One of Riot Games’ newest releases, Valorant is a first-person shooter game officially released in June 2020. Having been in development since 2014, Valorant has taken classic elements from other tactical shooter games and married them with more modern cinematic features. This has resulted in a visually stimulating and action-packed game that millions around the world enjoy.
Video: Youtube/GameSpot Trailers
As of 2022, global gameplay statistics show that Valorant has up to 840,000 concurrent players at any time. In a month, about 15 million international players actively play the game. For Riot Games, while this game is free to play, the in-game purchases are estimated to boost the developer’s revenue to several billion. Two years since its release, Valorant shows no signs of slowing down, with more gamers joining the fray daily. Before you can get started, though, it’s important to know if your PC can handle the game’s demands.
Valorant Minimum Requirements for PC:
Thankfully, despite Valorant’s impressive graphics, it’s not as demanding as one would expect. In fact, players with a fairly decent gaming rig will be able to enjoy this game without any stuttering or latency. Even more average gaming laptops like the Evoo Gaming can handle this game given its processors. For your reference, here are the minimum requirements you do need to have:
| OS: | Windows 7 64-bit |
| CPU: | AMD Athlon 200GE |
| RAM: | 4 GB |
| GPU: | Intel HD 4000 |
| Disk Space: | 20 GB |
Valorant Recommended Requirements:
Of course, if you do have a more sophisticated rig, your overall gaming experience will be more immersive. While this may not necessarily make you a gaming ace, it can help your performance thanks to the higher frames per second (FPS).
In terms of monitors, Valorant doesn’t require a lot of horsepower so you can allocate your means towards a faster display instead. Think a 240hz or 360Hz monitor to keep up with the FPS. On the flip side, you may want to be more exacting with your CPU by taking a cue from some of the best gaming PCs.
Since these rigs are built to withstand long hours of use at high levels, you’ll find that models like the prebuilt CyberPower PC Gamer have a liquid cooling system along with high-end specs. This ensures that you can seamlessly run titles like Valorant on their high-end settings with more than 144fps. That said, here are Valorant’s recommended requirements:
| OS: | Windows 10 64-bit |
| CPU: | Intel Core i3-4150 |
| RAM: | 4 GB |
| GPU: | Nvidia GT 730 |
| Disk Space: | 20 GB |
Can I Run Valorant on Mac?
It’s widely known that most games aren’t really optimized for Mac. Valorant is no exception to this, as there is no version of the game playable on the macOS. If you still want to try playing on a Mac, you can try installing Windows using Boot Camp.
Can I Run Valorant on Linux?
There is no official support for Valorant on Linux. If you were to try launching Valorant on Linux, you could technically play it by using open-source operating systems. However, this may only be playable for a short time considering Valorant’s anti-cheat system is always updating. This means that any OS that isn’t an updated Windows will automatically become unusable for Valorant.
Can I Run Valorant on a Console?
At the moment, Valorant is purely playable on PC. Although video game history has proven that first-person shooters perform and sell well on consoles, Riot Games has yet to announce if Valorant will ever dip into these platforms.
Can I Run Valorant on a Smartphone?
Though Riot Games isn’t releasing Valorant on console, doesn’t mean it’s not expanding the game’s playability. Recent reports reveal that Valorant will soon become the newest Riot Games title to enter the world of anticipated mobile games.
Following the developer’s official announcement of Valorant Mobile in June of last year, this version is expected to have an early 2022 release. No information about the games’ specific details have been shared, but analysts believe gameplay may be similar to that of Pubg: Mobile or Call of Duty: Mobile.
Valorant Gameplay
Valorant is a team-based first-person shooter. To play, two teams of five will be assigned to either defend or attack. During each of the 13 rounds, players can use “classic” weapons along with their character’s signature ability. Currently, there are 18 agents (characters) to choose from, with each one belonging to a different character class. Each agent comes from a different country.
Video: YouTube/VALORANT
The latest agent to be released is the Filipina speedster Neon. Just this March, though, Riot Games has released that a new playable character may soon be released along with a new episode. Known only as Agent 20 for now, this character is believed to be a Radiant and an Initiator. Once released, Agent 20 will also be playable across the various gaming modes in the game.
How to Download Valorant
To play Valorant, you simply need to first install the Riot Games launcher. From there, simply set up an account, download Valorant, and play away! As one of the most popular free-to-play games today, Valorant will surely become one of your most played titles this year.
To find out more about Riot Games’ other titles and if you can play Valorant’s sister-game League of Legends, please check our breakdown of PC requirements here.
