couple of years in particular

  • have been on a bit of a tear

  • ever since they ripped the League of Legends lore

  • to pieces a few years ago,

  • hired writers and started rebuilding it

  • from the ground up.

  • So I'm excited for Valorant in terms of

  • what Riot may bring.

  • Now, what do we know so far.

  • Well, in a world fighting for its existence,

  • a Valorant squad is put together to defend it.

  • A diverse cast of hyper-natural, battle-ready agents,

  • so agents are the people we are playing,

  • from across the world have come together

  • to respond to a larger existential threat.

  • With catastrophic, world-altering consequences

  • on the very line.

  • A tactical shooter with hyper-natural powers, then.

  • And this hyper-natural piece is used quite a lot

  • in various press articles and interviews

  • as well as some of Riot's official website material

  • to describe the sense of the abilities

  • of the Valorant cast of agents.

  • So with plenty of world-building lore

  • and story potential to come,

  • who are the characters that will be gracing the stage

  • of the world of Valorant?

  • Well, we have eight heroes so far,

  • so here's a quick run through of their looks

  • and some of their abilities

  • that have been shown off with gameplay footage.

  • Again, I'll do a separate video analysing

  • all of this in more detail if you want to have a look.

  • First up is Sage,

  • now we've seen a few leaks on Sage from a screenshot

  • over the last week showing her full ability kit.

  • Creating safety for her team and herself wherever she goes,

  • Sage is a support star character

  • who can use a revive and also slow down and manipulate

  • the new battlefield as well.

  • Sage's passive is a healing orb

  • that can heal a targeted ally or herself

  • to full health over a few seconds.

  • Her slowing orb makes a field upon hitting the ground

  • that catches everyone in it to slow them,

  • it grounds them meaning they can't jump up

  • and they also make noise.

  • Now apparently it's made of radionite,

  • maybe that's an aural material

  • that will be something to do with the Valorant storyline.

  • Sage's barrier orb makes a large, solid wall,

  • I think we've seen that before.

  • And you can rotate the wall before casting.

  • Now the ultimate ability is resurrection.

  • Target a friendly body,

  • after a short delay revive them with full health,

  • which we saw in the Valorant initial reveal trailer.

  • Next up we have Cypher,

  • hailing from Morocco they are apparently

  • a one man surveillance network,

  • keeping tabs on enemies,

  • very very vision-centric.

  • Their ability is Trap Wire.

  • You can make a trip wire on the ground,

  • this has been seen in footage.

  • Trigger enemies are slowed and restrained by it for a second

  • and revealed for a short period of time.

  • Cyber cage is a remote trap that can be reactivated

  • to create a cage that slows enemies who pass through it.

  • A single trap can be detonated by looking at it,

  • or you can hold a button to detonate multiple traps.

  • Spy Cam allows Cypher to place a remote camera

  • that you can then watch a video feed through,

  • and you can click while looking through the camera

  • to fire darts that track other players.

  • Finally an ultimate Neural Theft

  • lets you extract info from the corpse of an enemy,

  • showing you the location of all of their living teammates.

  • Seeing all of the enemy in one go who are still alive

  • on the map is very powerful indeed.

  • Next up, Brimstone,

  • a soldier commandery looking chap from the USA.

  • He has an orbital arsenal,

  • and can deliver utility as well as some support.

  • He's kind of a battlefield commander type.

  • Incendiary will let him fire an incendiary grenade

  • that does a damaging field of fire.

  • Stim Beacon is interesting,

  • you can put a stim beacon down

  • that gives all players near it rapid fire

  • but including the enemy team apparently.

  • So that has to be positioned carefully.

  • Sky Smoke is an ability that Bangalore players

  • from Apex Legends might recognise.

  • You can call in orbital deployment smoke screens

  • by clicking on the map and then confirming to launch them

  • to be able to smoke off areas.

  • Finally, orbital strike is an ultimate,

  • kind of like Gibraltar from Apex Legends.

  • Target a location, and barrage it with an orbital strike

  • that does high damage over several seconds,

  • interesting damage and team utility there from Brimstone.

  • Next up, Jett from Korea.

  • We have seen her in the initial

  • Project A announcement trailer last year,

  • and also in the name reveal trailer

  • she is being chased by Phoenix,

  • more on him later.

  • Very much a Carly-esque for you League fans,

  • Jett is very much an assassin, she's evasive.

  • Cloud Burst, her ability,

  • lets a cloud of fog be cast

  • that obscures vision when it hits.

  • Tailwind lets her dash a short distance

  • in the direction she is moving,

  • meaning that she can move quickly.

  • Updraft is shown off in several trailers,

  • it lets her raise up in the air

  • and then either fire with one of her other abilities

  • or simply navigate terrain.

  • Last but not least, a blade storm.

  • She gets several deadly throwing knives

  • that deal reasonable damage

  • but will kill on a headshot application.

