Riot Games has announced the release date for Valorant Episode 5: The update adds a new Pearl map to the FPS game, along with an entirely new line of skins called “Prelude to Chaos” and a new battle pass. The new map “Pearl” is the eighth and first in the game, which takes place in Omega Land. It’s a simple, straightforward map with a strong Portuguese influence that also takes place underwater. Valorant Episode 5, titled “Dimension,” will air on June 22 along with Act 1.
“Because The Pearl takes place on Omega Earth,” explains lead art designer Brian Yam, “we wanted to explore how the Omega Realm would address climate change and how we could convey that idea visually. The idea of showing the resilience of cities underwater seemed like the right visual direction that everyone was excited about. La Perla also features murals created by authentic Portuguese muralists and traditional musical pieces by Portuguese artists.
A new map has been designed to make things easier: The Pearl is a three-way map with short, medium and long range wings, but no mobility tools. Level designer Jo Lansford says, “After Icebox, Breeze, and Fracture, we wanted to keep the map simpler. Pearls require dedicated battles, without the rotation and mobility support of doors, elevators, and teleports; what you get is something deceptively simple, strategically speaking.”
If you’re wondering what this means for the game’s competitive map pool, the answer is simple: the team decided on June 22 to remove Split from the competitive and unranked queue pools in order to keep the seven-card draft. Says Lansford: “Last year we were very happy to get seven cards because it meant the best of five tournaments could be banned for two cards with no re-election.” Pearls will join the competitive queue on July 12, with esports events rotating after the LCQ in August to give pro players a little more time to adjust to the new map.
Riot says it thinks seven maps is a good place to strike a balance between variety and skill without forcing players to learn too many maps. The team said that I examined the sentiment of the joueurs, the times I learned after the lottery, the mises à jour prévues, and that the cards offered in terms of strategic variance and the place of Pearl dans the rotation of the cards avant de prendre a decision. Lansford said: “We promise we won’t go after Split, although we’re pretty sure she’ll be back in the future. Maybe even with some modifications?
Act 1 Episode 5 also includes a new Battle Pass that will cost 1,000 VP and includes the usual set of skins, player cards, sprays, and comrades-in-arms. We will also be joined by a new “Prelude to Chaos” skin line. This is a dark sci-fi setting, lead artist Chris “Fraglizer” Stone, according to the lead artist, is inspired by his love of classic arena shooters like Quake III, Half-Life, and Unreal Tournament 99, citing his “nostalgia by the heavy industrial forms mixed with powerful and often unstable energy sources” found in these games.
Associate Art Director Sean Marino said, “A lot of players loved the Reaver skins, but we didn’t have a sci-fi skin that had the same dark tone as the Reaver. We literally asked ourselves, “What do you gentlemen sci-fi lovers want on board?” How does it feel to kill a demon? Leading cosmetics manufacturer Preity Hanolkar adds: “We want all skins to feel powerful, regardless of design, but with Prelude to Chaos we primarily wanted to tap into the ultimate unstoppable fantasy. like a force of pure chaos and destruction.”
Riot recently announced that they fixed Valorant’s map diversity issue, so let’s see how Pearl’s arrival affects it. We have the best Valorant settings for FPS and low latency, plus a list of Valorant agent tiers if you’re going to jump into Episode 5 on your own. If you haven’t played yet, all Valorant agents are upgrading to Gamepass, so now is the time to try it out for yourself.
Source : PC Gamesn
