Lotus is a map set in India with some amazing environments.
Credit: Riot Games
Riot Games has revealed a new map for Valorant called Lotus, which takes place in India and features three spike locations as well as some other brand new mechanics.
Like most other Valorant maps, Lotus introduces some new ideas, the two most notable being revolving doors and a destructible door/wall. There’s also a silent drop on the map, meaning you can move around without making much noise.
“We wanted to do three more maps on the site and show that this is more of a format we’ll continue to use than just one map,” said Joe Lansford, level designer at Valorant. “Also, we aimed to make a map with high flexibility and movement for both teams. There are several traditional Indian architectural elements and places that we took inspiration from. Stepwells, Rock-Cut architecture and Dravidian style. Badami Cave Temples, Ellora Caves and Rani Ki Vav are just a few.’
This is the second map in Valorant to feature three spike locations, the other being Haven, one of the launch maps that has always been a bit of a bone of contention. With three spots, the defending team obviously has to spread out a bit more, but for the attackers there is often less room to move around the map. It remains to be seen if this will carry over to Lotus or if the design team has managed to change it substantially.
The map, due for release on January 10, takes place in Omega Earth’s India, specifically the Western Ghats. The design is inspired by traditional Indian step wells and rock-cut Dravidian architecture, and also includes a few visual secrets that fans of the legend should look out for.
Louts is due to launch next week
Credit: Riot games
Using India as a map location has long been floated for Valorant, but this map originally had a very different concept, with the team revealing that it would initially take place in space before realizing that the systems they wanted to implement didn’t actually work.
“When I designed Lotus, I originally envisioned a space station and had an airlock mechanic that closed off large areas of the map,” Lansford said. “It just turned out not to be that much fun, so we scrapped the idea and moved in the direction we have today.”
Lotus will launch alongside Valorant’s massive 6.00 update, which kicks off Episode Six. Along with the new map comes a lot of balance changes, a new battle pass, and of course some new cosmetics.
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