New Forsaken skin line in Valorant: Everything we know so far

Valorant Episode 2 Act 3 will bring a whole new set of weapon cosmetics to the game, called Forsaken, inspired by the previously released Sovereign set.

With the new Forsaken skin line, Riot Games is looking to work around the theme of “corruption,” where they play with the idea of transformation and what a Sovereign will look like if they fall.

As Sovereign exists, its darker and more corrupt side of Forsaken also exists (Image via Riot Games)

When a Sovereign is banished and gets corrupted, Forsaken is made, and the weapon cosmetic set tries to capture and encapsulate that very idea in its design tone.

Like any good world and lore creation, Valorant’s future earth, too, has the dualities of light and dark embedded in it, and both are just the different sides of the same coin. So as Sovereign exists, its darker and more corrupt side of Forsaken also exists.

The thematic inspirations behind Valorant’s Forsaken

Forsaken is a corrupt version of Sovereign that felt beautiful in its impurity (Image via Riot Games)

When talking about the inspirations behind the creation of Forsaken, Preeti Khanolkar, Valorant’s premium content senior producer, said:

“The earliest inspiration for Forsaken actually came from one of the first few Sovereign sketches, which had blue cracks spread all throughout the porcelain exterior of the weapon. We didn’t think that the cracks fit the regal and ornate style of Sovereign, but that image stuck in our heads.”

The movie Black Swan and Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle were also pretty big inspirations for Forsaken’s design. When talking about the two films and the theme of transformation that they represent, Preeti continued:

“Natalie Portman’s character goes through a transformation during the movie but remains delicate and elegant despite her madness. And likewise, Howl transforms into a dark bird-like creature but retains his graceful beauty. These two examples, plus the initial cracked concept of Sovereign, helped our artist design Forsaken to be a corrupted version of Sovereign that felt beautiful in its impurity.”