Valorant's New Map, Pearl, Is Exactly What The Game Needs
The release of Valorant's newest map, Pearl, will herald a major shift in the game's matchmaking, with players across all skill levels beginning to learn the ins and outs of what is described by Level Designer Joe Lansford as a «deceptively simple» map. During a recent preview period, Screen Rant was able to go hands-on with the new Valorant map, and I came away extremely impressed. While Pearl isn't a perfect map — to be completely honest, that kind of expectation is impossible to meet in a game with so many variables — it's still exactly what Valorant needs, and should provide some serious innovation to the game.
Pearl will release as part of Valorant Episode 5 Act I. The newest major update to the game will forgo the addition of another Agent like recent roster recruits Fade and Neon, and will instead introduce the Pearl map alongside a new skinline in Prelude to Chaos and the usual Battlepass cosmetic rewards. It's a savvy break — players are still figuring out Neon compositions, with the Agent finally starting to break through into competitive play in more than just niche scenarios, and adding another new Agent would potentially stifle an already interesting exploration period. Instead, every Agent in the game will now get more innovation as Valorant players dive into Pearl.
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Pearl is an underwater map that is located on Omega Earth, the alternate version of Earth that provides the backdrop for Valorant's gameplay. According to Brian Yam, the Art Lead for Concept on Pearl, the construction of the map is actually a blend between an "older underwater theme pitch" and a "newer pitch that revolved around a major city flooded from
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