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VALORANT has already moved to Unreal Engine 5 and launched its replay system. Riot upgraded the game to Unreal Engine 5.3 in Patch 11.02 on 29 July 2025, then released replays for PC Competitive, Unrated, Swiftplay, and Premier in Patch 11.06 on 16 September 2025. Replays later expanded to Custom games and friends’ eligible matches in 2026.
What changed, and when?
| Date | Update | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| 29 July 2025 | Patch 11.02 | VALORANT moved from Unreal Engine 4.27 to Unreal Engine 5.3. Riot’s Patch 11.02 notes described small performance improvements and future development value. |
| 16 September 2025 | Patch 11.06 | Replays launched for PC Competitive, Unrated, Swiftplay, and Premier. Riot’s Patch 11.06 notes announced the release. |
| 9 October 2025, China local time | Patch 11.07b | Riot’s replay FAQ listed this as the China replay start date. See Replays: Everything You Need to Know. |
| 11 or 12 November 2025, by region | Patch 11.10 | Replay availability arrived on VALORANT Console. Riot’s Patch 11.10 notes said the Replay System was ready for consoles. |
| 6 January 2026 | Patch 12.00 | Custom-game replay recording became available when enabled by the party leader. See Patch 12.00. |
| 27 May 2026 | Patch 12.10 | Players gained access to friends’ eligible replays from a friend’s Career page. Custom recording still has to be enabled before the match. See Patch 12.10. |
The rollout was staggered: the initial release was for PC modes, followed by China and console on the dates Riot listed. The official notes do not establish a replay retention period or a current universal access path for a player’s own matches.
What the Unreal Engine 5 upgrade means
Patch 11.02 changed the engine from Unreal Engine 4.27 to Unreal Engine 5.3. Riot said players should expect small performance improvements, while the larger benefit was giving the development team more value for future work. That is not a promise of a major visual overhaul or a specific frame-rate increase.
The upgrade made the Patch 11.02 download larger than usual. Riot said the installed game would be half its previous disk size after the patch and that subsequent download sizes would return to normal. Minimum system requirements were also updated. These details are from Riot’s Patch 11.02 announcement.
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What you can do in a replay
Riot describes replays as a way to review recent matches and better understand a moment, round, or game. The launch FAQ documents these viewing tools:
- Watch from any of the ten players’ first-person perspectives, with player outlines and projectile-follow options.
- Use a third-person free observer camera.
- Pause or change playback speed to 0.1×, 0.25×, 0.5×, 1×, 2×, 4×, or 8×.
- Skip rounds or jump along the timeline, which marks kills, deaths, and ultimate usage.
- Toggle HUD and minimap visibility and view the combat report.
These controls are described in Riot’s replay FAQ. They make it possible to inspect a fight from multiple viewpoints rather than relying only on the original player’s perspective.
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How Custom and friends’ replays work
Custom games
Custom-game recording arrived in Patch 12.00 on 6 January 2026. The lobby’s party leader must enable recording for that specific match before play begins; a Custom game is not recorded automatically. Riot confirmed this in its Patch 12.00 notes.
Friends’ matches
Since Patch 12.10, dated 27 May 2026, players can access and watch friends’ eligible replays from the friend’s Career page. This does not remove the Custom-game requirement: the party leader still needs to turn on recording before the Custom match starts. Riot’s Patch 12.10 notes describe the friend-access feature.
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What replays do not guarantee
A replay is a review tool, not a documented export of every element exactly as it appeared during the original match. Riot’s FAQ notes that disabling enemy outlines does not remove enemy locations from the minimap or megamap. It also says certain ability minimaps and placement markers are not shown while a player is placing those abilities.
The FAQ discusses clipping, sharing, and downloading replay files but does not document a supported export workflow. Its September 2025 guidance therefore does not establish that replay files can be downloaded, shared externally, or used as a faithful reconstruction of every original screen element. The documented friend-access feature is an in-game route for eligible replays, not confirmation of file export.
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Why the headline is out of date
Both changes in the original announcement are now shipped. The engine upgrade arrived in July 2025, and replays followed in September. Riot expanded replay support again in January and May 2026, so the useful question is no longer whether VALORANT will get either feature, but which mode, platform, and replay access route applies to a particular match.
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