Valorant should atone for a LoL sin with their UE5 plans

Riot has built incredibly rich worlds for both League of Legends and Valorantbut where League lame is the lack of direct storytelling in the game. Over the years, despite having a great knowledge, Leagues story has remained mostly external – through movies, comics or blog posts, rather than interactive in-game events. In fact, most of them Leagues lore is fragmented across various mediums, including card games, mobile games, comics, and more. Also SecretThe Netflix series from the franchise with Hailee Steinfeld wasn't great from the start.

This has led to frustration among players who want to see world building integrated into the game itself. Valorantmust also avoid the narrative neglect seen in League of Legends by integrating more story-driven content, especially with the upcoming Unreal Engine 5 upgrade and “new playable experiences.” The franchise believes that the developers have squeezed everything they could out of Unreal Engine 4 and so the move to Unreal Engine 5 will improve the game in several ways. This could be a great opportunity to correct this small oversight so that the community can begin to build a deeper connection with their favorite agents and the game's story.

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Valorant Moves to Unreal Engine 5, Teases 'New Playable Experiences'

Riot Games confirms that Valorant will move to Unreal Engine 5, with “new playable experiences” teased by the developers.

Valorant's existing knowledge is rich yet fragmented

Valorant has deep knowledge with a well-developed background that includes the conflict between Alpha Earth and Omega Earth, the involvement of Radianite as a powerful energy source, and the presence of organizations such as the Kingdom Corporation. Riot Games has built a foundation for this lore and there are subtle hints dropped throughout the game.

For example, each agent has a unique background and motivation for joining the Valorant Protocol, and there are hints of larger stories involving different regions and factions of the world. Some Valorant maps, such as Split and Bind, feature the Kingdom Corps logo and structures, indicating their presence and influence worldwide. Several agents have specific ties to the maps. Phoenix, for example, is from Britain and has ties to the Kingdom's influence and Viper has personal ties to the events happening on the Icebox map, which is another Kingdom facility in the Arctic.

Valorant's Lore elements are dropped in small chunks and don't engage enough

Despite the wealth of lore, much of it is not directly connected to the game. Valorant players often have to look outside of the game, through external media such as comics, blog posts, or movies in order to fully understand the story. Although they are sometimes hinted at through agents' voice lines, map designs, or cosmetics, there is no coherent or continuous story development in the game itself.

How Valorant can make up for a lack of story events through Unreal Engine 5

The franchise has already hinted that the game would change moving forward so one way Riot could plan the way forward is by introducing live, story-driven events with Unreal Engine 5's ability to render dynamic environments in real-time. These can take the form of missions or game modes where players participate in key lore moments, such as defending against Omega Earth incursions, and unite the community with a more succinct representation of Valorants lore in the game.

Another way this could be done is if maps could evolve over time to reflect the development of history. For example, if a key facility is attacked in a story event, that damage could possibly remain visible on the map in future matches as a tangible connection to the story.