It has been a running joke that Riot Games has not really earned the "Games" part of its title, since it only had the one massively successful MOBA in League of Legends. These days the company's ambition seems to be to move away from being a one horse house and expanding into new projects, including the new FPS game formerly known as Project A, now officially called Valorant.
The new undertakings by Riot Games are varied in terms of the scope of the games it wants to bring to the table, although many of them take place within the established world of Runeterra that is the home of League of Legends. Whatever else it may be, Valorant does not seem to be one of the games that will take place in Runeterra, as the footage and screenshots that have already been leaked or release seem to depict a more modern setting than the medieval/arcanepunk that Runeterra has most often been shown as.
Several leaks have cropped up around Valorant, including screenshots and the title itself before the official reveal, as well as some official reveals that include alpha gameplay. Another official announcement has now revealed one of the most important aspects of the game: the characters that players will take control of. Each one of these characters has their own name, distinct look, and powers available to them, making each one play differently and allowing them to come together into a cohesive team. It is not a far cry from Riot's original League of Legends or from more recent shooters like Overwatch and the earlier Battleborn.
The characters are:
Phoenix - A zone control character who manipulates flame. He can throw fireballs that explode in an area or create a wall of damaging flames. His signature move is a curving flash grenade, and his ultimate lets him mark his location and teleport back there on death.
Viper - Also a zone control character, although she uses poison. She can create pools of acid, or place a poison cloud emitter that she can pick up and move. Her signature move is a wall of poison gas, and her ultimate is a zone of poison that fogs enemy vision, outlines enemies who stand in it (for her), and stays as long as she stays in it (it doesn't hurt her).
Sova - A hunter who marks foes and then takes them down with a bow and arrows. He can fire a bolt that explodes in an area for damage, or launch a flying camera drone that can fire a dart to reveal enemies. His signature move is an arrow that emits a pulse which tags and reveals nearby foes, while his ultimate fires three powerful, wall-piercing shots across the entire map. Reveal foes, then blast them from anywhere.
Cypher - A tactical control character who excels at finding enemies. He can place a stealthed tripwire trap that slows, reveals and dazes, or toss out a remotely activated, slowing trap. His signature move is a placeable camera that can fire a tracking dart similar to Sova's drone, and his ultimate absorbs info from an enemy corpse to reveal all enemies.
Brimstone - Possesses abilities that can be called in anywhere on the map, creating advantages wherever they are needed. He can launch an incendiary grenade to seal off an area, or call down a Stim Beacon anywhere to give everyone near it rapid-fire. His signature ability is an orbital drop smoke grenade, and his ultimate is an orbital strike that deals heavy area damage.
Sage - She's the healer of the game, preventing and healing damage wherever she goes with various orbs. She can create a slowing area of effect, or create a solid wall to block bullets, line of sight and movement. Her signature ability is Healing Orb, which heals someone back to full health over a short duration, and her ultimate is Resurrection, which requires a corpse to work.
Omen - An assassin who uses the dark to his advantage, ensuring his foes cannot see him before the kill. He can use a special shot to restrict enemy vision and teleport a short distance after a delay, akin to Reaper from Overwatch. His signature ability is an invisible shot that bursts into a sphere of obscuring shadow, and his ultimate allows him to appear anywhere on the map, go briefly incorporeal, and appear back at his initial location with full health when killed.
And Jett - Perhaps the most mobile of the characters. She can toss out a sphere of obscuring fog and also launch herself upwards to reach advantageous positions. Her signature ability is a short dash forwards (think Tracer) and her ultimate arms her with several knives. She can fling the knives to deal damage or kill with a headshot, and she gets them all back on a kill (that's her below).
Valorant bears more similarities to CS:GO than it does to Overwatch, and the mechanics of the games are very different. Players will have to buy some of their characters' unique powers in-between rounds just like they will have to buy the weapons they can steal off their enemies. It is similar enough to CS:GO that one of that game's commentators and former pros adored it, and seems to be an innovation to a breed of shooter that has not advanced anywhere for a very long time in the same way Overwatch updated many aspects of Team Fortress 2's gameplay.
It still remains to be seen whether or not Valorant will put Riot Games in direct competition with Blizzard in the hero-shooter market. Riot Games is already poised to compete with Blizzard on a different front, with its Legends of Runeterra card game already in open beta and eventually to be in the same market as Hearthstone.
Whether or not the new characters and world of Valorant will be a part of a grand and expanding world like League of Legends' characters are is not yet clear, although it is clear that Riot does not intend to stop creating new lore for League. Plans are still going forward in the development of Tales of Runeterra, the lore expanding video series, and other games in the League universe will no doubt be following Valorant.
Valorant will launch sometime during Summer 2020 for the PC.
Source: Polygon