Riot Games often releases fantastic cinematics for their games, expanding on the lore of Valorant in an action-packed yet emotional way. These cinematics make me want to explore the world even more, as it slowly uncovers the relationships between agents, their origin stories, and what's happening to them now. Luckily, it seems like my prayers are being answered in the form of Project T, a leaked MMOFPS game set in the Valorant universe.
While the initial leak occurred two years ago, recent job listings indicate that the game is showing new signs of life. First spotted by the Game Post, Project T's job listing seeks an Associate Art Director in 3D Character Art for an "unpublished R&D product". It then states that familiarity with the Valorant IP is a required attribute for the role. With that in mind, it appears that Project T is a Valorant spinoff of some kind. The hype is real.
Previous job listings for developmental processes like designing for metasystems and progressions gave us our first inkling of Project T, but it seems that the game is further ahead in development than anticipated. This is supported by a rumored closed playtest: participants claim Riot Games is putting together an extraction shooter. For the unfamiliar, this is a format where you must go in, collect resources or valuable items, and get out. If it's true, it joins a highly competitive market with stalwarts such as Escape From Tarkov and newcomers like ARC Raiders leading the way forward.
However, given Valorant mobile's excruciatingly slow release, I can only wonder when Project T will be with us, and if Riot will learn from its mistakes by releasing it on other platforms simultaneously.
An extraction FPS game isn't super exciting to me personally as someone who'd prefer to get into the nitty gritty of the story surrounding the Valorant universe, especially the prevalence of Radianite and how it affects agents. I think a story-driven game would be much more interesting - perhaps one that is PvE, so that I can focus on the lore without tilting too much.
After the success of Riot's League of Legends show, Arcane, hopefully, the company is aware that the stories behind its games are very popular. I want to see how the existence of Omen, KAYO, and the other humanoids came to be, I want to know what mental toll fighting has on agents, and, perhaps most importantly, I want to see some of Killjoy and Raze's couple origin story. I don't think an extraction shooter would give me the chance to do any of those things.
Project T glimpses from leakers such as 'SargeOP' show the game to be in a prime position for mobile launch due to its simplicity. If intended to come to other platforms, Riot needs to get a move on because I refuse to wait another four years (and counting) for a mobile port. Time will only tell, but I don't have a lot of confidence in it coming out soon, though it could well join the ranks of the best mobile games. Sorry, Riot.
Looking for more Valorant news? You can read about my fantastic experience at VCT Champs Paris or head over to yap about the game with me on the Pocket Tactics Discord server.