The RETAKE cinematic was released on January 9th, 2021, prior to the start of Episode 2. It was made by Blur Studio.
Synopsis[]
RETAKE is the second official cinematic trailer and is set in Siberia, Russia, on an altered version of Icebox
The cinematic shows Yoru and Phoenix trying to retake a site from Ω-Jett, Ω-Cypher and Ω-Viper. The pair successfully kill the defenders, and safely defuse the planted Spike.
Plot[]
Initiating the Attack[]
The cinematic depicts Yoru and Phoenix preparing to take back a site. The cinematic starts looking over a modified version of Icebox, with the team of Omega Agents setting up around B Site. Ω-Viper and Ω-Jett guard the Spike, while Ω-Cypher lurks atop a box with an Operator.
Phoenix, armed with a Bulldog, darts behind some crates as he tries to get closer. Through a bullet hole in a nearby metal wall, Phoenix can peep and see the Ω-Viper planting the Spike. He's raring to go, but can't begin yet; he has to wait for Yoru.
Phoenix communicates with Yoru via his earpiece, waiting for him to get into position. The video shows a nearby snowpile, in which footsteps anomalously appear - Yoru, with Dimensional Drift active, is lurking around the plant.
Impatient, Phoenix says that he's going in. As he reloads his gun in preparation for the charge, Yoru warns him that it's a bad idea, but the advice falls on deaf ears. Phoenix activates his Run it Back, and runs into the site after throwing down a Blaze.
With a large wall of fire now cutting the site in half, any element of surprise that Phoenix had is lost. While the flames block him from Viper and Jett's vision, in his mindless rush Phoenix forgot about Cypher. Sitting atop a faraway box, Cypher has a clear view of the attacker, and he calmly lines up a shot with his Operator.
Noticing the jeopardy that his ally is in, Yoru is forced to pull out of his Dimensional Drift. The footsteps in the snow abruptly stop, and a dimensional tear appears above them. Yoru tears through, just in time to fire a well-placed shot at Cypher with his Sheriff.
Various Duels[]
Alarmed by the sudden death of their sniper, Viper motions Jett to go and investigate, while herself going after Phoenix. Jett updrafts onto a nearby shipping container. Yoru tries to sneak around boxes and get close to the Spike, but Jett is able to hold him off from her high vantage point.
As she takes a break to reload, however, Yoru peaks out and fires his Sheriff. The bullets are aimed not at her, but at the wires suspending the container on which she stands. His aim is true, and a wire snaps - the container collapses, and Jett is thrown onto the ground.
The scene cuts to Phoenix, who is being relentlessly chased by Viper. He tries to run, but ends up stuck in a dead-end, hunkered behind a truck. Viper closes in, deploying her Poison Orb to keep Phoenix trapped.
Desperate and unable to breath in the toxic gas, Phoenix's eyes dart around, hunting for a way out. His panicked gaze lands on an overhanging wire, visible for a second through the noxious smoke, and he gets an idea.
Phoenix ziplining out of the smoke
Phoenix snaps his fingers and summons a Curveball, which he throws out of the smoke to temporarily blind Viper. On it's own, it would have been nothing more than a temporary annoyance, but it's Phoenix's follow up that makes the play special.
Taking advantage of Viper's momentary distraction, Phoenix leaps onto the wire, and uses his Shorty to ride it like a zipline. He swings his body forward, leaps off mid-air, and fires a shot point-blank into Viper's chest on his way down.
All this time, the planted Spike has been ticking on, approaching the end of its wind-up period. It now shifts onto its second stage, sending around it a pulse of energy. The area around it becomes more active, with the sparks of electricity now growing into large arcs that scythe through the air as they travel towards nearby Radianite crates and various objects (such as the aforementioned crates) beginning to float.
Yoru activates his Gatecrash, and sends the tether behind him, and then tries to close in on Jett. Cornered behind a crate and running out of time, Jett comes up with a plan.
As the crate starts to float due to the Spike, Yoru peaks, but to his surprise Jett is nowhere in sight. Yoru looks up, just in time to see Jett Updraft high above the box. He watches in surprise as Jett uses her Tailwind to get behind him (reminiscent of her escape in DUELISTS), flips midair, and lands.
Jett fires three bullets right at Yoru - in an ordinary situation, this would be the end for any opponent. But Yoru has an ace up his sleeve - time slows down, and we see his eyes focus at a spot behind Jett: the dimensional tether of Gatecrash, still active, which he placed there but a few seconds ago.
*Teleports Behind You*
With a smug grin, Yoru activates Gatecrash, and instantly teleports to the tether, all so fast that the bullets don't have enough time to strike him. He pulls out, and turns around, just in time for Jett's eyes to grow wide in surprise as she realizes what just happened. He pulls the trigger, and Jett falls.
