Valorant
Ranked 8 of 20 multiplayer shooters by recommenders
Free-to-play tactical shooter from Riot Games whose anti-cheat people credit with keeping cheaters rare. Critics object that its kernel-level anti-cheat is invasive and can crash PCs.
Free-to-play tactical shooter from Riot Games whose anti-cheat people credit with keeping cheaters rare. Critics object that its kernel-level anti-cheat is invasive and can crash PCs.
35 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 21
- approval share
- 40%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong anti-cheat, few cheaters
“they have (at least for some time) reduced the number of Cheaters in games like Valorant”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Denuvo has been cracked in all single-player games it previously protected” “the game with the strongest protection is Valorant and it works very well”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “How Kernel Anti-Cheats Work: A Deep Dive into Modern Game Protection” “valorant is by far the most least cheater fps game on the market”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “How Kernel Anti-Cheats Work: A Deep Dive into Modern Game Protection” - Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Games using anti-cheats and their compatibility with GNU/Linux or Wine/Proton”
Praised as a successful, cool implementation
“I would say it was wildly successful in Valorant.”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Denuvo has been cracked in all single-player games it previously protected” “this is something cool done by valorant”
Comment from 14 May 2026 in “Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Invasive kernel-level anti-cheat
“Now Secure Boot is required to run Valorant games, which should be a harbinger for what will happen to your online banking experience”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “Redditor buys used CPU, turns out it was banned on Valorant and they are SoL” “Valorant should take a look at why their anticheat is just as effective without requiring kernel access.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Kernel Anti-Cheat Is an Overreach” “often forcing you to turn on more intrusive features to continue playing the game”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Games using anti-cheats and their compatibility with GNU/Linux or Wine/Proton” Crashes and bricked PCs
“gave me my first blue (or was it red??) screen I'd seen on Windows in years”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Games using anti-cheats and their compatibility with GNU/Linux or Wine/Proton” “bricked his PC on Sunday trying to enable Valorant’s BS anti-cheat”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Valve is about to win the console generation” Cheaters still get through
“i searched "hacking in valorant" and found hella complaints about aimbotting and wallhacking”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “How Kernel Anti-Cheats Work: A Deep Dive into Modern Game Protection” “Valorant has cheaters in pro league that still play tourneys and compete for cash.”
Comment from 6 May 2026 in “Denuvo has been cracked in all single-player games it previously protected”
Other multiplayer shooters people recommend
The four most recommended other multiplayer shooters, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arc Raiders | 52 | 12 | 81% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Fortnite | 33 | 55 | 38% | 9 | — | — |
| Counter-Strike | 30 | 19 | 61% | 11 | — | — |
| Counter-Strike 2 | 27 | 19 | 59% | 10 | — | — |
| ValorantThis page | 14 | 21 | 40% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
35 of the 38 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Valorant is the most paranoid and the biggest offender”
“Now Secure Boot is required to run Valorant games, which should be a harbinger for what will happen to your online banking experience”
“Big game needs you to install a rootkit to play.”
“a lot of big games don't run; Fortnite, Valorant, etc.”
“I'll never come back to LoL or Valorant because it's no longer the game I was playing.”
“Valorant, Apex Legends won't run, but that's because of active work by the devs”
“has already been done in cs and valorant, but it really only works well with small player count”
“Valorant should take a look at why their anticheat is just as effective without requiring kernel access.”
“This seems like basic stuff that every other game does.”
“the least playable among all competitive shooters if your internet is anything lesser than Google campus fiber”
“Valorant, Call of Duty, Battlefield, EA Sports FC and others who explicitly deny their anti cheat from working on Linux”
“Stop playing Valorant/LoL until its available, its as simple as that really.”
“valorant had kernel level access”
“get hated for having invasive Anti-Cheat (Valorant)”
“this is something cool done by valorant”
“Valorant has cheaters in pro league that still play tourneys and compete for cash.”
“I would say it was wildly successful in Valorant.”
“they have (at least for some time) reduced the number of Cheaters in games like Valorant”
“like Battlefield 6 or Valorant, it will not work and you can forget about it”
“its chinese company roots and kernel level access”
“i searched "hacking in valorant" and found hella complaints about aimbotting and wallhacking”
“the game with the strongest protection is Valorant and it works very well”
“valorant is by far the most least cheater fps game on the market”
“Valorant, LoL, BF6 or CoD also don't work ime”
“I couldn't play with them because I'm not going to buy another computer just to run it.”
“Even Valorant or League have 10 players in a match”
“Fortnite, CoD, and VALORANT to pick some examples, are all just simple purchases from a store.”
“one I've avoided in the past because of it”
“Even in Valorant, which makes an extra effort to only send data relevant to the player”
“In Valorant it's almost unheard of by comparison.”
“often forcing you to turn on more intrusive features to continue playing the game”
“gave me my first blue (or was it red??) screen I'd seen on Windows in years”
“Screenshots your screen and exfiltrates it to their servers.”
“bricked his PC on Sunday trying to enable Valorant’s BS anti-cheat”
“It has kernel level access”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.