Developer/publisher Riot Games

Format PC

Release Out now

You might reasonably assume that your greatest weapon in Valorant is your gun. You’d be wrong. It’s not an assault rifle or a shotgun that will carry you to victory in this Counter-Strike-alike; it’s not even the suite of Overwatch-esque special abilities your chosen hero commands. It’s your intuition. Knowing instinctively what is about to happen and where is an invaluable skill in a tactical shooter. And the prickle on the back of your neck that tells you there’s an opponent waiting just around the corner? Valorant trains it in you by design.

Ever wondered what pros mean when they talk about ‘gamesense’? Valorant might just teach you first-hand

This is nothing new, of course. Valve’s multiplayer FPS was conditioning us to be competitively paranoid long before Riot Games existed, let alone decided to break into the shooter scene. But it’s also not an easy thing to emulate. Indeed, we mean it as a compliment when we say Valorant is best described as “Counter-Strike with charisma”. Its cast of playable agents adds a welcome shot of individuality to a familiar setup: two teams, two halves, one side working to plant a bomb and the other defending against it. In addition to being able to spend currency - earned through round wins and kills - on guns of increasing price and muscle, each player can buy charges for their agent’s set of magical powers. Each round, you get one signature ability for free on a fairly lengthy cooldown: for Sage, this is a healing orb; Phoenix has a fireball that covers an area in flames; Jett, a wind-powered dash that can propel her in any of the four cardinal directions.