Valorant leak finds site retake & battle royale esque game mode in files

A reputable data miner has discovered two potential game modes in the Valorant game files following Patch 1.08 — with one of the modes appearing to hold the fundamentals for a mini battle royale mode.

It’s only been three months since Valorant launched to the public, and Riot have already added a considerable amount based on the community’s feedback. When the community wanted a fast-paced game mode, Riot added Spike Rush. When they wanted a fresh way to warm-up, they added Deathmatch.

So it’s safe to say that Riot have had their ear firmly pressed to the ground to better understand what their player base wants from their tactical shooter. And with that said, a file discovered by ValorLeaks after Patch 1.08 appears to indicate that two new modes are hidden deep within the game files – though whether they’ll actually make it into the FPS is unknown.

According to the data miner’s Tweet, there are two game modes — one which appears to revolve around a Reactor Site retake component, while the other seems to resemble a battle royale-esque mode.

Valorant leaker discovers two potential game modes

The first potential mode — referred to as ‘Alt6’ — contains Orbs, according to ValorLeaks. Per the Tweet, Agents would obtain Weapon Orbs, Ultimate Orbs, and Health Orbs, which would essentially represent the ‘looting’ component of a battle royale. Although, with that said, there is no direct mention of a collapsing circle, akin to most titles within that genre.

• Read more: Riot under fire for “overpriced” Valorant EGO skin bundle

The second — referred to as ‘SiteRush’ — revolves solvely around planting the Spike as fast as possible. Given that the planting the Spike would present a retake scenario for Defenders, similarities could be drawn between that and a ‘retake’ game mode, which is a popular practice mode in CS:GO.

According to claims made by the data miner, this is currently being tested on C-Site, which presumably refers to Haven’s Reactor Site (unless there’s a dedicated map embedded in the game files for testing purposes).

It’s worth noting that the aforementioned leak likely represents part of developer dump files, which are often left behind when updates are shipped.

• Read more: Riot explain why Valorant’s toxicity punishment needs to be changed

With that in mind, it’s worth taking ValorLeaks’ Tweet with a pinch of salt… At least until Riot release official information pertaining to any new game modes.

While Valorant’s Game Director, Joe Ziegler, has previously stated that future modes are in the works to help break up competitive play and helps players achieve more “social downtime,” it’s difficult to draw parallels between that statement and this leak so early on.