Valorant has taken the games industry by storm since its launch back in 2020. In two short years, it has fast become the next big thing for those who cherish a competitive multiplayer experience, beloved for its unique combination of tactical shooting and hero abilities. Still, we can’t always be playing the same game over and over, can we? And so if you’re looking for something similar to try, here’s a list of 8 games like Valorant.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
The least surprising entry on our list of games like Valorant is Counter-Strike: GO, the godfather of the tac-shooter genre and the game which very obviously served as a blueprint for Valorant’s design. The chances are that if you’re a fan of Valorant, you will have played CS:GO already or at least know of its similarity to the game, but for those to whom that does not apply, let us remind you that CS:GO is without question the most similar game to Valorant which exists today.
Certainly, if you’re a solid Valorant player, there is no doubt you’ll be able to transfer your skills to CS:GO, which features very similar shooting mechanics and a near-identical overall design. The difference is, of course, there are no hero-like abilities, with only conventional, military-inspired utility to make use of, such as flashbangs, smokes, HE grenades, and Molotovs. The use of utility is no less important in CS:GO, but there’s definitely a stronger focus on gunplay. Generally speaking, shooting in CS:GO requires a little more precision than in Valorant and is a bit harder to master.
CS:GO might be over a decade old at this point, but it’s still among the most popular games in the world. That, in turn, means the skill level is high and the community generally pretty hardcore, but again, if you’ve been playing Valorant you’re well equipped to get involved.
Rainbow Six: Siege
If it’s the tactical and competitive aspects of Valorant you’re looking for, Rainbow Six: Siege is worth considering as an alternative. While the gunplay is much more run-and-gun / ADS-heavy, the movement is slower and more measured than in arcadey shooters like Call of Duty which brings it closer to a Valorant-like experience.
Also, Siege features there’s the same emphasis on utility usage as in Valorant; in fact, the game has become much more utility-focused in recent years. You’ll need to learn a variety of different Operator types (Siege’s equivalent to Agents) to be successful and how to apply them to different game modes. Speaking of which, there are several different gameplay modes, but bomb plant/defuse is the most popular and is very similar to Valorant in its overall concept.
Siege’s most unique feature that sets it apart from the likes of Valorant and CS:GO is the close-quarters nature of its gameplay. As the name suggests, Siege is all about attacking teams infiltrating well-defended positions held by their opposition, and there’s a whole destructible element to its map design that makes each nook and cranny a fortifiable location. Playing Siege means learning its maps and how to exploit them to create peeking opportunities.
Siege and Valorant aren’t as similar as CS:GO, but it’s still the second-closest thing you’ll get to a Valorant-like experience overall. There’s even a recent co-op spin-off that recently launched if you’re interested in a PvE version of Siege.
Squad
Squad is another excellent alternative to Valorant if you’re after the same emphasis on strategic, tactical gameplay, which requires teamwork and communication in high order. Of course, it differs in that it’s an objective-based military simulation with a distinctively realistic aesthetic, but there’s much about the core experience that will feel familiar to anybody who plays Valorant to a high standard.
In fact, we’d argue that playing Squad would actually help with some of the values that make a decent Valorant player, including communication and callouts. You simply can’t play Squad as a solo shooter, so if teamwork is what you’re after, look no further.
Again, the actual gunplay and movement are quite different from Valorant, as you’d expect, but we’re confident many Valorant players would enjoy plenty of what Squad has to offer.
Overwatch
Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat — Overwatch doesn’t really play anything like Valorant. It’s a hero-shooter with a high TTK, no movement accuracy penalties, and constant respawns. It isn’t a tactical-shooting experience, as are almost all of the other entries on this list.
However, there are one or two elements of Overwatch that will be familiar to Valorant players; in particular, the hero abilities, or utility, available to each of the game’s characters, all of whom have vibrant personalities and their own distinct lore as is the case in Valorant. As it applies to actual gameplay, Valorant players will immediately be at home selecting different characters depending on their strengths and making use of their abilities as intended — DPS characters are similar to duelists, while Tanks and Healers are similar to controllers and flashers, etc.
Overwatch also demands teamwork and coordination as you work together to push objectives and beat back enemy advances. Gameplay phases are broken into long rounds that surge in waves, which feels like a mini war of attrition that each player is doing their bit to win slowly. Small, individual mistakes aren’t punished nearly as much as in Valorant, but if you don’t have your team dynamic in order, then you’ll quickly be found out.