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Riot moved Valorant to Unreal Engine 5.3 in patch 11.02 to show progress, but it seems like the wrong move at the wrong time.
On paper, the switch is a big deal—faster patching, smaller install size (temporarily down to 24GB), and a stronger foundation for features like the long-awaited replay system.
But once you get past the engine jargon, you’ll find most players walking away from the update wondering what actually changed for them.
Riot was clear from the start that gameplay wouldn’t shift. There were no new visuals, mechanics, or interface overhauls. Agent skills haven’t changed, maps stay the same, and performance depends a lot on your setup, despite some backend tweaks.
High-end hardware users report 50 to 100 more FPS, whereas mid and low-end users suffer from stutters, frame loss, and crashes. That’s not to mention AMD users, who’ve been vocal about shader caching problems that have haunted them for years and are still unresolved after the patch.
Did Valorant Even Need This Upgrade Right Now?
This makes you wonder if the upgrade was really needed, since Valorant was already well-optimized with simple graphics and no heavy rendering tech like Lumen or Nanite.
Players with older PCs loved it for that reason. Even if you don’t use the fancy features, UE5 adds overhead that leaves some lower-end players behind.
To make matters worse, Riot skipped addressing important player complaints like anti-smurf systems, agent balance, practice mode upgrades, and matchmaking improvements.
The studio invested in an engine switch that developers appreciate, but players hardly notice or find frustrating.
The engine change might pay off months from now once Riot starts leveraging new features like temporal super resolution and dynamic animations, but right now, that payoff is purely hypothetical.
Are They Solving Problems Players Actually Care About?
Plenty of players understand this was a “dev-side upgrade,” meant to future-proof Valorant for consoles and improve long-term tooling.
But timing is everything, since while lots of players want better UX, gameplay tweaks, and real fixes, focusing on just an engine swap looks off.
Riot said the upgrade would cause little disruption and small performance gains, but players weren’t ready for big issues like 40% frame drops, micro-stutters, and resolution glitches.
It’s clear the update wasn’t tested across enough PC configurations, especially considering how wildly experiences differ between AMD, Intel, and Nvidia setups.
Some users gained 80 FPS, others lost 200. Riot fixed a problem that most players never felt was broken—and in doing so, may have created a whole new list of issues.
There’s hope that Riot will course-correct in future patches, but for now, this feels like a backend milestone that’s come at the cost of player experience.
The tech looks promising, but without actual in-game updates, it feels like a missed chance. The core of Valorant improved, but the rest of the game still needs fixing.
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