Valorant is getting replays.
Credit: Riot Games
Only five years after launch, Valorant is finally getting replays, with the latest set of patch notes signalling the arrival of the most requested feature by fans. However, while you will be able to watch your replays, there is one major missing feature.
For PC players, replays will arrive alongside patch 11.06, with the patch notes being revealed earlier today confirming the launch of what is easily the most requested feature in Valorant ever. Console players will have to wait, with replays set to arrive on Valorant console in November. While the patch notes themselves give little in the way of specifics, more information has been released by Riot on just how replays will work.
You will be able to download and watch replays of your own games directly in the Valorant client, specifically on the match details or career pages. A new download replay icon will be made available, for your Unrated, Competitive, Swiftplay and Premier games, once your replay is downloaded you can view it, with options to watch the first-person perspective of all 10 players, add player outlines, use a third person observer cam and jump around in space and time. It seems to feature most of the major features you would expect based on how the in game observer system works. Riot also claims that the system will have no impact on performance, which is helpful.
While it is obviously good news that replays are finally in Valorant, even if it is a feature that should have undoubtedly been included at launch, there is a big sticking point. You can only watch replays of games you are in. That means no watching VCT matches to see how pros do certain things, no reviewing your pal’s matches to offer tips that will surely help, and no way to get better coaching.
Being able to share your replays should be a basic feature of the replay system, and the fact you would still have to record it through external software to share it in video form, seems archaic. As a Dota player, being able to jump into a pro replay and see exactly where a pro warded or did a certain thing, has made me a better player, and in Valorant that isn’t possible.
It is great that replays are finally here, and I’m sure they will be great for lots of people, but only being able to watch the replays of games you are in feels like a massively limiting factor and seems like a missed opportunity for Valorant. Hopefully it arrives in the future, but I don’t hold out too much hope for that.
