Valorant enters open beta on Xbox… today! It comes ahead of the full launch of the console that brings Some major bonuses for Game Pass membersHaving been lucky enough to play it in Riot's Los Angeles studio, it's clear that this is no simple port – the team has meticulously redesigned the classic shooter in modern hardware for Xbox.
For those who don't know, Valorant It follows in the footsteps of the competitive shooter genre like the legendary PC title. Counterattack. However, unlike that game's military-themed setting, Valorant takes place in a futuristic version of Earth, where players can choose from a variety of agents rooted in a specific culture, location, and visual style. Beyond their weaponry, each is equipped with a distinct set of tactical abilities that can be used for things like gathering information, reinforcing areas, scouting enemy positions, breaching defenses, and dominating territory in a variety of ways.
It offers a skillful blend of dynamic action and tactical considerations, driven by kinetic weaponry and creative use of unique player abilities. All of this adds up to a highly skill-based but also highly strategic shooter, which has maintained the Valorant The community remains vibrant and the game is constantly evolving since its PC debut in 2020.
Riot is pulling out all the stops to bring the title to Xbox. First and foremost, that's achieved by reproducing the finely tuned balance that made the PC title such a hit: the team went through many iterations to translate the original mouse and keyboard controls to gamepad input. Perhaps the signature new feature in this regard is what's called Focus Mode.
On PC, Hip-Fire is the primary firing mode, with Aim-Down-Sights being a secondary support mode; the team experimented with multiple gamepad adaptations and sensitivities to try and accurately reproduce this on console, but never found a combination they were completely happy with. Hip-Fire just didn't feel the same, and the player didn't have the same range of possibilities; the result was a general toned-down level of player expressiveness.
Enter Focus, a new firing mode that works very similarly to Hip-Fire, but with reduced sensitivity. This allows players to fire from the hip whenever they need speed to move the camera and aim (e.g., to peer around corners and dodge), but with the ability to use Focus mode whenever they need to land a precise, calibrated headshot. Some of the Agent abilities have been adapted to the new input controls, and various tweaks across the board have contributed to the team’s number one priority: capturing the dynamic pace and mechanically expressive feel of the original.
It's worth noting that while there will be crossplay between consoles, it won't be available between PC and console players' matches – this is largely due to a focus on maintaining the competitive integrity of the title, given the control changes required to bring the game to console. There will, however, be shared cross-progression between PC and console, meaning your inventory will carry over – if you unlock skins on PC or console, they'll work on both. The Battle Pass will similarly carry over progress across both versions.
In terms of content, Valorant On Xbox, there’s a 1:1 continuity with everything the PC title has amassed since launch: every map, weapon, mode, and character is included (and with a Game Pass membership, you unlock every Operator released so far, as well as any new additions on day one). The game has received countless updates and tweaks since its debut, and all of this refinement will be available in the day-one build on Xbox.
Making the jump to Xbox Series X, Valorant The game feels familiar and can be played right out of the box with the Xbox controller. In the game's standard mode (called “Unranked”), two teams compete in a points-based 5v5 format, taking turns attacking and defending positions across six maps. CounterattackPlayers can purchase weapons, armor, and abilities at the start of each round, and careful strategy in this phase is essential to achieving the most effective loadouts possible.
The game's striking, colorful graphics look great on big living room TV screens, and everything runs at a silky-smooth frame rate. Most importantly, the game feels great with the Xbox controller, from running and gunning to scoring a headshot in Focus mode.
The same as Counterattack, ValorantThe seemingly simple mechanics and structure of 's hide an extremely deep strategic experience. While it's an easy game to pick up for anyone with experience in first-person shooters, there's much more to it: learning the skills and quirks of the 24 current characters, the 15 unique maps, and achieving the muscle memory and strategic feats necessary to win takes a level of dedication that has undoubtedly helped the game have a long history.
Indeed, ValorantThe console release of 's speaks to Riot's hope that this long tail will continue to stretch out. “We're just getting to the starting line, as we like to say,” says executive producer Andy Ho. “This is a game that we don't have an end date in mind for. We want to invest in it over an infinite horizon, so that players feel like their investment in the game will always be worth it.”
Valorant begins its open beta today for Xbox Series X|S. In the open beta and the full launch version, Game Pass members will unlock all agents.
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