Sean “Oniram” Marino

Hey VALORANT sharpshooters, I’m VALORANT Art Lead Sean Marino here to talk about everyone’s favorite topic: the guns! Specifically, discussing what defines a VALORANT weapon and how we brought these principles to life in the game. First, let's start with this quote from Trevor Romleski, lead game designer.

“BULLETS STILL KILL WIZARDS”

This phrase was something that we latched onto early to help define the gameplay pillars and visuals of the VALORANT weapons. It was the foundation for how we would flesh them out within the game.

First came a pledge to uphold certain standards of the genre. With a tactical shooter, there are expectations around gameplay and weapons that we strived to sustain, regardless of what the VALORANT IP would become.

Then we cemented a “gameplay first” approach. Let’s create a gun for every situat...