Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar has slammed Overwatch for “trying too hard to make everyone good,” going as far as saying Riot’s upcoming FPS title Valorant will be 10 times better, even if it’s not a direct competitor.
The impending release of Valorant has got streamers and players alike excited, Summit included. Riot’s FPS title has captivated a lot of the gaming community, and with the closed beta around the corner, players are already jumping ship from other similar titles to get on the bandwagon early.
One of the game’s most under threat is Overwatch. Blizzard’s six-versus-six team-based shooter has gone through plenty of ups and downs as of late. Between balancing problems, role lock, hero pools, and more, parts of the community are slowly becoming disinterested in the game.
Summit1g, who played Overwatch right at the beginning, feels the same. A Counter-Strike player at heart, he’s a fiend for simple gameplay. However, as update after update was shipped to Overwatch, the gameplay only got more convoluted.
In the streamer’s eyes, “[Blizzard] tried too hard to make everyone good at [Overwatch],” throwing skill-based gameplay out the window.
“They cared way too much about people sucking huge d*ck at shooting games so they gave them f**king dumbasses like Reinhardt and sh*t,” he said on March 30.
The amount of in-your-face abilities, as well as the lack of outplay potential, irks Summit. He went on to describe your average Overwatch teamfight, which involved shooting everything except your enemy.
“It turns into two Reinhardts, sitting in front of each other, trying to get past a choke point, shooting into a shield, reload. Then maybe someone does some sh*t, and two people die, but then Reinhardt is already back, his shield’s recharged, and he’s holding it down again!” he explained.
“It’s even worse on a competitive level, because as a viewer, you don’t know what the f**k is going on. From a guy who’s actually played the damn game, I don’t what the f**k is going on. That game is all over the place.
With that being said, a hero-based shooter like Valorant might not seemingly appeal to Summit. The abilities in Riot’s game have been a contentious point in the community, with some believing they’ll ruin the experience.
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Summit disagrees with that sentiment. In fact, he assured fans that Valorant will be “10 times” better than Overwatch.
“I can almost guarantee you Valorant will be 10 times the game, at least in spectating, and when it comes to the ‘hero plays’,” he said.
- Read more: How to play the Valorant closed beta
“Of course the abilities are going to play a huge part, but I don’t think they’re going to be game-breaking like [players] think.”
He drew comparisons back to his time spent playing CS:GO. The action is clear, it’s all about skill, and there’s the chance to just put your team on your back. Overwatch is lacking that, and that’s exactly what Summit can’t stand about the game.
“Counter-Strike is one of the greatest games to watch because there’s so many hero plays happening all the time, and that doesn’t happen in Overwatch,” he said. “I don’t like shields. I don’t like to depend on my teammates that much.”
“[I like] nice [gameplay], controlled, balanced, tactical, teamwork, but you can f**king own the sh*t out of the enemy team all by your damn self if you want.”
He did add a little addendum to his Overwatch rant though. Overwatch and Valorant are two strictly different games, not mean to compete with one another. Instead, Riot’s title “is a Counter-Strike competitor” first and foremost.
He also mentioned that CS players have been “playing the same maps for the last 20 years,” and that he’s excited to see whether Valorant can knock it off its mantle at the top of the FPS world.
The public will get their first chance to try out Valorant when the closed beta opens on April 7. Information about signing up for the beta is available here.