  • If you actually get a kill,

  • it restores all of your daggers.

  • Left click will throw one,

  • and right click will throw all her daggers

  • in a short ranged burst.

  • You can imagine really, really skilled players

  • checking in kills together,

  • get a headshot, get all your daggers back.

  • Going to be a very very interesting assassin damage hero.

  • As I mentioned in the name reveal trailer,

  • we saw Jett being chased by Phoenix.

  • Now Phoenix hails from the UK,

  • but this cheeky chappy has a few fireballs up his sleeve.

  • Apparently his star power shines through

  • in his fighting style,

  • igniting the battlefield with flash and flare.

  • Phoenix's default or signature ability Curve ball

  • can throw a flare that will blind

  • the enemy team who look at it.

  • It can be curved left or right.

  • Hot Hands will throw a fireball

  • that either does damage after a delay,

  • or on impact with the ground.

  • And it will damage enemies and heal you

  • depending on if you're standing on it

  • or if an enemy is hit by it.

  • Blaze casts out a flame orb,

  • blocking vision and damaging

  • anyone who's passing through it.

  • As an ultimate, Phoenix has run it back.

  • You can mock your location,

  • and if you die during the ability being active

  • then you'll be reborn at the marked location

  • phoenix-style from the ashes with full health.

  • Probably familiar to Revenant players from Apex Legends.

  • Next up, Viper from the USA,

  • shown in some Warlock

  • and also in the initial Project A reveal trailer.

  • Viper uses a bunch of poisonous chemical devices

  • all driven by aerosols coated in toxin.

  • Crippling enemy vision, controlling the battlefield,

  • and causing mind games

  • and directing players in certain directions.

  • Her signature ability, Toxic Screen,

  • makes a long line of gas emitters

  • that you can reactivate

  • to create a big wall of toxic gas

  • at the cost of your fuel resource.

  • Snake Bite is a projectile that explodes

  • into a pool of very damaging acid on the floor

  • that damages if enemies run through it.

  • Poison Cloud throws a gas emitter

  • that can be reactivated to create

  • a big poisonous smoke cloud,

  • again at the cost of fuel as a resource.

  • It can be picked up and thrown, again if you wish.

  • Finally, Viper's Pit emits

  • a massive toxic cloud in a large area

  • that lasts as long as Viper stays inside the cloud,

  • and enemies inside the cloud

  • are highlighted and lose health.

  • If you're more of a hunter type,

  • take a look at Sova, hailing from Russia.

  • Like Cypher, a very very vision-enabling character,

  • Sova finds, tracks and eliminates enemies

  • with ruthless efficiency and precision.

  • His custom bow and scouting

  • mean that even if you can run, you can't necessarily hide.

  • Recon Bolt fires a bolt that deploys a sonar-emitter,

  • tagging nearby enemies and making them visible.

  • The bolt can be destroyed,

  • sounds familiar if you played Overwatch as well of course.

  • Next up Shock Bolt, fires an explosive bolt

  • that does a damaging pulse upon impact

  • as opposed to revealing people.

  • Sova's al drone which we see in the gameplay reveal

  • deploys a flyable drone that can fire darts

  • to reveal enemies who are hit by it,

  • further enabling vision of the enemy.

  • Finally, Hunted Fury fires

  • up to three deadly big blasts of energy

  • that go across the entire map,

  • hitting enemies for damage

  • and marking people when they are hit.

  • Last but by no means least, the mysterious Omen.

  • Teleporting across the battlefield,

  • rendering enemies blind and disorientated,

  • and then striking from the shadows.

  • Omen's dark cover ability casts out

  • a stealth ethereal orb that bursts out into

  • a sphere of shadow at its final location.

  • Paranoia sends out a shadow in a straight line,

  • causing enemies that it touches

  • to only be able to see near them.

  • Shadow walk, after a delay,

  • Omen will dematerialize and teleport a short distance.

  • Finally, from the shadows is an ultimate,

  • you can teleport anywhere on the map and reform there,

  • but you'll be a shade that will return

  • to your original location if killed.

  • Once the teleport is complete,

  • you'll become incorporeal for a short time.

  • So, there is your initial Valorant cast.

  • What do you think of these agents,

  • of these heroes, potentially villains?

  • I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

  • Would you like to play these?

  • So, we have a world fighting for its existence,

  • and we have various people ready to defend it,

  • or perhaps be responsible for its downfall, indeed.

  • There have to be some antagonists,

  • I'm sure we're not all heroes.

  • Now, for the announcement today

  • various websites such as Polygon and Eurogamer

  • have had interviews with the developer team at Riot

  • and different things have actually come out

  • about the story, lore and world-building,

  • as well as the character design and aesthetic.

  • The fashion sense and look and feel of the agents

  • has been a combination of modern tech fashion,

  • athleisure, and high fashion reinterpreted,

  • as you can see in some of the stylings

  • of the agents that we will see.

