In Valorant, it is important to detect the opponent through sounds in advance and prepare for them. However, especially regarding the sounds of movement, the game lacks differentiation. This bothers some players, as it leads to unfair advantages.
What is the problem with the footstep sounds? In Valorant, it is essential that you hear your opponents so that you can take appropriate action. So, if you hear eager footsteps, it’s likely that enemies are about to run around the corner and you can prepare yourself.
However, the sound of footsteps is hardly dampened by distance or walls in Valorant. Rather, you can hear your opponent even when they are running around inside a building or preparing for a storm attack through the sewers half a map away.
Footstep sounds are an unfair advantage for defenders
That’s why defenders have the advantage: According to reddit user ComOddity, this strange, two-dimensional soundscape of footsteps is a significant disadvantage for attackers and an advantage for defenders. Because they don’t have to watch the entrance to the sewer on the map Split at Site A, as one can already hear from afar when someone is running through there.
If defenders manage to hold out long enough, forcing the opponents to run to reach their objective within the time limit, then defenders have even more of an advantage because the sounds from running can be heard far and through all obstacles.
This should change: According to ComOddity, Riot should intervene here and adjust the sounds so that the noises sound different when they are far away and/or occur behind walls. This would help in localizing the sounds better and remove this unfair advantage.
Some players find this quite sensible, as the almost consistently loud sound levels seem strange to them and the advantage for defenders is definitely present.
Valorant allows playing without hearing damage: However, other players warn that then players might act like in Counter-Strike. Because there, some players turn the volume all the way up to hear even the faintest sounds of footsteps.
But since the volume of effects also includes the gunfire sounds of weapons, the poor players become almost deaf during a firefight. Therefore, some players prefer the system of Valorant, and the player TheZech in the reddit thread puts it succinctly:
“This is seriously the biggest point why I prefer Valorant over Counter-Strike – hearing damage from a video game isn’t worth it!”
Currently, sounds are a major topic in Valorant. A professional player recently noted that the overwhelming operator sniper rifle needs to be nerfed. But not by decreasing its stats; rather, by giving it a new sound, just like in Counter-Strike, so that whenever the scope is used, it can be heard.
