I never wanted to play shooter games with a controller, but this one changed my mind. I played the Valorant beta and I’ll tell you what I loved about it!

Game news I never wanted to play shooter games with a controller, but this one changed my mind. I played the Valorant beta and I’ll tell you what I loved about it!

A resounding success with players

The video game Valorant was released in 2020 and established itself as the next generation of competitive first-person shooters. In an aging genre, carried forward by Counter Strike, the title developed by Riot brings refreshing game mechanics. It takes up the successful principle which pits two teams of five players against each other on a map. To win a round, you must eliminate all the opposing players or succeed in detonating / defusing the spike, the bomb in the folklore of the game. The game is won after 13 rounds (5 for the Spike Rush mode) won.

At the start of each game, players must choose an agent. It is impossible to take the same agent twice per team. Each agent has four abilities that are unique to them and serve different situations. Sage can heal her teammates and slow down her enemies, while Jett has an outfit that makes her agile and deadly. Enough to raise comparisons at the time with Overwatch and Hero Shooters.

But Valorant is much closer to Counter Strike and games of the same ilk: you have very little reaction time when facing an enemy. It’s often him or you since two or three bullets are enough to eliminate anyone.. A principle that forces us to think about our approaches according to the map we play on, the role (attacker or defender) we hold and of course the heroes played. Four years after its release, it is impossible to deny the popularity of the video game. On the live streaming platform Twitch, very video game-oriented, Valorant is part of the top 5 most watched games in 2021, 2022, 2023 and for the moment 2024. It is even ahead of Counter-Strike!

A success that probably pushed Riot’s teams to port the game to consoles. An initiative that we often see in shooting games (Apex Legends, Fortnite, Warzone, etc.). For my part, I have always had a lot of apprehension when it came to playing competitive shooters on consoles.. Because by their principle, they mainly suggest that one is more efficient with a mouse and a keyboard. In fact, the mouse allows one to be faster and more precise than with a controller whose joystick does not allow one to effectively vary the change in speed of the reticle. A condition sine qua non to perform well in competitive games.

And Valorant is no exception to this rule.

As I said, winning games requires eliminating your opponents. To do this, you must target them with your current weapon. To be the most effective, and we remind you of this from the tutorial, you have to stop moving so as not to lose precision. The slightest movement can be fatal to you in a pistol duel. And once static, adjusting your reticle to shoot is relatively easy with the mouse. Not being used to playing with a controller, I expected to be a burden to my teammates when entering the field. But thanks to one of the new features brought by Riot on consoles, I really enjoyed my games.

Valorant on consoles integrates aim-assist, or aim assistance. A feature often at the heart of controversies. It sometimes does all the work, by automatically putting the weapon’s reticle on opponents, whether they are moving or not. For its shooter, Riot just slows down the movement of the reticle once it is placed on an opponent.. A job well done in my opinion: I never complained about dying too quickly, missing all my shots or even destroying everyone in front of me. There is no doubt that the game helps, but it does not change the challenge for us to aim.. And it’s super satisfying.

This aim-assist’, it is cut with a mechanic specific to Valorant called Concentration. Focus in English. A big word for a small feature but which is not to be neglected. It is the button to press before drawing your weapon: the sensitivity of the reticle is lowered and you aim more effectively at long distance. I was surprised on several occasions that I could take out enemy agents from a distance.

So we have a loop Run / Slow down before enemy / Aim at enemy / Focus mode and shoot enemy / Run super addictive since it sets the pace for our character.

I know I have a huge margin of progression (learning the characters, knowing the cards well, etc.) but I have the impression of progressing naturally after each game. An impression probably due to the fact that Valorant on consoles is not cross-play (console players can play together, but not with PC players) : I don’t have to wonder about the presence of players playing with a mouse and keyboard. Especially since it is not, a prioripossible to connect them to consoles. Something damaging when you want to play with your friends but which removes a weight for me: I know I won’t have to compete against players with four years of experience in the game and equipment that I consider more optimal.. This is essential in a competitive game and Valorant seems to have understood this.

The aim clicks, but so does everything else

In 2024, Valorant manages to bring to consoles everything that made the FPS successful on PC four years earlier. We find the same addictive tactical demands of the genre, sublimated by the agents and their powers. The technical quality of the title is still there, with no technical or visual bugs encountered during our session. The animations are still visually pleasing and the sound design is still as enjoyable. Each sound has its own identity and even after a long absence from the game, everything comes back to mind. For example, missed shots, headshots and eliminations are translated by very distinct sounds, which helps with learning.

At the time of writing this article, only one aspect has tickled us and that is the handling. While we welcome the possibility of modifying our buttons on our controller almost at will, the handling is not super intuitive. It requires a certain amount of time to adapt due to the large number of commands required for each character.

What a nice surprise this Valorant on consoles is! Although it is only in its beta phase, Riot’s latest has swept away several preconceptions that I had for a long time. It taught me that it was possible to offer the genre of competitive shooter viable on the controller, yet quite impervious to the thing. The aim assist and the Focus mode synergize wonderfully and provoke excellent sensations with the controller in hand. In addition to that, we find what has made Valorant successful for four years now: a proposal aimed at revitalizing the genre with rounds that are never identical but always as tactical. If this console version will probably not replace the computers of the competitive scene, it serves as a perfect introduction to anyone who wants to invest their time in the genre… and why not switch to a keyboard/mouse combo. And personally, if there is a shooter that would make me want to invest in it, it is Valorant. Especially after my excursion into its beta on consoles.