Riot Games’ Valorant has taken the gaming community by storm. Its mix of the slow, methodical gameplay of CSGO and the supernatural powers seen in MOBAs has proven widely addictive. In recent datamining efforts, signs point to a new, faster game mode called “Spike Rush” being added by the game’s launch on June 2.
Need for speed
Despite the wild success of the default Valorant mode, the length of gameplay can be a burden on some players. Riot Games in its most recent devblog expressed that “Having an alternative game mode by launch (or a few weeks thereafter) is on our to-do list, and we have a team thinking about what an ongoing rotation of game modes might look like.”
So when well known data-miner FloxaY, previously responsible for leaking the FPS’s ranked play divisions in late April, released evidence of a new game mode called Spike Rush, the community took notice.
Spike rush, string theory
While nothing has been confirmed by Riot, FloxaY shares data that suggests that this new game mode will be a more rapid form of Valorant. The three lines (below), all labeled variations on “QuickBombGameMode_Strings,” have straightforward implications: match lengths of 8-12 minutes of duration, a game mode name of “Spike Rush,” and something about a “SPEED BOOST.” A speed boost suggests an increase in tempo for this mode. Being able to cross the map more quickly and take more mobile firefights would help alleviate the oft-slow pace of Valorant.
https://twitter.com/floxayyy/status/1260271841475809281?s=20
The Spike Rush name likewise suggests that Riot will lean towards a more fast-paced variant of the attack/defend and plant/defuse dynamic to speed up its game, rather than a deathmatch option like in a more traditional FPS.
While Floxay’s data has proven accurate in the past, there’s no guarantee that things won’t change before the mode goes live. The development process includes regularly iterating on gameplay, and Riot Games could just as easily go in a new direction.
As we wind our way towards Valorant‘s launch on June 2, stay tuned to Daily Esports for the latest updates.