With seconds left before the Spike detonates, Yoru slides in, and manages to safely defuse the Spike.
Conclusion[]
Yoru gives a sigh of relief, as the environment goes back to normal, and all the floating object return to the Earth. Phoenix approaches, walking with his typical swagger, and stumbles slightly over Jett's body. As he does, her fingers twitch ever so slightly, showing that - somehow - she is still alive.
Yoru sees this out of the corner of his eye, and swiftly turns around. He points his gun at his ally, and unhesitatingly fires, fully aware that Phoenix has his ult active, and will revive. The bullet passes through his body, and embeds itself firmly into Jett's chest: she was standing behind, Vandal raised, ready to kill them both.
Jett falls dead. With no more left to be done, Yoru walks away from Phoenix as he regenerates, casually combing his hair as if nothing had happened. The two exchange some light banter as they leave. The camera pans back, revealing the Arctic landscape and the crashed Samurai Ship, before cutting to the VALORANT logo.
Lore[]
This cinematic has very little lore, being primarily gameplay-focused. However, there are some interesting facts that can be derived from it nonetheless.
The Spike[]
This cinematic is one of the two instances where we have canonically seen a Spike being planted, with the other being in DUALITY. The Spike functions very differently from how it is portrayed in-game, having a much more profound impact on the environment.
The Spike seemed to have an anti-gravitational effect on substances in its proximity, especially on lighter objects such as loose snow and traffic cones. The same effect was also observed in the nearby radianite crates, which also appeared to glow as they floated.
The most notable of these effects was how the Spike created its own 'field' on entering its second stage. It enveloped a large region around in it with a mysterious blue barrier, in which the Spike's other effects seems to be concentrated.
Finally, the countdown timer for the Spike is also shorter in RETAKE than in DUALITY, albeit not by a large degree. The difference is small enough to be chalked up to cinematic creativity on the part of those who made the video, although it could also be that Ω-Killjoy upgraded the Spike to detonate faster.
Timeline[]
The timeline of this video has caused some confusion among the playerbase, as the chronological order in which the cinematics took place is different from the order in which they were released. While RETAKE was several months before DUALITY, DUALITY is known to have taken place first - indeed, it took place the very day after DUELISTS.
RETAKE also took very place shorty after Yoru got recruited into the Protocol, which in turn took place after Yoru had raided Icebox to get his mask (see Yoru's article for more information). Yoru was referring to this when he told Phoenix was he was familiar with the map at the start of the cinematic.
Deaths[]
The RETAKE cinematic was the first time that we saw Agents canonically die in combat. For some time, it was ambiguous whether these deaths were 'permanent' (which meant that Ω-Jett, Ω-Viper, and Ω-Cypher were dead forever, and would never come back) or not. It was later confirmed, several times, that they weren't - they were resurrected behind-the-scenes after the cinematic ended. We even saw Ω-Viper returning in the SHATTERED cinematic, proving beyond doubt that she was alive and well [1][2][3].
Gameplay Dissonance[]
The portrayal of Phoenix's Run It Back is different from how it is in-game and in DUELISTS. It lasts for much longer than it does in game, but unlike in DUELISTS, Phoenix respawns exactly where he starts.
Jett's Updraft is significantly stronger than in game. She is seen being able to jump from the ground onto a shipping container suspended high in the air in a single leap. However, the second time she uses it (while climbing over the box to get behind Yoru), the height gained is significantly less. This suggests that she is also able to control how high her Updrafts take her, an ability that is not present in game.
Yoru's Gatecrash also works significantly faster in the cinematic than in game. He is be able to activate it after Jett fires at him, and comes out unharmed before the bullets reach.
Notes[]
- The cinematic shows Jett wearing long sleeves, suggesting that the Agents wear different attire based on the climate they are fighting in. This isn't represented in-game for gameplay reasons.
- In the cinematic, the hand in which Yoru holds his Sheriff repeatedly changes (see right). Yoru uses his right hand to activate his abilities, hold the Defuser, and comb his hair. All this could suggest that Yoru is ambidextrous (capable of using both hands equally well).
- The wires that Phoenix ziplines on are very inconsistent in their positioning (see below).
References[]
- ↑ Ω-Sage and Ω-Skye revitalized the fallen Omega Agents after they died in RETAKE - Reddit AMA with Narrative Lead, Riot ParmCheesy Go
- ↑ Narrative Lead Riot ParmCheesy on how the team intends to portray death in the cinematics - Discord QnA Go
- ↑ An explicit confirmation that Jett wasn't canonically killed in RETAKE - Twitter post by Creative Director, Riot KingKut Go