When it comes to the storyline of Riot Games’ upcoming competitive first-person shooter VALORANT, the developer wants to tell an ongoing story of an evolving world.
Riot wants to keep VALORANT’s storytelling in-game, according to an interview with creative director David Nottingham at Polygon.
There’s some world-building outside of the game, like a baseline explanation of how the game’s characters got their powers and who they are. But most of the story will be told in an evolving world that will change the game as it progresses.
“We want to take an approach where we’re not overexplaining everything,” Nottingham said. “There won’t be a huge universe page at launch that gives you all this detailed dense backstory […] We want to experiment with little ways to sprinkle clues and breadcrumbs into the world.”
Polygon said “the way that Epic Games has implemented changes to Fortnite’s larger world and narrative, usually without upsetting the core gameplay, is something that [Nottingham] thinks is a good example of these ideas.”
Fortnite doesn’t have much in the way of a traditional storyline, other than some overarching plotlines and characters that appear and affect the game by changing its map, locations, and weapons. VALORANT’s approach to storytelling could end up being similar.
Another example of a multiplayer game with a story is Overwatch, where the story is told via cinematic shorts, comics, and more. Nottingham said that while there will be some story material that’s presented outside of the game itself, it’ll be reflected in-game, too.
There’s still very little that we know about VALORANT up to this point, so stay tuned over the coming weeks and months for more information, including how the game’s story will be told.
