Valorant official artwork and logo

[Update #2]: Valorant's Competitive Mode has now finally gone live alongside a variety of other changes.

[Update]: Valorant update has improved performance across the board, as well as nerfed Sage.

After a surprisingly brief closed beta phase, Riot Games' 5v5 competitive shooter Valorant has now arrived for PC. So if you're in the mood for some team-based action where mistakes can get punished quite severely, you might want to give Valorant a fair try given that it's entirely free.

As for the actual gameplay, Valorant is often described as a hybrid between Counter-Strike and Overwatch, though with far more emphasis on the former. In other words, while there are heroes with unique abilities and ultimates, Valorant mostly plays like a slightly faster version of Counter-Strike with many of the same map design ideas and strategies. From my experience it's a pretty solid shooter, though obviously somewhat niche given how heavily it relies on patience and teamwork over raw mechanical skill.

When it comes to style, however, you can check out what Valorant has to offer through the recently posted launch trailer. Have a gander, it's a rather well animated one:

You can learn more about Valorant, as well as give it a try for yourself, by bunny-hopping over to the official website. Have fun, and remember, boxes aren't magical barriers that stop bullets!