Riot Games’ free-to-play FPS Valorant has added a new playable character, Neon, with the release of Episode 4. Hailing from The Philippines, she’s the first of Valorant’s cast of agents to represent the Southeast Asia region.
“Neon is a landmark moment in Valorant history that reflects Riot’s commitment to creating truly meaningful player experiences,” said Justin Hulog, General Manager of Southeast Asia, Riot Games.
“We are thrilled that Valorant’s cast of agents now includes a Southeast Asian representative from the Philippines that players around the world can engage with.”
As an agent, Neon can run fast, and channel her electric abilities to create safe paths, flash enemies with a concussive blast and goes full Palpatine with her ult, where she just blast enemies with a lightning beam.
Here are all of Neon’s ability kit:
- E- High Gear: INSTANTLY channel Neon’s power for increased speed. When charged, ALT FIRE to trigger an electric slide. Slide charge resets every two kills.
- Q- Relay Bolt: INSTANTLY throw an energy bolt that bounces once. Upon hitting each surface, the bolt electrifies the ground below with a concussive blast.
- C- Fast Lane: FIRE two energy lines forward on the ground that extend a short distance or until they hit a surface. The lines rise into walls of static electricity that block vision and damage enemies passing through them.
- X- Overdrive: Unleash Neon’s full power and speed for a short duration. FIRE to channel the power into a deadly lightning beam with high movement accuracy. The duration resets on each kill.
Neon has proven popular already, her Agent trailer has passed 6 million views, and Filipino content creators loved seeing her inclusion. Understandably so, it’s still a rare occurrence to see representation of folks in this part of the world in a big video game, and to be done this well.
“Neon is really a love letter to our amazing Filipino and wider Southeast Asian communities,” said Joel Guzman, Country Manager for the Philippines, Riot Games. “We’ve always known our Filipino community to be one of the most passionate! So we’re delighted to be able to show them how important they are to us through Neon.”
In celebration of Neon’s release, Riot has a few community events kicking off. This includes a Neon cosplay by Filipino cosplayer Charess, a behind-the-scenes video with Neon’s voice actor Vanille Velasquez (from the Philippines) and Riot-commissioned artwork by Filipino artists Ikayawa, Bricx, Rodney and Jayds/Inkee.