User:Bdot9/sandbox

Reception
Valorant has been compared to Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with both games having two teams of five attempting to plant a bomb, and Blizzard Entertainment's class-based shooter Overwatch, as both games have multiple classes

and characters catering to various playstyles.

Austen Goslin of Polygon praised the beta of Valorant describing it as refined and "one of the most fun tactical shooters I've played". On the first day of its beta launch, Valorant amassed the second most concurrent viewers for any game ever on Twitch, with 1.73 million viewers tuning in across dozens of streams. Only another title from Riot Games, League of Legends, has had more concurrent viewers, when 1.74 million watched the 2019 World Championship final.

It was nominated for Best Esports Game, Best Multiplayer and Best Community Support at The Game Awards 2020.

Valorant 's has received criticism for its toxic, male-dominated voice communication system.  'Emily Rand of ESPN talked about her negative experience playing on teams using the voice communication function as a female. Rand "flat-out [refuses] to use it at all" when she isn't playing with her friends. Jordon Oloman of The Guardian explains how "the bad apples among Valorant’s players expect an absurd level of perfection, and the resultant voice-chat criticism is hardly constructive."

Anti-cheat software
The game has been criticized for its anti-cheat software, Vanguard, as it was revealed to run on a kernel driver, which allows access to the computer system. OSNews expressed concern that Riot Games and its owner, Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent, could spy on players and that the kernel driver could be potentially exploited by third parties. However, Riot Games stated that the driver does not send any information back to them, and launched a bug bounty program to offer rewards for reports that demonstrate vulnerabilities with the software.

Agents
There are a large variety of playable agents available in the game. Agents are divided into 4 roles: Duelists, Sentinels, Initiators, and Controllers. Each agent has a different role which indicates how the agent is usually played.

Duelist
Duelists specialize in attacking and entering a bomb site for the team. Riot's official definition for duelists is "self-sufficient fraggers." Duelists mainly create space for their team while entering onto a site, giving their teammates information, and making entering a site easier. Because of their role, their abilities tend to consist of flashes which blind enemies, and movement-based abilities that allow for them to cover large distances faster than other agents. This type of ability kit allows for duelists to shine best when they are able to catch players off guard and get impact frags.

On attack, duelists are most often expected to play forward, leading the attack. They are expected to be in front of everyone to get opening picks on enemies since their abilities often give them a competitive advantage when gunfighting an enemy.

On defense, duelists will be holding choke points where enemies try to enter sites. Due to the mobility in their kits, they are able to get a pick and reposition, giving their team a numbers advantage.

Duelists include Jett, Phoenix, Raze, Reyna, and Yoru.

Sentinel
Sentinels are the defensive line, which specializes in locking down sites and protecting teammates from enemies. Their abilities mainly consist of of static 'objects' that are obstacles to the enemies. These objects can give the team valuable information and/or deal damage.

On attack, sentinels can use their abilities to cut off certain parts of the map or set up 'objects' that can ensure the enemy cannot flank without being noticed.

On defense, sentinels can use their abilities to slow enemies from entering a site. This provides valuable time for the sentinels' team members to come and provide defensive support.

Sentinels include Cypher, Killjoy, and Sage.

Initiator
Initiators plan out the offensive pushes. Initiators specialize in breaking through defensive enemy positions. Initiators' abilities can consist of flashes but also abilities that can reveal the location of enemies. This information allows for attackers to know where enemies are and make taking a site easier.

On defense, initiators can use their abilities to help their teammates retake a lost site.

Initiators include Breach, KAY/O, Skye, and Sova.

Controller
Controllers specialize in "slicing up dangerous territory to set their team up for success." They use their abilities to create coverage or clear out areas of space with crowd control.

To help their team enter into enemy territory, their abilities can consist of smokes, slows, stuns, and flashes. With their smokes, controllers can control sightlines on the map, making it safer to move through the map without getting seen.

On offense, controllers can smoke off certain sightlines and use their crowd control on common defensive spots to force enemies into the open.

On defense, controllers can smoke and/or use crowd control on entryways to delay or discourage the enemy team from moving forward.

Controllers include Astra, Brimstone, Omen, and Viper.

Store
The store is composed of two sections: Featured and Offers. In both sections, players can buy weapon skins using Valorant Points that change the appearance of their weapon in-game. Valorant Points (VP) is an in-game currency that can only be purchased with real currency within the game client. The offers section of the store gives players the ability to buy four unowned skins and the four skins offered change randomly every 24 hours. The featured section of the store changes every two weeks. Most of the time, the featured section will have new skin releases from Riot, giving players a limited opportunity to buy them without having to wait for them to appear in the offers section.