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Valorant Episode 8 Act 3 kicked off a few weeks ago and is set to conclude next month, which means that Riot Games is hard at work preparing for Episode 9 and bringing a lot of new content to the game. One of these features that the developers are working on is the highly-anticipated replay mode, which was last mentioned back in March 2024. Today, we finally got a look at it in action.
During a recent development update, Riot Games revealed everything that is coming to the game over the coming weeks including map rotations, balances, new skins, and the highly anticipated replay system.
Since Valorant was first launched, players have wanted a replay system added to the game, to allow for VOD reviewing, as well as determine if players may be cheating.
In the reveal, Valorant Tech Lead Marcus Reid explained the challenges of creating the replay system and what lies ahead before it is eventually released to the public in a future update,
“From the beginning, VALORANT was designed from the ground up to maximize performance, stability, and competitive integrity online. We built gameplay logic and in-game assets around a multiplayer session. Player does a thing, their game client relays that thing to the server, other players in the game see that thing in real time. Replays, though, introduce new requirements that aren’t present in normal games. For example, when viewing a Replay, time might be paused, or you might want to review a specific round in a match.”
Reid would then go on to explain some of the quirks that are currently present in replay mode that will need to be figured out before it is released to the public.
“There are a plethora of issues with maps, abilities, weapons, as well as visual and audio effects that we need to work through to make them Replay ready. Otherwise, defects show up when viewing moments out of the game and in a Replay. VALORANT’s gameplay is built from thousands of these individual assets that all need to be audited for correctness and possibly adjusted to be correct in Replay scenarios. And we need to do all of that work without breaking anything in the live game. So yes, we’re taking our time to make sure that we get it right.”
No release date has been given on when the replay mode will be coming to Valorant, but based on how the prototype looks, it is coming along at a rapid pace. There are some issues such as doors not opening properly in replay mode, but there are issues present in most replay modes and players can account for this when utilizing them. Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer before it is officially added to the game.
It is a shame that it isn’t ready to launch just yet because the pros competing in the Valorant VCT Masters Shanghai 2024 could have used it to review their footage each day. The tournament kicks off this week and concludes on June 9th. And if you’re new to the game and are excited to jump in ahead of the start of the next Episode, we highly recommend checking out our guide for the best PCs for Valorant, as well as the best mouse settings to use.
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