  • And in various interviews,

  • David Nottingham, Valorant's creative director,

  • has said various things about

  • how the story's actually going to be told

  • as well as inspirations for that.

  • One thing that Nottingham confirmed

  • that will happen in Valorant

  • is that characters will have quips

  • that show off their personality

  • and short conversations between them,

  • hinting at their deeper associations,

  • further relationships between the characters,

  • who knows who, who's associated with who, and more as well.

  • So there we go, Valorant pre-game interactions.

  • And if you followed my channel

  • you know I've loved having a look

  • at that frame watch of the game,

  • so I can't wait to hopefully get stuck

  • into that lore and the origin story of Valorant too.

  • Now in an interview with Eurogamer,

  • Nottingham also mentioned that

  • there is going to be a chunk of

  • environmental storytelling in Valorant.

  • Now, this is very much like, of course,

  • Overwatch, with the work on Numbani

  • before Doomfist and Orisa's launch,

  • as well as changes in other maps,

  • such as Horizon Lunar colony before Hammond's launch,

  • the Sombra ARG with the changes on Derado,

  • and of course more besides.

  • Now though Overwatch isn't cited in the actual interview

  • as a comparison point,

  • the Riot devs seem to have mentioned Fortnight

  • in various interviews as

  • an environmental storytelling point

  • in terms of changing the map and world

  • to move the story in the narrative along.

  • One example that Nottingham gave

  • was that you're playing a map,

  • and oh, there's a billboard up

  • and it's for a recruitment poster for Kingdom.

  • Now Kingdom is a faction

  • that exists in the world of Valorant,

  • and in fact there are actually weapons named after,

  • or used by or perhaps produced by Kingdom,

  • we don't know quite which yet.

  • Nottingham then cites,

  • "So for people who are paying attention,"

  • "if you come back you might see"

  • "that a poster's been defaced or changed."

  • So looking in the levels in the environments of Valorant

  • is going to be apparently key

  • for seeing how the story progresses,

  • and there are apparently going to be four maps or so

  • at Valorant launch, or when Valorant is first playable.

  • So it'll be good to have a look around those

  • and see what's going on.

  • Now also in the Eurogamer interview,

  • Nottingham did say that they were

  • probably going to tell more

  • in terms in environmental storytelling

  • rather than the incredible quote on quote

  • CG trailers of games like Overwatch.

  • Although Riot might do something similar at some point.

  • Now it's interesting to see a focus

  • on the environmental storytelling

  • rather than talking about cinematics.

  • These interviews might have been done a while back,

  • all of these ones coming out in press.

  • Particularly interesting given that

  • before all of the official art went live

  • on the Valorant Twitter and Twitch headers and similar,

  • there was kind of a teaser piece of art.

  • And in this teaser piece of art,

  • some people thought that if you looked closely

  • you could see some obscured text,

  • perhaps referring to episode one of something

  • for a character called Viper,

  • who is actually one of the announced cast.

  • So, it'll be interesting to see if Viper

  • does get an episode of something,

  • hero, villain, origin stories.

  • Agent origin stories could very much be something

  • in terms of storytelling in the build up to

  • or beyond launch.

  • So maybe those cinematics,

  • maybe those animations popularised by Overwatch

  • and also Apex Legends,

  • amongst of course many other games,

  • could be something that is coming to Valorant.

  • So let's keep our eyes firmly open for those.

  • I think that given Riot have done

  • many awesome cinematics for League of Legends,

  • not doing something for Valorant

  • and of course the animation they've done for KDA Popstars

  • and True Damage in terms of their music videos recently,

  • doing something similar for Valorant

  • feels like not an if to me, but just a when and how.

  • It will be fascinating to see what comes up.

  • So there you have it,

  • that is all we know about Valorant so far.

  • Do go and check out the gameplay reveal

  • over on the Valorant YouTube channel,

  • and watch out for my gameplay analysis

  • that will be coming up in the coming days.

  • What do you think of it all?

  • Are you looking forward to Valorant,

  • its potential lore, story, world-building?

  • How about the game itself,

  • do you think that you'd fancy this kind of mode?

  • Riot have said that they're working on

  • more fun and varied modes

  • in addition to this main mode that we've seen as well.

  • I'd love to hear all of your thoughts about the characters,

  • the potential story, the look of the game,

  • whether you might fancy playing it or not,

  • in the comments below.

  • Be great to hear from you.

  • If you enjoyed this video, throw a like and subscribe,

  • and keep an eye out for more content from me in future.

  • Do check out my playlists here

  • with gaming lore story of Overwatch and much more,

  • and keep an eye out for my pilots

  • over the next month or so,

  • in my pilots month of March I'm going to be trying

  • a bunch of different things

  • but covering a bunch of lore story and world-building

  • as well as other games that I enjoy as well,

  • and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

  • Cheers for tuning in,

  • I'm Hammy, and.

(water gurgling)

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it