Summary
Riot Game’s tactical shooterValoranthas seen a great deal of attention since its launch. Three years later, there are over 20.4 million active players in the game, based on numbers from Tracker Network. This is no small feat consideringValorantis Riot’s first game to deviate from the world of Runeterra and its flagship game,League of Legends.
While the 5v5 shooter has been well-received by the gaming community, it has flaws. Not only have there been complaints about the current meta, the ping system, and solo queuing, but there are elements that Riot promised to add that simply haven’t been yet. For example,Valorantwas adding a Replay System"soon", according to an Ask Valorant blog post in 2020. However, it’s been over three years since and Riot still hasn’t implemented the tool.
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Valorant Needs This Quality-of-Life Feature
Valorantadded a ping systemin its first year which has been helpful for signaling positions. Players can even do this when dead by opening the mini-map. As such, it’s peculiar that the FPS doesn’t have another standard feature, an in-game Replay System. Although, it should be mentioned that replays weren’t available forLeague of Legendsuntil 2015, seven years after the game was released.
There are methods for players to record their gameplay, but it requires the use of alternate programs. The options available include NVIDIA’s overlay, Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), or a generic screen recorder. Unfortunately, there is still no native Replay System likeStreet Fighter 6’s built-in recording feature,Overwatch 2’s Match Replays, andRocket League’s Saved Replays. Without an in-game system, players can only record their own perspectives.
SinceValoranthas become a direct competitor to games likeCounter-Strike: Global OffenseandOverwatch 2, this quality-of-life attribute should not be optional. Not only can players watch their own footage back to understand mechanical or situational mistakes, but usually they’d also be able to use it to save clips that they like. For those that like to invest in coaching or VOD reviews, having a full game to share with someone else is incredibly important.
Valorantcould also borrow the idea of watching matches from other people’s perspectives from thein-game replay tool inFortnite. After all, it isn’t always apparent what happened when something surprising occurs in-game. Watching it back from another teammate’s point of view, or an enemy player’s, can provide critical information. Sometimes this can even reveal bugs, like whenValorantaccidentally let players walk through walls after Patch 1.06.
Though it was announced that a Replay System was coming in 2020, it seems that it’s actively in development. Valorant Leaks & News' Twitter account suggested on June 28 that the mainValorantclient will see a replay feature “early next year or later on”. If this source is correct, the Replay System will be likeOverwolf, a software that adds overlays, statistics, voice communications, and more.
Interestingly, this information does align with past tweets from Anna Donlon, SVP and Executive Producer ofValorant. In January, she mentioned that replays were being worked on, among other aspects. Sadly, no date was given nor were there any further details.
The faster a Replay System can make its way to the game, the better for its playerbase. There are other fixes thatValorantneeds, but this feature would make the shooter feel all the more complete. Hopefully replays will come in 2023, but if nothing else it would be nice to utilize in 2024.
