VALORANT leans into Counter-Strike with new skins as both games continue to trade features before CS2

VALORANT has always built its marketing on distinguishing itself from Counter-Strike, but its most recently-announced bundle immediately drew attention to how much the skins really do look like some Counter-Strike‘s most iconic weapons.

After the bundle initially leaked online, Riot officially announced the Black Market bundle, featuring skins for the Bulldog, Vandal, Marshal, Classic, and Butterfly Knife Melee that have unique appearances depending on whether the player is on the defender or attacker side. But the aspect of the new bundle that garnered the most attention is the striking similarity to original Counter-Strike weapons currently found in CS:GO.

The Bulldog skin in the Black Market bundle makes the weapon look more like the FAMAS in CS:GO, which is fitting given how both weapons feature an automatic primary fire and a three-burst secondary fire. The Classic skin makes the pistol look even more like the Glock and the Vandal skin in the Black Market bundle gives the weapon a look similar to a default AK-47 skin.

The theme of the bundle itself looks like a reference to Counter-Strike, a game where each side has its own distinct weaponry. Even the promotional imagery for the Black Market bundle appears similar to the cases that CS:GO players open to get new skins.

VALORANT has notoriously borrowed much from the time-tested Counter-Strike series, but when it comes to skins, the Riot shooter has almost always gone with more over-the-top and unrealistic-looking designs.

But Valve isn’t above borrowing things back from VALORANT regarding its upcoming CS2 release. The early test access footage of CS2 shows the use of a mini-map sound queue circle and a kill counter in the interface at the bottom of the player’s screen, both of which are features VALORANT added on its own.

The Black Market bundle will hit the VALORANT shop on April 12.