I've played a LOT of VALORANT this week, about 70+ hours. Mosts of them on stream.
I really wanted to test & give the game a chance to make sure I had the right opinion about it.

So, there is is:

The game has potential. But i'm GREATLY disappointed.

At the beginning, it was really fun.
The players didn't know how to use the abilities to their fullest potential and this lead to the Gunplay taking over the Spells/abilities.

A week later, they've learned. And it's overpowering the gunplay by a lot.

The balance of the game is off once everyone understands how to use the spells.
Here's an example, Omen will TP to the left. The sound queue betrays where he casted from. Not where he landed.

MANY spells are literally overpowering the gunplay and it shouldn't be this way.

The promise of the game and what I understood was that you wouldn't kill with you abilities. But with your skill.

Yet, with this, ANY Silver scrub would be able to pull out a 3K or even ACE.

- Cypher is able to control an ENTIRE side of the map for 100$. Put a trap, there's no counter. Either you destroy it and he will see it or you get trapped in. His ult is a joke.

- Sage walls offers Oneway spots that break the game.
Here frozen orb has no counter.

- Raze is a joke for made for OW players. :>
200$ nade One shot players. can buy 2, get 1 free. let alone the Ult bazooka

- Pheonix flash has no counter.

- Viper is able to split a bombsite in half as many times as she wants in a round. From T spawn. UNLIMITED.

Many spots are not accessible to everyone. Leaving B Haven to Jett/Raze/omen for an easy frag up there.

And keep in mind, any new addition to the pool of playable character is a potential RIP of the balance.

Information is the key.

In CS, if you want an information, you have to take a risk. You either expose yourself with a shoulder peak, or you push a zone. Either way, you're taking a risk.

In Valorant, you can put a trap or a camera that cost nothing. Free info.

Ultimately, the game is fun to play. At a casual level, where the spells aren't used to their fullest extend. Before they get shadowed by spells.

But I really don't see the game going anywhere competitively with this current meta.

Lastly, because i've only been saying bad stuff about it, don't get me wrong;

It's fun to play, servers are really good. Didn't notice any hitreg/hitbox issues at all.
The sensations are good aswell when hitting shots and all that.

But the balance is off.

Now the most important thing to remember is:

This is a Beta.

The point of it is to gather feedback/test/improve and I really want to see them heading in another direction. FAR away from Raze :>

It has potential. It's fun.

But as it is right now, CSGO still has the best formula by far.
(Except for fucking jumpshot deagle wtf are you doing valve?)