Riot Game "Valorant “Corrode”"
Client
Riot Games
Sector
Brand & ContentA crumbling fortress rises from a salt-encrusted wasteland. Storms circle on the horizon as agents move in silence, scanning ancient corridors reclaimed by metal and industry. This is Corrode, Valorant’s newest map, and a world built as much through gameplay as through image.
Developed by Riot Games and revealed in a cinematic trailer, Corrode invites players into a post-cataclysmic France, where remnants of medieval architecture now house an ominous salt mine. The map draws its visual DNA from Mont Saint-Michel, but reimagined through a dystopian lens: fortified stone walls buried beneath rusted steel and mineral decay.
To bring this universe to life, we partnered with Riot Games and ARC Creative in Los Angeles, with director David Lawson at the helm and with our team in Paris handling the cinematic production and visual effects that unfold between the gameplay sequences.
Our team approached the trailer as a story first. Though brief, the cinematic sequences carry narrative weight.
Every detail, from the gleam of steel and stylized VFX to the slow crumble of stone and hand-detailed surfaces, was designed to speak to the lore and to the stakes of this new battleground.
The cinematic’s unique identity lies in its hybrid animation technique, designed to blur the line between 2D and 3D. Characters are animated using 3D models and rigs, allowing for fluid, expressive movement and dynamic camera work. But the 2D painterly texture added in the environments and on the characters give each shot a distinct feel. Effects like explosions, smoke, and tears were animated in 2D, layered atop the render to preserve a sense of motion consistent with brushwork. The final result is not quite animated in the traditional sense, and not quite cinematic in the usual one, but a third language born from both.
The production was coordinated through a collaborative pipeline that bridged previs, animation intent, layout, and final delivery, integrating closely with Riot’s in-house vision and game narrative.
Impact:
- 1m+ views
- 49k YouTube likes