Riot is considering adding “a lot” more gamemodes to Valorant once the tactical shooter finally drops, game designer Trevor Romleski revealed, with the planned playlists likely to draw from other titles like CSGO and Rainbow Six.
After months of silence on their bold new FPS release, Riot has released a deluge of details on everything players have been wanting to see, from their initial roster of characters — now called agents — to the game’s deadly arsenal, and more.
The devs also lifted the lid on the title’s first gamemode, “defuse,” which will be played in a similar way to CSGO’s bomb-focused mode, or Call of Duty’s iconic Search & Destroy game type, which has lasted throughout the franchise.
While many were concerned Valorant would stick to just a singular primary game mode, like Riot’s flagship title League of Legends and it’s 5v5 Summoner’s Rift playlist, it looks like the FPS devs have other ideas post-release.
According to Romleski, who spoke to IGN Nordic after Valorant’s initial gameplay trailer was first revealed, the developers are already toying with new modes. They may even draw from other popular franchises.
“We’re completely open to exploring new modes post-launch,” Valorant’s game designer said of potentially adding more playlists, but admitted anything they do beyond the Defuse mode would have to wait until “after launch.”
“For now, we have this experience we really want to craft, and make sure that it’s as good as it can be. There are a lot of games out there, and we acknowledge that. We want to provide players with … a fresh take on the [genre].”
Romleski also confirmed that same stance in a recent Discord AMA, adding “exploration of more modes is definitely a consideration,” but that Riot’s plans right now were to “focus on the core mode at the moment.”
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What new gamemodes could we see in Valorant?
Considering the games Romleski mentioned when talking about “frontrunners” in the genre were Rainbow Six and Counter-Strike, it’s a good bet Valorant’s new modes will draw at least some inspiration from these titles.
Both long-lasting titles boast bomb-defusal as their core competitive mode, but each also has a number of other, more casual playlists for players to cut their teeth on if they don’t want to dive into the high-octane ranked lobbies.
There’s a clear favorite Valorant could add post-launch and have players celebrate — Team Deathmatch. The kill-or-be-killed mode is a tried and true classic, reaching all the way back to the beginning of the FPS genre.
Siege also boasts Hostage Extraction, which would be interesting to see in Valorant with the agent’s paranormal abilities. The Hostage mode is basically a one-side capture the flag, with the added feature that the ‘flag’ can be killed.
There’s been no indication from Riot on what kind of gamemodes they’re looking at adding to the title post-launch, however, so we’ll just have to wait and see what they brew up once the game finally releases in Summer.
As always, Dexerto will continue to bring you the latest details as more information becomes available. For all Valorant news, updates, info, and content, make sure to follow us on Twitter @ValorantUpdates.