Shroud says VALORANT’s skill ceiling is “a lot lower” than Counter-Strike

Shroud isn’t sold on VALORANT.

During a recent stream, Shroud discussed VALORANT and weighed in on how it stacked up against Counter-Strike. The “skill ceiling” and “potential” in VALORANT is “a lot lower” than games like Counter-Strike, he said.

Shroud sided with Counter-Strike, claiming “there’s a cap, but the cap is so high up there that sometimes you don’t even need a brain. You can just be fucking insane. It doesn’t work like that in [VALORANT].”

VALORANT is more catered to a casual audience, he said, with Riot—the developer of the game—intentionally reaching for players who have never touched a first-person shooter in their life. “It’s not as punishing [as Counter-Strike], Shroud said. The “movement’s dumbed-down, aiming is dumbed-down,” and the “abilities close the skill cap between high and low-level players,” according to Shroud.

Like any big FPS streamer, Shroud has put hours into VALORANT and has thoroughly enjoyed the experience. But he’s not without criticism for the game. “It’s obvious enough when you play Brimstone, or you play Omen, and you push one button, and you get this whole view [of the map],” he said. “That right there can show you how the game is dumbed-dumb to make the lesser players be at the top faster.”

But despite lambasting VALORANT for a minute straight, he said that’s “kinda the goal of the game.” Riot has made an “easier first-person shooter experience” or a “Counter-Strike experience.”