Valorant's Episode 5: Dimension is coming out next week, and it comes with a brand new map named Pearl. Nine months after Fracture got released, Riot Games revealed their eighth map to add to the Valorant Map pool.
Pearl trailer shows us a holiday called Sanctuary Day with a Portuguese voiceover. It tells a story about Kingdom Industries and a city they saved from climate change disaster by building a "radianite-infused polycarbonate bubble."
Just like Bind is set in Morocco, Ascent in Venice, etc., an underwater Atlantis-inspired map is located in Lisbon, Portugal. As teased in the past few months, Pearl is inspired by the Portuguese culture, with some of the art done by local artists.
Unlike other Valorant maps, Pearl seems to be a more traditional tactical FPS map with no unique gimmicks such as teleporters, elevators, or closable doors. With only two bomb sites and a mix of long corridors and alleyways with facilities like Multiverse Museum, Pearl forces players into direct combat.
"Attackers push down into the Defenders on this two-site map set in a vibrant, underwater city. Pearl is a geo-driven map with no mechanics to keep things a little more straightforward. Take the fight through a compact mid or the longer range wings in our first map set in Omega-Earth."
Episode 5: Dimension starts with Act 1 launches on June 22nd with a new map release, alongside a new rank between Diamond and Immortal: Ascendant.
Join us for Dia do Santuário–a celebration of PEARL: The wonder beneath the waves. pic.twitter.com/7zR9zMiuY5
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) June 16, 2022
With the addition of Pearl, Riot decided to remove Split from Competitive and Unrated queues, starting with Patch 5.0. They decided to keep the seven map pool as a sweet spot for both esports and casual play.
Joe "Pearl Hogbash" Lansford, design lead on the Maps team, explained the removal of Split:
"We looked at a bunch of different factors when making this decision. Player sentiment, time since release, past and future planned updates, what the map brings in terms of strategic variance, as well as where Pearl fits into all of it (to name a few)."
Split will still be available in custom and alternate game modes if you are a true Split enjoyer; however, it is unknown if or when it will come back to the Competitive pool.
Since Riot wants to give pro teams enough time to explore and master Pearl, Split will exit the map rotation at esports events after the Last Chance Qualifiers in August.
Stay tuned for more Valorant content and future guides on Gamercraft.
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