Yesterday, Valorant’s Episode 6 was teased as part of the cinematic trailer ‘Revelation,’ but now we’ve got the full details to share with you. The map, which forms the main bulk of new content for Act 1, is called Lotus. It’s set in India, has three Spike sites, and there are a bunch of unusual but interesting mechanics that look set to make it one of the game’s most exciting to play yet.
Here’s the official trailer:
“We wanted to make another 3-site map and show that this is more of a format we’ll keep using than just a single map. Additionally, we aimed to make a map with high flexibility and movement for both teams.” Joe Lansford – Riot Games Level Designer
The key features of Lotus include:
- An Omega Earth setting in India, the Western Ghats specifically
- Inspired by traditional Indian stepwells and rock-cut Dravidian architecture
- It is a 3-site map like Haven
- New mechanics:
- Rotating doors
- A destructible door/wall
- A silent drop
Valorant Art Lead Brian Yam spoke in a press release sent to Twinfinite about some of the inspiration the development team drew from when designing Lotus:
“When we were exploring the conceptual aspect of this map, we wanted to push the boundaries of fantastical and mystical elements, which were not shown in our earlier maps. In Lotus, we were freer to explore more fantastical visual elements since Kingdom was not present on this map. We wanted to explore the theme of grand adventure, mysteries lost to time, and a lost ancient structure. Indiana Jones was one of the thematic inspirations we drew from.
Visually, we found the rock-cut architecture fascinating because it evokes a mystical and ancient vibe to the theme. In addition, this also provided a new direction from our existing maps, given that most of our maps are mostly urban or had modern architecture. Set in the Western Ghats in India, the visual direction and the architecture we wanted to explore fitted nicely with the rock-cut architecture inspired from the Ellora Caves and Dravidian-inspired structures.
The visual hook for this map are Radianite relics that are present within the structures. The giant mutated Lotus at the center of the map represents one of these relics. For example, one of these relics suggested that the ancient inhabitants used them as a power source for rotating stone doors on the map. In addition, we started playing around with the idea of how the mutated plants could store and provide energy output from Radianite.”
For more on Valorant, check out our related content listed below. Check out Valorant’s Episode 6 cinematic Revelation here if you haven’t already.
