We’ve been able to play the new content from Act III by Valorant, Riot Games’ tactical shooter for PC. All the details.
During the past few days, a selection of the world press and a multitude of people and characters from the “influencer” scene have had the opportunity to see and test what Riot Games is going to bring to its tactical shooter Valorant. From last day 5 until Wednesday night we were able to access and play with the new agent that joins the squad, Skye, and on the new map, Icebox. Everything is part of the landing of Act 3 of the game, which also includes its corresponding cosmetic package scheduled for the 14th of this month.
The two great attractions of the event naturally revolved around Skye and the new map. We had the opportunity to exchange impressions with members of the press from all over the world and also with players and content creators dedicated to the game and the response seemed quite unanimous: Skye can be essential in many team compositions, being able to play several roles at the same time. weather. Her signature ability, area heal, is capable of healing the entire friendly team at the same time except herself but with a fairly significant range radius, as long as she has vision of the target. Furthermore, it is not a single-use ability, but uses a resource that only stops working when it is exhausted: if we want to heal someone for 10 life, we will not spend the entire ability, we will only spend 10 points from our reserve destined for such effect.
This is when things start to get interesting: you can equip a wolf that can be controlled in the same way as Sova’s drone, but it can also dash towards an enemy and damage and stun them (as Breach would). The wolf is vulnerable to gunshots but it goes through Sage’s wall with no problems, for example, giving it an ability to obtain very interesting information. His other abilities also move in that sense; Skye can have up to three falcons that she can shoot and guide (up to a point, like Jett’s smoke bombs) and upon re-activation she emits a flash that flashes everyone – allies and enemies – no matter how far away. is found. And his ultimate ability emits three bugs looking for the three closest enemies.
Even if they are destroyed, they give precise information about the location of the adversaries and in case of impact they cause limited vision (similar to Omen’s Paranoia). We agreed that resuming a site where a bomb was planted is definitely a lot easier if Skye is on our team. As both a second healer on Valorant and a map control tool, Skye has a bit of everything. It does not have the crowd control of Sage with its wall and its slows but in return it provides a lot more vision and favors rotations while limiting the options of an enemy lurker. In short, our feelings have been good waiting to see how the goal will shake when it arrives, originally scheduled for the 27th of this month.
Icebox, ahead of time
The main surprise came with Icebox; It was not a secret that Riot was preparing a new map but he also said that a new one would arrive per episode and Icebox would still arrive in the first. Riot Games says that they have listened to the requests of the players and that has led them to advance the project but it is no less true that in Bo5 competitions it is a bit strange that you have to repeat a map if you only have 4. With Icebox you corrects this deficiency and now both players and spectators know that in a long competition, each of the games will be able to play on a different map.
Devon Fay, artistic director of maps, commented that the inspiration for Icebox comes after movies like “The Thing” or “Alien”, but there was also a certain feeling among those who were playing that there were certain CSGO and Overwatch vibes, which we do not think bad at all. It is possibly the most vertical map and with the most angles to carry out ambushes of the 5 that there are so far and although the two sites to plant have certain similarities, we have seen unique opportunities for both Operators, lurkers and that it opens multiple strategies in general.
The overall snowy and metallic look is quite a contrast to the other Valorant scenes and the layout allows for multiple flanks and defenses from different heights, making it seem a bit unpredictable at the moment. The games we’ve played, even with the same teams, have rarely been balanced, but it makes sense in the early stages of the map and also responds to the fact that there was some difference in level between some players and, well, much of the press.
Arranged in each planting area there are zip lines that allow you to cross the site horizontally, even being suspended in the air. The recoil pattern is increased, as if we were jumping more or less, but it is one more thing to consider when attacking or defending the base. Icebox will be available next week in beta, and since there were certain bugs that had to be solved quickly (in one of the cases, the bomb could be planted suspended from the zip line and the bomb stayed there floating, for example), we feel like it a little early. It is also true that the version we had access to on the Riot test server did not have to be the last one the developers are working with, but it did give the impression of being 95% finished rather than 100% finished.
Finally, although it was not technically part of the event itself, Riot is making some changes to the Deathmatch, increasing the duration of the games, the experience received and the number of simultaneous players on each map (now 14). Together with the new line of skins and the changes in the qualifying games that were already advanced the other day, this includes all the news that we expect for this month.
To recap: the new Icebox map arrives on October 14, the new Australian agent Skye arrives on October 27 and the rest of the cosmetics, changes and a new act also on the 14th. In general the sensations have been very good and although always It is anyone’s guess how the content will permeate within the community, it gives the impression that it will be well received.
